Dad's Army — What Are Sgt Wilson's Medals?

[00:00:00]He's the dreamy, sometimes absent-minded sergeant in Dad's Army who is constantly overshadowed by Captain Mainwaring. In fact, Sergeant Wilson obscures or hides his prior military service. And today, we're going to look at his military career and most importantly, his medals.

[00:00:22]>> [music] [music] >> Arthur Wilson came from a well-off background and was born around 1887, placing him in his mid-20s or so at the outbreak of the Great War. Wilson's father worked in the city and could afford to send him to exclusive public school or in America, I think it's termed private school. A fee-paying school anyway. Through his family, Wilson later inherits the title of the Honorable. Never especially ambitious, Wilson is content in his civilian life as the chief bank clerk at Swallow's Bank. There, in his day-to-day job, he is routinely bossed around by his manager, George Mainwaring, who also happens to command him in the Home Guard. Unlike Mainwaring, who is obsessed with military prestige and has an insecurity about his lack of combat experience during the First World War, Wilson plays down his time in the Great War. During that conflict, Wilson in fact served in the Royal Artillery. And in one episode, when Captain Square asked about his service, Wilson casually replies that he fought just the Germans, suggesting he served on the Western Front. This is in contrast to Mainwaring, who at the outbreak of war was turned away due to his bad eyesight.

[00:01:49]Later in the war, when standards were dropped, Mainwaring would enter service, but only serving in the Orkney Islands and later in the army of occupation once the war had ended. Technically, he should have still been awarded some form of campaign or service medal, but in Dad's Army, Mainwaring hasn't been awarded any of these medals. With Wilson aged in his 20s at the outbreak of the Great War, it's likely he had a professional career, perhaps in the city beforehand in finance. As a former educated public schoolboy, like thousands of others of a similar background to him, out of a sense of duty, it's likely he volunteered for service soon after the outbreak of the war.

[00:02:30]It's worth noting that approximately 35,000 former public schoolboys were killed during the First World War.

[00:02:39]Roughly 18% of those who enlisted or served.

[00:02:44]The national average was 11%.

[00:02:48]And within Eton, it was even higher, just over 20% killed.

[00:02:52]Private Pike idolizes his Uncle Arthur, who is widely believed to be Wilson's son. Wilson has had a long relationship with Mavis Pike, and gossip in the town suggests they both arrived in Walmington-on-Sea around the same time from Weston-super-Mare. They may have eloped or lived together unofficially.

[00:03:14]Wilson also has an adult daughter from an earlier relationship.

[00:03:18]In the final episode of Dad's Army, Never Too Old, Lance Corporal Jones finally marries Mrs. Fox, and he asks Wilson to be his best man.

[00:03:29]Wilson turns up at the wedding in his World War I army uniform, which shows he was the rank of captain.

[00:03:37]On his uniform, he shows his military ribbons from the Great War, which are the standard trio known as Pip, Squeak, and Wilfred.

[00:03:47]During the First World War, the Royal Artillery expanded into a vast and highly technical force, growing to over 300,000 men by 1917.

[00:03:58]It was divided into three main branches: the Royal Field Artillery, which provided mobile support to infantry, the Royal Garrison Artillery, which operated heavy long-range guns, and the Royal Horse Artillery, which supported cavalry units.

[00:04:15]The Royal Field Artillery was the largest branch, using 18-pounder guns and 4.5-in howitzers to support front-line troops. In total, just under 50,000 artillerymen were killed during the war, including approximately 3,000 officers. Many deaths were caused by enemy counter-battery fire, though dangers also came from gun malfunctions and the constant exposure to cordite and explosives.

[00:04:44]Even those who survived often suffered long-term hearing damage. Wilson's medals are likely a 1914-15 Star rather than a 1914 Star, as I'm guessing Wilson was a civilian before the war and likely didn't see service in France until 1915, once he had completed some form of training.

[00:05:06]We've covered this medal before, so I thought I'd try and look up some more interesting facts around it, and it's made up of 92% bronze and 8% zinc.

[00:05:16]The medal was awarded for those that served in any theater between August 1914 and December 1915.

[00:05:24]Eventually, around 2.3 million were produced, with 71,500 roughly going to Canadian units.

[00:05:34]His second medal is the British War Medal.

[00:05:37]Over 6 million of these were produced in silver and 251,000 in bronze.

[00:05:44]Medals to army officers did not name the regiments. Medals to other ranks give number, rank, name and unit. For the Navy, it's number, rating name followed by RN or RNR, etc. Royal Navy Reserve.

[00:06:01]Single medals with name only were often awarded to Merchant Navy, canteen staff like the NAAFI, and civilian nurses, etc. To save money, the medal was also made so it couldn't be swiveled, which gave it an incredible 50% saving when being produced. Those not qualified to wear the Victory Medal and who were awarded the Mention in Dispatches wore it on this ribbon. His last medal is the Victory Medal, 1914 to 1919.

[00:06:31]Interestingly, Woolwich Arsenal distributed 5,334,522 Victory Medals.

[00:06:41]Around 4.2 million went to the War Office, 100,000 to the Air Ministry, and just over 750,000 were sent to India unnamed. Unlike the British War Medal, the Victory Medal was never issued singly. Another million Victory Medals were also struck by Wright and Son in Edgeware.

[00:07:03]Those that were mentioned in Dispatches between August 1914 and August 1920 were allowed to wear an oak leaf emblem on the ribbon.

[00:07:13]If that sparked your interest and you'd like to explore another fascinating award like the India General Service Medal 1854, then it's time to dive deeper and also support the channel.

[00:07:24]Pick up a copy of Class of Courage and uncover the stories behind the medals, the campaigns across Burma, the Northwest Frontier, Persia, and even modern-day Malaysia. The Amazon link is in the channel description.

[00:07:39]Unless we cover Captain Mainwaring, which I don't think it'd would a very long video. I think pretty much now we've covered all the main primary characters from Dad's Army and their medals. And that includes Private Frazer, Captain Square, and Lance Corporal Jones. So, check out my archives if you're interested in them.

[00:07:58]Thanks for watching. I hope you found some value from this, and I'll see you in the next one.