WW1 Medical board of inquiry - wound to left forearm

[Danger]

Hey Guys,

Can anyone help with this please?
I can get more information if needed.
My friend asked this question:

Ok I hope some of you ww1 experts may be able to help? I am off to Gallipoli 2015 and have been doing more research into family members who served in ww1. It turns out the not only did my grandfather serve the whole of ww1 & ww2 and his brother (my great uncle) who was killed in France but have also found 2 other great uncles that served. So 3 great uncles so far!! My question is that one of them was in the 2nd wave at the landing at Gallipoli and was wounded on 8/5/1915 at Gallipoli with a gun shot wound to left forearm. There appears there was a medical board of inquiry, does this mean self inflicted wound? Not that I blame him if it was! Can anyone help me with this?

Thanks.

[Jerry B]

It appears that a self inflicted wound was suspected, do you know what the result of the inquiry was? I have read of friends shooting each other or doing it yourself or leaving your arm above the parapet. Who knows what any of us would have done back then, even the bravest loose it some days under continual shellfire, snipers, machineguns, the death of friends etc.......

[Danger]

Thanks Anon.
I will ask her.
She is on my Gallipoli tour next year and it's a tough question.
I will try and get more details like his age etc...

[Danger]

He was 20 years old.
He got sent home in 1915 and joined up again in 1917 but deserted before going overseas.
Looks like he had seen enough for a life time.
He had PTS and became estranged and lived as a hermit alcoholic till he died.

[Wagriff]

Hardly surprising. "Gallant Gallipoli" was Hell on Earth... Do a Google search with search terms of 4 words of
Gallipoli self inflicted gunshots
...there is no end to the self inflicted wounds just to get Out of there alive...

[Jerry B]

He was 20 years old.
He got sent home in 1915 and joined up again in 1917 but deserted before going overseas.
Looks like he had seen enough for a life time.
He had PTS and became estranged and lived as a hermit alcoholic till he died.

So sad but understandable, Gallipoli really was hell on earth.

[thorne83]

Would be easier to tell if you can copy the relevant pages from his service file. To me it sounds like it could just be the standard "proceedings of a medical board" who examined wounded soldiers "for the purpose of examining and reporting upon the present state of health of..." (i.e. to establish if they were medically fit to return to service/be discharged from service and also for pension purposes).

Cheers, Tom

[RSVBiffer]

So sad but understandable, Gallipoli really was hell on earth.

Interestingly my grandfather was at Gallipoli, The Somme Nov 15 & Jan 16 and Passchendaele, they didn't come much worse than those three, and it was only Passchendaele that he passed comment on (one of his very few comments) and the atrocious conditions. He did say the Turks were the best fighters on the planet.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

A medical board of enquiry doesn't necessarily mean that any wrong-doing was suspected. If he was accidentally shot by another member of his unit - which did happen, then the circumstances surrounding the incident would have to be investigated. In May 1916, there was an incident in the front line when two soldiers from the Accrington Pals were killed by the same bullet which was accidentally fired by another soldier who had just finished cleaning his rifle. Fast-forward to more recent times, and in early 1972, I was getting myself ready to relieve a guard at our quarters in Andersonstown in Northern Ireland. The guard whom I was due to relieve entered our quarters to make sure that I was awake. He stood next to me while I was sat on my foot-locker putting my boots on. The next instance is that there is an almighty bang, and he had shot himself through the foot. There was a board of enquiry into that too!

[Danger]

My Dad was in Northern Ireland in 73 and 75. 137th Java.