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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: blinky on Sunday 26 August 12 12:59 BST (UK)

Title: ww2
Post by: blinky on Sunday 26 August 12 12:59 BST (UK)
could someone tell me the best place to search ww2 records i have  name,death date,and service number but would love to find out as much as i can about my great uncle
leonard victor longman
18/10/1940 death
service no 2031636
buried in st catherines ,wickford
i would love to get his service records,but wasnt a lot lost in a fire??
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: andycand on Sunday 26 August 12 13:25 BST (UK)
Hi

WW2 Service Records are still held by the Ministry of Defence. The link below has information about copies.

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

It was about 60% of WW1 Service Records lost in a fire during WW2

Andy
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: blinky on Sunday 26 August 12 13:33 BST (UK)
thankyou for the link x
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: Ruskie on Sunday 26 August 12 13:36 BST (UK)
War diaries may also be a good source of information. These are available at The National Archives at Kew.
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: blinky on Sunday 26 August 12 21:01 BST (UK)
thankyou x
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: steviebyday on Monday 27 August 12 13:17 BST (UK)
  seems he was a sergeant, royal engineers R.A. died 18/10/1940.  theatre of war/ united kingdom.
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: Jerry-Lee on Tuesday 09 October 12 23:10 BST (UK)
Blinky

Hi. Can I ask what your interest is in Leonard Victor LONGMAN please. I ask as I am writing about local fallen heroes who are buried in our Districts graveyards.

Jerry-Lee
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: Ruskie on Wednesday 10 October 12 02:58 BST (UK)
Welcome to rootschat Jerry-Lee.

Quote from: Jerry-Lee on Tuesday 09 October 12 23:10 BST (UK)
Blinky
Hi. Can I ask what your interest is in Leonard Victor LONGMAN please.


Blinky said that Leonard is his great uncle.  :)
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: Jerry-Lee on Wednesday 10 October 12 13:01 BST (UK)
Blinky

Hi. I am an author who writes both fiction and non-fiction books. I am currently researching another book which I am in the process of writing about the fallen heroes who are buried in our local graveyards ( I live in Basildon) and I came across your Great Uncles name.

I dont want the book to be just a collection of names and dates, I want it to be human. I want it to include as much information about as many of them as possible.

If you have any stories or pictures you could share with me that would be really good. Do you have the circumstances which led to how your great Uncle died at all.

Jerry-Lee (Stephen Wynn)
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: katiespitfire on Monday 19 November 12 23:18 GMT (UK)
I guess you've seen this?

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=2427658&GRid=80966324&

The first soldier from Wickford to die during the 2nd World War was Sergeant Longman. He was serving with the 514 Searchlight Battery at Yelverlon. On that fateful night, their searchlight picked out a German bomber and followed it across the sky. One of the avoiding actions a hostile plane could make was to dive bomb the light, and this is what the  pilot did, machine gunning all the way down. He killed all the battery crew, including 27 year old Sergeant Longman. His grave can be seen in St Catherine’s Churchyard.
http://www.wickfordhistory.org.uk/page_id__284_path__0p4p70p.aspx

Sorry if you've already seen it.

Kate
Title: Re: ww2
Post by: Jerry-Lee on Tuesday 20 November 12 19:13 GMT (UK)
Kate

Hi. Many thanks for this as I most definately didnt have it.

Cheers

Jerry-Lee