William Leslie SAWYER b c1895 B'ham - WW1

[fullscott]

Some BADLY DAMAGED pages mis-filed in the MAR section of the WW1 Service Records (WO 363):

William Leslie SAWYER joined the RFA (Regt No. 14460) on 3 January 1913, declared age 17y 3m, born Kings Heath, Warwickshire.

Sadly, no other information.

Anc****y, MAR, pages 77-93

[Lesley Robertson]

From the medal cards (he has 2 cards, same info and they were linked by the army)
14460 Driver WL Sawyer 44 Bde RFA. He had the 14 Star and the Victory & British.

Qualified for the 14 Star (ie got to the Front) 16 Aug 1914.

His records are on Anc.
His occupation was a new one for me - brush boring.
Father William, wife Edith Gertrude Long mar 26 Dec 1918
Deployment France(1914), Italy (1917), France (1919), Home (1920 - I think)


There's 2 sets of scans for him. More pages in the second set (as Anc listed them) including something in the medals decorations, etc, for bravery in the field on 9.12.16, but I can't read the relating text.

He was registered AWOL on 21 May 1918 (includes a list of what he was wearing & carrying when he vanished, down to his unmentionables. There's a couple of pages of notes from the enquiry, I can't work out what the conclusion was, but he got his medals so can't have ended up as a deserter.... "Rejoined and awaiting disposal in close arrest" 12 Nov 1918. I think he might have turned up in hospital in Plymouth at some point - handwriting awful. "To duty"1 May 1919.

He seems to have been re-enlisted, is a medial form from 16.4.1920 declaring him fit for service at home, discharged 3.7.1921

There's 66 pages in the bundle, many blank, but much more info.