INJURY IDENTIFICATION

[steve140968]

Can anybody please help me with some abbreviations on my Grandfathers discharge papers ? Would i be right in thinking that G.S.Wd. R thigh , side & elbow would have mean't gun shot wound ? His son was under the impression that he was discharged because of shrapnel wounds to these parts , if so what would the 'G' have stood for ? Any help would be great , cheers .

Steve.

[Tom Morgan]

Steve - GSW or GSWd were used to denote bullet wounds as well as shrapnel wounds or shell-fragment wounds. The object was not to report exactly what caused the wound, just what kind of wound it was and where on the body it was.

Tom

[steve140968]

Tom , thanks for the info . Would you know that as he was discharged on 18/03/1918 due to his wounds , would there be any way in which i could trace when & in which battle he received these wounds , cheers ?

Steve.

[Tom Morgan]

Steve, others know more than me about this kind of thing and also about if and where such info might be recorded. My guess would be that it might be impossible to say. Clearly the wounds were serious enough to prevent any further military service, but we don't know how long it took for the medical authorities to make that recommendation. The medical discharge might have come after many months of treatment, or just a few weeks.

Tom

[steve140968]

Tom , thanks for your help .

Steve.

[hmsk212]

Steve

If your grandfather's Service Records have survived there will probably be a reference to the date he was wounded in amongst the papers.

Steve

[steve140968]

Steve,

that's great , do you think that this would also show the battle in which he received the wounds ? Or do you think that this may be shown in the rolls for the SWB which he received ? Thanks again mate .

Steve.

[salientguide]

Steve if you can identify his battalion and discover the date of wounding then the battalion war diary, SWB museummay have a copy or probably at National Archive Kew, will tell you where the battalion was at that date and what it was doing, wether part of a particular battle or action etc.

Tom is correct about GSW but this would generally refer specifically to a bullet wound which has a typical appearance of small round hole , entry wound and larger exit wound if bullet has exited. Shrapnel fragments etcc would generally be larger irregular lacerations. A good clean bullet wound passing through and not causing much damage on the way was the ideal "Blighty One", unlikely to cause infection. that so many prayed for. Of course the problem was for so many it did cause a great deal of damage on the way or ricocheting around.

SG

[steve140968]

SG ,

thanks for the lead , lets hope that my grandfathers service records survived . I am visiting Kew next week , so hopefully the mystery will un-raval , thanks again .

Steve.