John Charles Bartram served with The Sherwood Foresters during the Great War (1914-1918). He received the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) for service rendered in Italy, as recorded in the London Gazette on the 3rd of June 1918. In the Gazette it is stated that John was part of the 1st Battalion, who did not serve in Italy. The only Forester Battalion to serve in Italy was the 11th, so John must have transferred battalions to have been part of the 1st Battalion in June 1918. 

However, John is further recorded as being part of the 2/6th Battalion, not the 11th. It is therefore difficult to ascertain where John was during his service in the Great War. 

All that is known about John’s whereabouts during the Great War is that he arrived in France on the 25th of August 1915 (around the same time as the 11th Battalion), he served in Italy to be awarded his MSM and he was a Prisoner of War (POW) at Altmark concentration camp.