A good site for WW1 is "The Long, Long Trail" website www.1914-1918.net .  I looked at what they had on the RGA and several companies were based at Sandown - I didn't check right down the list but the ones I saw were engaged in coastal defences.  If you can track down his medal record on the National Archives website you can download it for a small charge and find out which company he was in.  There are also WW1 war diaries downloadable from the National Archives website so you can also find out exactly what was happening in the company he was in at the time he was there (I think the information in the diaries is pretty variable though - some are more detailed than others).  I am going by my own research into my grandfather who was not in the RGA so apologies if this is not correct for the RGA! Regards, Joy ________________________________ From: jmglover <jmglover@tpg.com.au> To: Isle-of-Wight@rootsweb.com Sent: Sunday, 18 April, 2010 12:39:01 Subject: [IoW] Sandown : Parkhurst Military Hospital Good morning everyone,     My husband's father was with the Royal Garrison Artillery in WW1, and spent time at Sandown, he was there 1-3-1914, possibly for up to 1 year. Could someone please suggest some links for me to check out to find out what he would have been doing there, was it something like coastal defence?     He spent some time in Parkhurst Military Hospital during May 1914, can I find any references to this place online please? Google has failed to help me with references to it in 1914. Many thanks, Jill Brisbane.               ************************************** You can contact the Isle of Wight List Administrator by emailing: Isle-of-Wight-Admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ISLE-OF-WIGHT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message