British Expeditionary Force - WW1 - Help needed.

[Chuck]

Hoping somene on here can help with some military history.

I'm trying to track my grandfathers service in WW1. He was awarded a bravery citation in 1918 following something he did in 1917. I always thought he was in the HLI but the citation shows:

Lt. Ry. Op Coy Anyone know what that means? It may be something to do with railways as he wand his father were both railway workers and the incideent referred to trains.

The citation was awarded by Royal Engineers (Transportation Branch) No. 58.

I'd like to try and find out WHERE this happened in France and hopefull get to see the place one day. Anyone any ideas who to contact or how to go about it?

Thanks everyone.

Chuck

[Sandgroper]

Lt. Ry. Op Coy = Light Railway Operating Company

As to where and when - PM me with his details, Chuck, and I'll do some digging and see what I can find out...

Edit - http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/reg ... Captain%29.

[Chuck]

Cheers mate, on its way.

Chuck

[Charlotte the flyer]

There is sometimes good information available on the ancestry website. I found most of my relatives service records even though only about 1/3 of them remain. I even found the war diary for the 2/5 Staffs and found an entry concerning my Great Uncle. I managed to follow them from emarkment though France and then to the front when my relative was sent to strenthen the wire in his sector. Unfortunately my uncle who was a lance sergeant at the time, and a Lieutenant who was with him didnt return that day. Reading the diary knowing what was coming was quite difficult as it got closer to the date of his death. Sadly, only Officers and NCOs seem to get mentioned but as your relative got a citation its worth a look to see what you can find. Good luck with your search.

[channel12]

Some of those narrow gauge locomotives used in France to bring up stores and ammunition are still running today. The steam lock's were not used too close the front line as the smoke made them an artillery target so petrol powered engines were used "up close"






Couple of years ago on holiday in France we rode on a narrow gauge railway along the Rhone valley which used an ex German field railway locomotive that had been acquired after the war as reparations.

[Chuck]

hi Charlotte, thanks for that - much appreciated.

Channel 12, thanks also - that bottom one looks like Thomas the Tank Engine!

My grandfather was an inspector on the railway (LNER) My great grandfather was a signalman in the late 1800's, probably up Edinburgh way. My grandfather used to take me with him - usually starting at Dumbarton - actually being up front on the engine and watching them shovel coal and logs in - or stopping to take on water, memories are clear as day.

We also got great Christmas trees - he just stopped the train and grabbed one. We never wanted for logs and coal for the fire either

What hacks me off about so many of those sites though is that if you give them precise info they can return nothing - but make it a scattered seearch and there's more chance.

More of an annoyance is that everyone wants bloody card details before you can do anything - they say they return X amount of results but you need to PAY to see them - then hope they are what you want. If the results are wrong you're not getting a refund!

[Charlotte the flyer]

You can get a 14 day trial with Ancestry, just make sure to cancel before they charge you. As I mentioned above WW1 service records are limited though as Herman Goering was kind enough to rationalise the records and now only about 1/3 exist. I think (not sure tho) that war diaries stayed with their regiments so you might have more luck searching for your citation in those. I found services records for my great uncle in the 2/5 Staffs, a great grandparent in the KSLI, a relative who was in the navy and an in law from the RA. I couldnt find an in law who was in the loyal north Lancs though, Its patchy as to just what records are left but definitely worth a look.

[Chuck]

Thanks again Charlotte - I just hate giving card details to everyone who offers a "free trial". Also paying by card from here can be a hassle such is the state of the internet - not unusual for it to crash mid payments and then you have no idea what's going on - was payment made or not?

It used to do my nut in when I was booking trips to the USA or the UK because some of those flights were expensive - card companies here don't work like they do UK either. There is NO consumer protection if you buy duff goods or the card gets raided.

SO far I have ten searches saved on Scotland's people - Find my past was a funny one. It threw up some results and actually let me look at the tyranscripts with NO card details, then it changed. I tried a different email address but same result. Maybe it recognised the ISP here?

Thanks again Charlotte.

[snayperskaya]

You can get a 14 day trial with Ancestry, just make sure to cancel before they charge you. As I mentioned above WW1 service records are limited though as Herman Goering was kind enough to rationalise the records and now only about 1/3 exist. I think (not sure tho) that war diaries stayed with their regiments so you might have more luck searching for your citation in those. I found services records for my great uncle in the 2/5 Staffs, a great grandparent in the KSLI, a relative who was in the navy and an in law from the RA. I couldnt find an in law who was in the loyal north Lancs though, Its patchy as to just what records are left but definitely worth a look.

My Grandfather was in the K.S.L.I, 6th Battalion from early 1915 to 1918 before transferring to The Machine Gun Corps.

[Chuck]

Do you ever watch those old newsreels and wonder - was he there? Every time I see the Kilties I wonder to myself, "did he do that?"!