Bless you, Forrest Anderson. I am driven to know as much about James' death as I can discover. You have helped a great deal. I will need a good map and maybe the use of Google Earth, but now I know approximately where James' batallion was engaged on 7 Dec 1914. I will look into Captain Stair Gillon's book. There is so much to learn! I did see the correction in the death date. Thank you for calling it to my attention. It is a significant detail and is now correctly recorded. Your website is a place where I must spend more time. I have acquired James' medal record and have no idea what I'm looking at, except I can now see the K in A. Your website will be invaluable in decifering it's coded messages, at least concerning the medals. Already I have a little understanding of the Victory Medal, the British, and the 14 Star which James was awarded. I hope it will all unravel in time. One or two more searing questions, if I might. Is it possible that his wife was not notified positively of his death until 1923? 1923 is the year his wife Annie remarried. Furthermore on James' record under the heading Action Taken the following characters appear: B W & V M Rel?[or ReP] (992 KR 1923) 8362 / Adl K in A, and a Qualifying Date of 24-10-14, which I interpret to mean 14 Oct 1924. Would his medals been delivered to his wife? The CWGC does not seem to know he was married, or even how old he was. I apologize for all the questions. I may never get answers, but I surely will not get them if I do not ask. Thank you for your indulgence. -- Alice > [Original Message] > From: Forrest Anderson <listmail@military-researcher.com> > To: <GREATWAR-L@rootsweb.com> > Date: 1/3/2007 8:24:54 PM > Subject: Re: [GREATWAR] Kings's Own Scottish Borderers, 2nd Bn, 17 Dec 1914 > > On Tue, 2 Jan 2007 16:30:36 -0500, "Alice L McVearry" > <alcnwondr@earthlink.net> wrote: > > > Private James J. McVary, Service Number 9017, 2nd Batallion, King's Own > >Scottish Borderers, died on 17 Dec 1914. He is memorialized in Panel 22 of > >the Menin Gate, Ypres. > > > >I have 4 questions: > > > >(1) Would the timing of the death of Private James McVary put him in the > >First battle of Ypres? > >(2) If not, would someone be so kind as to tell me where this unit was on > >17 Dec 1914 and what battle they were engaged in? > > In case you didn't pick it up from Malcolm's post, note that he > appears to have died on 7th December, not the 17th. > > The 2nd Battalion was in the front line from 5th to 22nd Dec, and here > is an extract from Ray Westlake's "British Battalions in France & > Belgium 1914", which is based on the Battalion's War Diary: > > ----------- > December > Relieved by 2nd Duke of Wellington's (1st Dec). Located at Wulverghem, > Neuve Eglise, Dranoutre, Lindenhoek and St Janes Cappel. The War Diary > of 1st Bedfordshire Regiment records that they were relieved by 2nd > King's Own Scottish Borderers (5th Dec) and 3 officers and 200 men had > to remain in the trenches for 2 days as the Borderers were too weak to > hold the line. War Diary records attack on enemy (14th-16th Dec) and > for a 13-day period in the line more than 230 casualties. Battalion > was relieved in trenches north of the Wulverghem-Messines road by 2nd > Duke of Wellington's (22nd Dec) and at St Jans Cappel (25th) according > to War Diary - "did not fraternize with the enemy". Was at Neuve > Eglise on New Year's Eve." > ----------- > > The regimental history of the KOSB would give you a better > understanding of what the battalion was doing at the time, the main > one being "The KOSB in the Great War" by Captain Stair Gillon, 468 > pages. As it has been reprinted by the Naval & Military Press at > http://www.naval-military-press.com/catalogue/military-books/7434.htm > it is easy to get and not too expensive. > > >(3) If one is memorialized in the Menin Gate, does that mean he is among > >the thousands or tens of thousands who were buried where they fell and have > >no specific gravesite? > > The Menin Gate is a Memorial to the Missing, which covers two main > possibilities. First, the grave is missing, as might happen when a > soldier was properly buried at the time, with a grave marker, but over > the weeks and months that followed, the marker was destroyed and the > location of his grave was lost, and his body was never found. > Secondly, the soldier went missing, as might happen when he went into > battle with the rest of his unit, but when it came to call the roll > afterwards, he was found to be missing, and his body was never found. > If, after investigation, it was deemed that he has been killed, then > his name would be placed on the relevant Memorial to the Missing. > > Sometimes the date of such an assumed death can be fairly accurately > determined (eg an officer may have seen him at 6am, but not at 6pm), > whilst at other times the date of death has been much harder to > pinpoint. See, for example, the following CWGC entry for Pte Andrews, > who is also commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, which gives a > two-week window for his death: > > ------------------ > http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=910108 > > Name: ANDREWS, ARTHUR JAMES > Initials: A J > Nationality: United Kingdom > Rank: Private > Regiment/Service: Grenadier Guards > Unit Text: 1st Bn. > Date of Death: between 26/10/1914 and 08/11/1914 > Service No: 13422 > Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead > Grave/Memorial Reference: Addenda Panel 57. > Memorial: YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL > ------------------ > > In other cases, mainly for Egyptian and Indian personnel, the date of > death is much more vague, eg "between 04/08/1914 and 31/08/1921. > > Forrest > > -- > Forrest Anderson, Edinburgh, Scotland. > E-mail: forrest@military-researcher.com > Website: www.military-researcher.com > Forrestdale Research - Military Genealogical Researcher