Sidney Oliver GRINDLE 1897 - 1944 Littledean Hill R I P (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, April 06, 2017, 15:07 (2793 days ago) @ sally230257

Hi

I am the granddaughter of Sidney O Grindle, my father was Albert Ronald Grindle who was known as Ron. Dad gave me a picture of my grandad in his uniform but I know very little about him. If anyone could send me information about my grandfather I would appreciate it greatly. I understand he won the Victoria medal but know none of the details.

Sandra Johnson nee Grindle.

Hi Sandra, welcome to the forum.
When you say "Victoria Medal" I presume you believe this to be a Medal awarded during service in the Army, presumably the Glosters ?. Sorry to ask but there were "Victoria Medals" awarded in many other walks of life too. The most obvious one pertaining to war service is the Victoria Cross, which was the highest possible honour to receive, so a very rare award indeed. In this instance I'd have expected Sidney to have been mentioned in the old newspapers etc, and perhaps listed here, but it seems not ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucestershire_Regiment#Victoria_Crosses

Is it possible he was awarded the "Victory Medal", which was a lesser (yet still admirable and very cherished !) award relating to Campaign Service in WW1 ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Medal_(United_Kingdom)

The Medals that Sidney (or any other British soldier) were awarded should be tracable from his Medal Index Card, which is available to view on various websites. As we have his Service Number it should be easy to find, the best place to search is Ancestry as that gives images of both sides of the Card, whereas the National Archives only has the front (which is usually the only side containing info). Infortunately my Ancestry Subscription has lapsed otherwise I'd gladly look it up for you and send you the image, perhaps another forum member could please have a look ?
Failing this Ancestry can be accessed for free at most British public libraries, just take a memory stick or similar to download the image. Alternatively the actual Card may be viewed at the National Archives in Kew, London. Their website has helpful guides eg http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-mili...

I've just searched the National Archives site and found him straight away, clearly Sidney Grindle is not a common name (often we have to "guess" which card from several pssibles relates to our intended man !).
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-army...

Their site states,

Reference: WO 372/8/163701
Description:
Medal card of Grindle, Sidney O
Corps Regiment No Rank
Gloucestershire Regiment 12242 Private
Date: 1914-1920
Held by: The National Archives, Kew

Thankfully this info matches that posted by Slowhands earlier in this thread, his Army Service Number is key to researching him further.
For £3.50 an image of the Card's front/main face can be downloaded, and thus obtain more info abput his service and the Medals he was awarded. Personally I recommend you use Ancestry for this.

Ancestry also carries images of the detailed Service Records for British soldiers, however only about 2/3s still exist as several were lost during WW2. I'm afraid I must be off now as very busy here, hopefully another forum member might be able to please search for him, otherwise I'll try and have a look later today.

Finally for now, probably the best website for help in researching WW1 is the Long Trail site, here's their page about British Medals.
http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-record...