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Hi all,

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As we go to press, it has come to my attention that in April the MOD intends to destroy some 6 million records of medals issued to WW1 personnel. I think you will agree that we cannot let them do so.
Our military expert Paul Reed has been looking into the matter and it appears that the private facility used by the MOD to hold the records at Hayes wants to relocate and charge the MOD for moving the cards. The MOD's response is to get rid of the 140 filing cabinets that contain the 4x6 cards. The National Archives doesn't want to take on the cards because it has already microfiched them and the microfiche has been digitally scanned
(see www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk).

This isn't good enough. This is the only complete and untouched recordof First World War soldiers left. Other service records were burned during WW2. Only the fronts of the cards have been scanned and we believe that written on the back of many of these cards is the address that the medals were sent to.
Often, it isn't possible to determinewhether the record of the medals issued relates to your ancestor or another person without checking this address.

First, the cards need to be preserved.
They then need to be scannedproperly, front and back, and re-indexed.
If the National Archiveswon't step in, perhaps someone else will. The Imperial War Museum? TheVeteran's Association?

The MOD claims its holds copyright on the cards and that it can do what it wishes with them. I'd argue that these cards are part of the nation's heritage. They are public records, and I'd remind the MOD that the descendants of WW1 soldiers pay their taxes.
The cards remind us of the enormous sacrifice and loss incurred by men and women in this country during WW1, and of their bravery in adversity. They enable the children and grandchildren of those who died, and those who survived, tofind out some ofthe lost details of their forebears.
To save the cards we must take action.

We're instituting a campaign to urge the Minister of Defence, Geoff Hoon, and the Director of theNational Archives, Sarah Tyacke, to prevent the destruction of theserecords straight away.

Address your letter to us and we'll pass it onto these authorities:
Rt Hon Geoff Hoon & Sarah Tyacke
Save the Medal Index Cards
c/o Your Family Tree
30 Monmouth Street
Bath BA1 2BW

Alternatively, send an email headed 'Save the Medal Index Cards' to us at yfted@futurenet.co.uk . Do it now - the records are due to bedestroyed in April.

Garrick Webster,Editor, Your Family Tree"

End of quote

I apologise for typos in the above.
As we know now that the 1911 censusis in one almighty mess with the enumerator's books lost and the household schedules badly damaged, the thought of yet another valuable -priceless - resource being deliberately destroyed is beyond belief.

Such destruction will prevent those following in our footsteps in familyhistory research in generations to come from achieving their goals.

If you wish to post this to other lists, please feel free to use theabove.

==== GENBRIT Mailing List ====
REGISTRATION DISTRICTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES (1837-1930)
http://www.fhsc.org.uk/genuki/reg/

http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk/whats-new.asp

First World War records online

British War Medal

You can search the index cards to the in the First World War Medal Rolls online. As almost every officer and soldier, man and woman who saw active service overseas received a campaign medal, it forms the most complete "roll-call" of those who served.

• Search the medals by name, corps, rank or regimental number - check the table below for latest availability.
• Learn more about the Medal Rolls Index, including: the information you can find out from the medal card, what the qualifications were for campaign medals, along with images of the medals.
• Read biographies of some famous people, who received campaign medals, beginning with the Rt Hon Clement Attlee, British Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951, and the author of "The Thirty-Nine Steps", John Buchan.
  British War Medal
• 
  You can search the index cards to the in the First World War Medal Rolls online. As almost every officer and soldier, man and woman who saw active service overseas received a campaign medal, it forms the most complete "roll-call" of those who served.
• 
  Search the medals by name, corps, rank or regimental number - check the table below for latest availability.
• 
  Learn more about the Medal Rolls Index, including: the information you can find out from the medal card, what the qualifications were for campaign medals, along with images of the medals.
• 
  Read biographies of some famous people, who received campaign medals, beginning with the Rt Hon Clement Attlee, British Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951, and the author of "The Thirty-Nine Steps", John Buchan.