Memorial Plaques for post-war fatality

[ukok]

Has anyone seen a memorial plaque awarded to someone who died after the war, say 1920 ?

I've never seen this until today and wondered for what reason it would be given ?

[Christophe]

Hi,

I have seen mentions on WWI memorials in France. Far from systematic, and rather scarce, btu I rememeber having seen some.

Cheers.

Ch.

[Boudica]

I've been aware of several plaques being issued between 1920-1922-ish. As far as I know it would have been based on their death being a result of their service, so in effect a 'Died of Wounds' type of case.

One of the soldiers I'm currently researching, won a Military Medal, but died in 1920. He has a CWGC gravestone, although he's buried in his local cemetery in Yorkshire. His records, thankfully, survive and in those, there are many letters from his parents with accompanying proof of death, and asking for his medals and plaque. It seems it was like pulling teeth to get them issued, but he was entitled to them, even though he'd been discharged and had been working in an ordinary job for a couple of months after the end of the war. I ordered his death certificate and he died of a bacterial heart condition as the result of wounds that never healed and continued to fester and continued to get infected. So in effect he Died of Wounds. From what I've seen(others might know the 'official' line) a death certificate and/or other information was needed, but if it were proven as a result of service, then the soldier qualified for a plaque and a CWGC gravestone.

[Chris Boonzaier]

This little QE2 Gem.... for a soldier of the 14-18 war.

I suppose the family were able to make a case....

[Boudica]

Those memorial crosses are always really nice items.

Hmm...even if the family acquired the cross in the earliest year of the QE2 cypher on the medal, that would be 1953...so that's still a long time after WW1. That's very interesting. Unless it was missed at the time and the family became aware that the soldier was entitled and then applied. I think the Canadian crosses were first instituted in 1919, and wartime paperwork was always prone to mistakes and missing parts. I know some veterans didn't apply for their WW1 medals until the 1960s and one case I know of was the 1970s. If it was applied for later, they might not have produced GeoV cypher crosses by then and used the most current one.

Oh well, it keeps us lot on our toes, trying to work it all out.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

the guy died in the 50s, I must see what i can dig out.

Best

Chris

[Boudica]

That does sound fascinating, Chris! A real mystery on that one for the dates.

I just reread all the info on the medal in my trusty Medal Yearbook, and it says, as we probably all know, that it was issued to wives and mothers of servicemen who died in WW1. Then a second version was introduced in August 1940 for WW2 widows and mothers..so that would have had a GeoVI cypher. It would seem the first QE2s were introduced for the Korean conflict.

Looks like you might have an interesting oddity there.

[Aberdeen Medals]

Has anyone seen a memorial plaque awarded to someone who died after the war, say 1920 ?

I've never seen this until today and wondered for what reason it would be given ?

Yes, I have seen a few that have appeared variouslly on the market over the years.

The ones I have seen were mostly to British Army recipients who had died on service in India during the Third Afghan War 1919, and associated North West Frontier campaigns 1919-1920, as well as a few for the operations in Iraq.

The Memorial Plaque could of course be issued to the Next of Kin in respect of any personnel who had died in any of the post war campaigns through to and including the final cut-off date applicable to H.M. Land Forces of 30 April 1920 (the cut-off date varied for different services, that for the Royal Navy and naval forces was 10 January 1920, and that for the Mercantile Marine was 11 November 1920.

There was also provision made for the Memorial Plaque to be issued or claimed by Next of Kin, in respect of those eligible veterans who 'Died' anytime within 7 years of the above given cut-off dates, as long as those deaths were

were certified as being directly attributable to effects of wounds, disease, or injuries caused by service in the period of the Great War or immediate Armistice operations.

With regards to the Canadian Memorial Crosses, they were - and still can - be awarded to eligible NOK (and not just Female NOK) in respect of any Canadian veteran who can be certified as having 'Died' as a direct consequence of debilitating wounds, disease or injuries that a veteran may have incurred while in service. As such it is not uncommon to find EIIR Crosses issued in respect of 'surviving' Great War veterans who died of long lingering wounds / illnesses incurred during the Great War War, or Second World War, but who actually died sometime post 1952 and whose NOK hence received EIIR Crosses

Edited August 9, 2013 by Aberdeen Medals

[Aberdeen Medals]

that for the Mercantile Marine was 11 November 1920.

Correction: The cut-off date for the Mercantile Marine was 11 November 1918