TOPIC:

First post on this site...
Pvt John McNamara (1880-1920) served in the 1st Battalion Staffs Regiment in the 2nd BW through WW1, being discharged in 1916. (Thanks to the Staffs Reg Museum in Litchfield.) Among the 2 BW and 1 WW1 medal I inherited was the one shown in the attached pix. Can anyone steer me to info on what it is, where it was awarded and what he had to do to earn it. I'm open to the possibility that the 1313 stamped on the reverse aligns with James, his younger brother's achievement as they all arrived in the same box. (My grandfather, Thomas, was born between the 2 veterans and came to USA in 1913 from Wednesbury.)





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Hi
I believe it is the Taiwanese Order of the Cloud and Banner. (Resplendent Banner) .Perhaps 7th class of this order. Instituted in 1935 , 9 classes, for contributions to national security. WW2 period .
Regards
Adrian

Welcome to the Forum & Good Morning from Pembrokeshire in Wales, although I could have said South Staffordshire calling South Staffordshire. Smethwick, where I spent the formative years of my life, is about 6 miles SE of Wednesbury.

On my “Men of Smethwick” database I have 40 men who served in the Second Boer War in the 1st Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment. About half a dozen have the same medal configuration as Private 5539 John McNamara – Queen’s South Africa Medal with Cape Colony, Transvaal & Wittebergen Clasps attached plus the King’s South Africa Medal with South Africa 1901 & South Africa 1902 Clasps attached.

I have also visited your impressive Public Family Tree on Ancestry and need to point out two things about the medal photo you have attached to John’s profile – the new ribbons on the QSAM & KSAM are the wrong way round and the two date clasps belonging to the KSAM appear to have gone missing.

I have also looked for John’s attestation papers & service records on Find My Past where they should be but cannot find them – this may be down to a transcription error and I will have another look this evening.

Regards, David.

Btw I entirely agree with Adrian's identification above and have also noted they were first awarded in 1935 and Dwight D Eisenhower was awarded one.

Edit - just looked at the medal photo again and on closer examination I think the ribbon has been looped over the two date clasps.

Nice to hear from you, Smethwick. I recognized the name and was reminded of my visit to their library in 2010, when I located my granduncle's wedding date in 1919 using microfilm of St. Mary's On-the-Hill records.
I agree with you and Adrian regarding the name of the medal in my post. Now I need to find out who maintains the book crossing the 1313 number to an individual. It seems the "mystery medal" involves a mystery vet, who may be an ancestor - or not.
Further, I agree I'll have to switch the ribbons on the 2 medals you cited. Finally, your observation regarding the date clasps prompted me to realize that the photo posted to my Ancestry tree was taken when the ribbon was showing the back side. In other words the SA1901 and 1902 clasps are attached.
Now to see if I can find your database...

Afraid using all the dodges to overcome a mis-transcription I cannot find John McNamara's service records. As he also served in WW1 and his service records for that conflict seem to have gone AWOL, I suspect the two sets were amalgamated at some time and then lost in the WW2 fire at the records office.

The link below leads to a post I made a couple of years ago about one of "my" Smethwickians who served in the 1st South Staffs and as you will see was awarded exactly the same medal configuration as John. I went to the trouble because he wrote 3 letters home which his brother passed on to the editor of the local newspaper (Smethwick Telephone) who in turn published extracts. So it should give you another angle on John's experiences in SA in addition to what you have learnt from the SSR Museum.

www.angloboerwar.com/forum/11-research/3...shire-regiment#82371

Progress report -
We've identified the medal shown at the top of the attached photo, leaving me to establish what name corresponds to number 1313 on the reverse side of it.
Otherwise, this new photo shows my guess as to the order of precedence of the medals (before I switch the fragile ribbons/clasps on medals 1 and 2). I invite the brain trust on this forum to educate this Yank.
Recapping, John McNamara (1880-1920) appears to have earned medals 1-5 for service in the 2nd Boer War and WW1. (Medals 4 & 5 have his name and.service number on them). His younger brother James (1893-1965) served as a driver in the Royal Field Artillery (Regtl No 100726) before moving to America in 1922. The Taiwanese medal was probably earned by someone if he served after 1935 when the medal was first awarded.
Best wishes,
Cliff