David Crampin has shared with Centenary News a piece about the troopship Royal Edward, which was torpedoed by a German U-Boat on its way to the battlefields of Gallipoli, and his campaign to ensure the men who gave their lives receive equal and just recognition.
This year marks the centenary of the sinking of a troop ship bound for the Great War battlefield Gallipoli, with the loss of 860 British lives. When the war ended, many of those who died were awarded three campaign medals – but hundreds more missed out.
David Crampin and his American friend Jack Carlson from Ohio have spent years researching the story after finding inconsistencies when looking into the records of Sam Martin, one of the men who perished on the troopship. Private Samuel Martin was the grandfather of Carlson’s late wife Marjorie, and the great-uncle of Crampin’s wife Beryl in Watford.
Mr. Crampin, from Watford, sees this inconsistency as a great injustice and believes the time has finally come for the authorities to set matters right:
‘The rules at the time seemed to suggest that because these men were between theatres of war, travelling from the UK via Egypt on their way to Gallipoli they were excluded from receiving these medals. But if that was the case, why did a large number of other men get them? Surely they should all have been treated in the same way – they were on their way to war, keen to do their bit; why should have missed out when others got the medals they all deserved?’
Click here for the full article.
Posted by: Hannah Schneider, Centenary News