At the start of the war, my father Charles Beeks was a regular soldier in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) and was sent to the continent with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). He was attached to Major General Groves and travelled with him a lot. Charles Beeks later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and received his pilots wings, though the date of this is uncertain. It is believed that he transferred in 1916 and was undergoing training by 1917. He is believed to have undergone flight training in Egypt (flying an aircraft which I believe was a B2CE) and was confirmed by the Bishop of Jerusalem. He was not wounded in the war but did damage his Achilles tendon pushing lorries through the sand in Cairo. He also caught malaria there and was put in hospital; by the end, he weighed just 6 st. 11 lb. He was decorated and received the Distinguished Flying Medal, but I don't know why. I vaguely recollect that this may be related to putting a smokescreen over enemy trenches but this is uncertain. After the war, he served as the standard bearer for the Oxford branch of the Old Contemptibles Association (of BEF veterans). His standard is now held in the church of St Michael at the Northgate in Oxford. || Charles Beek's Distinguished Flying Medal certificate; certificates relating to his time in the Middle East (confirmation, advanced flying exams certificate).

5 medals 1 regiment photograph taken in Bulgaria. 1 kit bag. 1 platoon roll book 1 manual 2 telegrams to his mother postcards 1 roll book 1 field message book 1 tag for wounded man's kit 1 set of discharge papers. || Included are items belonging to Sgt. Bernard Martin, MM, Royal Irish Fusiliers, 5th Battalion, including: MC medal from 1917 for Gallipoli, Bulgaria and Palestine. He lost his sight in Palestine. 4 medals A regiment photograph taken in Bulgaria. A kit bag. A platoon roll book A manual (for grenade training?) 2 telegrams to his mother to say that he was ill (?) and out of danger. Hosptial Alexander. Postcards including 1 postcard photog of himself, 1 surgical ? Royal Victoria hospital Netley Roll book Field message book (notes complete) Tag for wounded man's kit Discharge papers.

Serbian Air Force pilot badge. || The Serbian Air Force was established in 1912, and the country was one of the first 15 states in the world to have an air force. In the First World War, the Serbian Air Force operated in Serbia and, later, the Salonika Front, where they fought alongside their comrades in the French Air Force. Serbian Air Force pilots wore this French-made (by 'Bizu Fix'), pilot's badge over their left breast pocket. Official regulations did not cover the wearing of this badge, but there are various photographs of Serbian pilots wearing this badge, and pilots would even sometimes wear a mixture of clothing in their missions that weren't official, regulation wear. The Serbian Air Force performed the first medevac (medical evacuation) operations in aviation history in November 1915 when they took wounded soldiers from Serbia to Corfu by air for medical treatment. The Serbian Air Force flew several thousand air sorties at this time and, it wasn't just the air that enemy pilots would have to watch out for, as the first ever shooting-down of an airplane in history by ground-based anti-aircraft (AA) fire was performed by the Serbian Army on 30 September 1915, with a dedicated AA unit which was part of an artillery regiment, over Kragujevac, Serbia. Today, the event is commemorated by the Serbian Army as the Day of Air Defense Artillery Units.