Military Chat

I would love to fid the army records of my late father Sidney James Checksfield, born 1899 and died 1977. He tried to enlist at the outbreak of the first war, in the Buffs, with his brother Frederick Horace Checksfield who was killed in Belgium. Dad later joined the Queens regiment (The Buffs ) Kent Regiment. He did speak of India and Palestime at some time in the past to me. Any help please.
Ray Checksfield.

Is this his medal card? :-

First name(s) S
Last name Checksfield
Service number 6077024, 12488
Rank Private
Corps The Queen's Regiment
Service record Soldier Number: 6077024, Rank: Private, Corps: The Queen's Regiment
Service record 2 Soldier Number: 12488, Rank: Private, Corps: The Queen's Regiment
Archive reference WO372/4
Archive reference description Campaign Medal Index Cards and Silver War Badge Cards
Country Great Britain
Image link http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D1775461
Record set World War One British Army medal index cards
Category Military, armed forces & conflict
Subcategory First World War
Collections from Great Britain

If so then there are no other records on Findmypast for him so it is likely that his service records were among the 70% of records that were destroyed in a fire during WW2.

Kath. x

This looks like his brother:-

Soldiers died in the Great War 1914-1919

First name(s) FREDERICK HORACE
Last name CHECKSFIELD
Service number T/240552
Rank CPL.
Regiment Buffs (East Kent Regiment)
Battalion 1st Battalion.
Birth place THROWLEY, KENT
Residence PLUCKLEY, KENT
Enlistment place ASHFORD, KENT
Death year 1918
Death day 8
Death month 5
Cause of death Killed in action
Death place France & Flanders
Theatre of war Western European Theatre
Supplementary Notes -
Category Military, armed forces & conflict
Subcategory First World War
Collections from Great Britain

Kath. x

There are the service records for a Sidney Edward Checksfield from Kent if he is related in some way.

Kath. x

From Ancestry

Surrey, England, Regimental Rolls, 1914-1947
Name: Sydney James Checksfield
Birth Year: abt 1900
Birth Place: Brook Ashford Kent
Event Date: 15 Mar 1919
Event Place: Clipstone
Age: 19
Regiment Number: 6077024
Other Regiment Number: 12488

From image
Age on enlistment 19 3/12
Occ Farm Labourer

NOK Father Alfred.
(looks like) Mundy Bois, Egerton, Pluckley

Awarded India G S Medal 1908. Clasp Wazviestan?? 1919
Discharged Hounslow 31 2 21
Reason – T of E (possibly term of engagement) para 393 (xxi) KR.
Private – V Good character
Address on Discharge Thorn Cottage, Pluckley, Kent

Record over printed – Original docs destroyed


Regiment: Queen's Royal West Surrey

Over 70% of the 'normal' full service records for WW1 were destroyed during WW2 bombing
..........

The India General Service Medal

Not really a campaign medal as such, but as some battle or campaign clasps were issued we include it here for completeness. It was instituted in 1909 for service on the Indian frontiers and elsewhere. The medal was not issued without one or more of the clasps.

In the period relevant to the Long, Long Trail, clasps issued included “Afghanistan NWF, 1919”, “Mahsud, 1919-1920” and “Waziristan, 1919-1921”.

http://tinyurl.com/ha5me4b

Welcome to the Community boards Raymond.


(I'll let Raymond know how to find his replies) :-)

Thank you Kath. That's the right man and that is his brother Frederick Horace. I have most of his records. Sydney was in India then. The day he passed away , I found in his bedside cabinet a postcard of a cemetery in India and further investigations found that quite a few soldiers from the Buffs were buried there.