Silver War Badge Roll

The silver war badge was instituted in 1916, it was a silver badge worn by men who had been honourably discharged, ie wounded ,unfit, so that these men could walk the streets and show that they had done their bit, it was a sort of protection from abuse. These badges were individually numbered and came with a large certificate. the roll is very useful. The roll is also in book form and part of the WO329 series. The man could be looked up by two methods, that is taking the reference on the card index and going to the index and ordering the relevant document, each reference is unique and you keep turning the page until you come to that reference. Or if you have the badge to hand you can take the number from the back and look that up and it will give you a peice reference.

Taking the example of Moon we found his piece reference number was WO329/3044. The details from the pages alter with the regiment. From the left the service number, then the rank, name, and the unit discharged from, many men were returned home and discharged from the 3rd battalion or depot. Next column was the certificate and badge number (inscribed on the back of the badge). the next column gives entlistment date followed by discharge date and the relevant Kings regulations paragraph. In this case the age of the man on discharge is given, some rolls do not give this, the cause of discharge ie sick or wounds is listed and whether the man served overseas. Some units ie Grenedier Guards also give the precise wound or sickness. All in all a worthwhile roll to look up.