Looking for my grandfather in WW1.

[wendythomas]

My grandfather's name was William Edwin Thomas,born on the 12th of March 1897,at 11Tredafydd,Penygroes,Caernarvonshire,North Wales.I've found a person of the same name on find my past,but don't know if it is him,they don't give his address or date of birth.according to find my past he was in the Leicestershire Regiment,a service number is down as 52136.There was an article in the local newspaper saying he was wounded in France in 1916.

[peter nicholl]

Hi Wendy and welcome to the Forum. Have you looked at the Silver War Badge section on Find My Past? The chap you mention was wounded twice and awarded a Silver War Badge.

[wendythomas]

Hi Wendy and welcome to the Forum. Have you looked at the Silver War Badge section on Find My Past? The chap you mention was wounded twice and awarded a Silver War Badge.

Thanks,yes I have seen that,it has no address or date of birth for him,it could be someone else.

[christanel]

Welcome to the Brit-Gen forums
It is going to be very difficult (impossible) to identify soldier William Edwin Thomas 52136 as your grandfather. There were 3 William Edwin Thomas births registered in England and Wales in 1897 alone. I haven't looked at other years.
60 % plus of WW1 service records were destroyed by bombing/fire in WW11 and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a surviving record for soldier Thomas 52316 which would allow us to identify him.
Also to be taken in to account is that some soldiers didn't use their middle names and some swapped their names around so it is not easy trying to identify them if no regiment or regiment number is known.
Sadly sometimes we just can't get a definite answer.
When did your grandfather marry? Was it during the war years? I ask because if they were serving at marriage sometimes the certificate gives the regiment they served in.

Christina

[peter nicholl]

Wendy
Which local paper and what was the date of issue?
Peter

[Lesley Robertson]

It might be worth checking the medal index cards to who many WET there are as soldiers, and whether (as sometimes happens) a family member is mentioned.