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WW1 VICTORY MEDAL HAWKE BN RND POW ANTWERP 1914


sommewalker

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This post is quite significant for me and quite poignant as well
its about L 9 2881 B.G.PALMER ACT L.S. RNVR.
Bernard Griffith Palmer was a pre war London territorial. He served in Hawke battalion RND around Antwerp in October 1914, he was taken POW and spent the rest of the war in Germany at Doberitz
the medal was awarded to him along with the other 2 medals,
this one is the sole survivor ,...
he joined the RNVR on the . 20th of February 1913,
and He served in Hawke battalion when the RND went over seas at the beginning of the war,
now they had only been over there a short time when they were put to work,
in the defence of Antwerp in late 1914 ,
we all know how that unfortunately ended up,
with 1500 men being interned in Groningen Holland,
after being cut off during the retreat,
not to mention those who were killed or captured,
like Bernard, they suffered greatly in the German pow camps, but this is a special one, in as much as i have a genuine Hawke battalion cap badge and a set of genuine Hawke battalion shoulder titles,
now i know the chances of them being from the same man are pretty remote in the extreme,
but they are from the same battalion,
so after all this time ,
they are together,
welcome home Bernard,
you are welcome here,
there is an interesting P.S to this story,
and a happy one,
it seems that on the 4/3/1918 he arrived in Holland for internment,,
then on the 18/11/1918 he arrived in hull England ,
7 days after the armistice was signed ,
he was finally repatriated on the 21/11/1918.
he was finally demobbed on the 28/2/1919,
and was paid his gratuity of £27.10 shillings,
a huge amount back then ,
this is a good end to this post as we can finally say he came home,
to what we don't know?,
but he survived, ,
this is the first time ive been able to trace some one from enlistment to coming home after the war ,
his memory (bernards) is a cherished part of the collection
pps http://www.lynsted-society.co.uk/…/Despatch_1914_11_02_-_An…
possibly captured during this time

PPPS

you will notice that I have included a cap badge and shoulder titles,

from Hawke battalion,.

Now at the time of Bernard's capture they were still wearing "square rig "

this didn't change until April 1916,

but if he hadn't been captured and had survived that far ,

he would have worn them at some point ,

pppps

also notice on the pow card they had the wrong details ,

he wasn't in Collingwood battalion but was in Hawke battalion :)

+++++++ just received the frame I had been waiting for .

so after a session on the lap top I came up with the enclosed as seen in the last photo :thumbsup:

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