Who Do You Think You Are Magazine Forum

[Melvyn Harrison]

I have found that a cousin of mine had three medal cards (one being for the Military Medal he was awarded while in the Mounted Military Police). On one of the cards is written in red:[center][color=#ff0000][b]BWkVH(or M) . I.V. B6860. [/b][/color][/center][center][color=#ff0000][b] 22 Sep 70 [/b][/color][/center][left][color=#ff0000][b] A/68/C/3864.[/b][/color] [/left]
I really cannot understand any of this coding and even less why there should be a date of 1970 on the card. He died from Syncope in 1919 and his wife is mentioned on the reverse of the card as (widow).

Any ideas please what it all means??

[ksouthall]

Melvyn,
I am not an expert in medal cards however have a few suggestions for the date of 22 Sept 70 on your cousin's medal card:-
1) It relates to 1870, not 1970
2) The information was meant to be kept secret for 50 years, so could not be released until 1970 (although this would actually be 51 years after his death)
3) The third medal card relates to someone else and has been linked to your cousin by mistake.
Alternatively, all my above suggestions could be completely wrong as they are just ideas based on guesswork rather than any sound knowledge of military history.
I hope someone else can give you some more solid information.
Katherine

[Melvyn Harrison]

Thank you for your suggestions ksouthall.

Suggestion 1 cannot be correct as John Henry was not born until 1882.
Suugestion 2 is very possible but why on this card.
Suggestion 3 also cannot be correct as all the cards match by rank,
regiment and number.

All good suggestions though and as you say a military historian will hopefully come up with the reasoning.

Thanks again

[ksouthall]

Melvyn,
You said your cousin was in the Mounted Military Police. Is it possible he investigated desertions and was involved in giving evidence at court martials? If so, perhaps his record contains sensitive material which came under the Official Secrets Act? This is the only reason I can think of, however, as I said before, I have limited knowledge of military history.
Alternatively, perhaps he was a British spy?
Katherine

[paulberyl]

Unfortunately medal cards are are not that easy to read with some codes being very obsure.

If no-one on this forum is able to help you can I suggest that you post a copy of your query (ideally with a copy of the medal card) on [link=http://www.1914-1918.net/]http://www.1914-1918.net/[/link] which has some very knowledgeable military historians.

Paul