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Does anyone know what this means?

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ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Dawn

Dawn Report 24 Jan 2005 16:00

I have my grandmothers marriage certificate from 1947 and her occupation is written down as: Private w/335760 ATS does anyone know what this means and where i can possibly find more information on it. Dawn

Fairy

Fairy Report 24 Jan 2005 16:04

Sounds as though she was in the army. Jo.

PinkDiana

PinkDiana Report 24 Jan 2005 16:04

Sounds like that to me too!!

Val

Val Report 24 Jan 2005 16:04

She is in the AIR TRAINING SERVICE?CORP

Andrea

Andrea Report 24 Jan 2005 16:05

I just googled and got this website..... might help you. http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/corps/WRAC.htm Andrea

Ramblin Rose

Ramblin Rose Report 24 Jan 2005 16:06

Yes Dawn,Your Gran was a private in the Women's Territorial Army.They did sterling good work during the last war 1939 onwards. I have a cousin who also served in the ATS IF YOU WOULD LIKE SOME INFO,BUT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET WHAT YOU NEED FROM YOUR LIBRARY REF,SECTION. Your Gran must have been a great lass-Rose

Dawn

Dawn Report 24 Jan 2005 16:08

Thanks you lot, greatly appreciated. Dawn

Heather

Heather Report 24 Jan 2005 16:09

Found this on google; Auxiliary Territorial Service Heather

Brian

Brian Report 24 Jan 2005 16:26

Hi Dawn, I think that the answer to your query is that, yes, those details relate to military service during World War Two, as others have said. The complete answer is (in my opinion) as follows: the letter "w" followed by a number refers to her army number (all military personnel are issued a number, which is theirs for the duration of their miltary service). Private was her rank, W is for woman. Therefore you have "Private woman/335760 Auxiliary Territorial Service". Although the war ended in 1945, a good many servicemen and women were kept in readiness for any other hostilities which may have occured (there was a lot of friction between the western allies and the USSR, immediately after the war, in fact, a war almost started between the west and their former allies....it was a close call at the time!). That may explain why your grandma was still in military service in 1947. If that's not correct I'll eat my beret! Brian, ;-)

Dawn

Dawn Report 24 Jan 2005 16:36

Thanks Bryan, really interesting. Dawn

Len of the Chilterns

Len of the Chilterns Report 25 Jan 2005 22:48

When I was in HAA (Heavy Artillery) in WW2 there were a number of ATS serving in various roles. I believe it stood for Auxillary Territorial Service and was, in effect, the army but for women. They wore khaki uniform like the men. They could do everything the men did except the heavy lifting (and, of course, being able to safely pee out of the window of a moving train). The war with Germany ended in '45 but went on a year longer with Japan and all occupied territory had to be garrisoned for years after so demob was a gradual process. There was also quite a confrontation with the USSR. My brother in the RAF was called up in '39 and demobbed in '47. Len