Genealogy Chat

I want to send off for my Father's Army Records. (WW11)
I have no idea when or why he was discharged (rumour has it that it was on medical grounds).

He served in two different Regiments.

Will I be able to get all his Records (for both Regiments) from enlistment to discharge?

Many thanks,

M. Steer

The service records themselves follow a similar pattern to those for WW1, with enlistment forms known as Attestationm Papers, which were filled in when a soldier joined up, they give basics such as place of birth, apparent age, home address, trade and any previous military service. a physical description of the soldier is given but tyhe most important part of the file is the casualty form - active service, which shows the movemens of the soldier during his service overseas, these enable you to see when and where a man fought, and thus what battled and campaigns he took part in, service records also contain medical records which show when soldier was wounded, went sick, was killed in action or died of wounds or illness, for those who survived, the final parts are the discharge papers, showing when and where the man was discharged, there may also be mention of pension awards if the soldier was entitled

the above is an extract taken from "The complete guide to military records" free with October issue 56 of Your Family Tree

Stephanie

Hi Margret,

You need the Veterans UK web site this will tell you all you need to apply for service records, the site is:

http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/service_records.html

Frank

Thankyou both,

M. Steer

Hi Margaret,
We applied for my Grandfathers WW11 army records last year with no service number, we sent his Marriage cert, my mothers birth cert, and his birth cert, along with the last know posting by us.
Maybe we were lucky we recieved all info back in 8 weeks

Frankie

Thank you, Frances, for that encouraging info. I've been wondering how on earth I could obtain several ancestor's records when I've no idea what their service numbers were.

Just to add a bit more info to this, from those army records we actually found my mothers half sister, which neither of them knew existed, so any info you have, birth, marriage, death certs and any info on where relative was posted, send it all in, you could be lucky.

Good luck

Frances

My wife has just bought the 'Your Family Tree' magazine (as quoted from by Stephanie previously in this thread).

It's well worth the £5 for all the info it has on military records going all the way back to pre-Victorian service.

Check it out for yourselves!

Steve