RWF in Shanghai 1937

**jacobscrackers** · 24-04-2015, 20:23

Hi guys
Back again with a puzzle for you and also thanks for the birthday wishes you sent.

I have a distant relative that I know very little about. His name was Patrick F Ryan and he was in the RWF in Shanghai around 1937. I have no idea of his DOB or where he was born - this is what I would actually like to know. I have a medal of his, which I am aware is a "spoof" medal - brown and yellow ribbon, Soochow Creek 1937. So I know about the medal as there is plenty on the net about it. I know that he was in Conwy in 1940 as he married then, in uniform, Lance Cpl. Does anyone have access to records that might indicate his date and place of birth please. He had no children, so nobody around to ask. Many thanks.
Chris

**ap1** · 24-04-2015, 21:33

All the Patrick and F Ryans on the Tyler Database are attested into the regiment post-1939. How did you obtain his battalion, full name and China service? Do you know who he served with during the war? There is a Frank Ryan, who joined in 1934, but he was a reservist who ended up in the RA.

**jacobscrackers** · 24-04-2015, 22:41

Thanks for responding. I have a photo of Pat Ryan in his uniform - cap badge RWF. I am saying that he was in Shanghai around 1937 because he had the Soochow Creek medal with his name inscribed on it, so he must have been there about then. His wife was born in 1915, so I guess he would have been born somewhere around then, I just don't know where. Ancestry is not really giving me anything solid, certainly no military record. My husband says that the RWF were in Shanghai in 37 with the American Marines, according to the book he has. I assume the photo of him in uniform with his wife was taken at their wedding in 1940

**ap1** · 24-04-2015, 23:11

I'll double check the enlistment register, hopefully next week. Have you applied for their marriage certificate? Might be some clues on there.

**roy dadge** · 10-12-2019, 17:09

My father was in Shanghai in Christmas 1937 and recalled that the RWF played Rugby against the US Marines providing them with a meal afterwards then he played in a return match of American Football on Boxing Day and the Americans provided the festivities afterwards. Attached is the front page of the Walla Walla the American Marines Magazine of the 23rd January 1938 recording the cordial relations between the two groups with a copy of the 1937 Christmas Dinner Menu signed by various members of the RWF. It is difficult but I wondered if the community could decipher the names?

Kind regards

Roy