RootsChat.Com
General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: Jsavage00 on Friday 16 July 21 03:58 BST (UK)
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Hello everyone,
For many years now I have been piecing together bits of information regarding my great-grandad to get a better idea of who he was as my grandads memory is starting to fail him.
I have all the information I want on him except service records / any information tying him to the second world war besides a photograph my grandad remembers.
Name: George Ernest Williams
D.O.B: 21 May 1920
Place: Shoreditch, London, England
D.O.D: 27 Jan 1992
Place: Islington, London, England
He married a Winifred Alger in 1942.
My grandad and I would like to find out anything about his life in WW2 as he can only remember a photograph of him with a German Shepard.
I have posted looking for information before back in 2015/16 on numerous sites but to no avail.
Thank you,
Jordan
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Have you read this FAQ?
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=651361.0
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Have you read this FAQ?
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=651361.0
I have had a browse. I understand that many records are not available but I find it strange how there is not a single record on Ancestry, etc.
At least one of my gt-uncle's records was on Ancestry, but only revealed the corps he was in which eventually helped me gather more information, however, in this case, there has not been any information in the 6 years i've been looking... maybe I'm looking at the wrong places (I don' t have memberships to Forces War Records and other sites).
Or perhaps a member here has knowledge on what personnel had Alsatians/German Shepherds.
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There are no English WW2 records available online. As it says in that FAQ. You have to apply for them from the MOD. You don’t need the service number, but you do need to provide proof of death, pay £30 and wait a long time.
Added. Don’t pay anything for the Forces website. There is no extra information there.
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Have you read this FAQ?
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=651361.0
Or perhaps a member here has knowledge on what personnel had Alsatians/German Shepherds.
My first thought, would be Military Police (Army) or Service Police (RAF).
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Surely if Jordans grandfather is still alive he can request his service record himself. There is a downloadable form on the govt website.
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He married a Winifred Alger in 1942.
On the Marriage Certificate, what was His Occupation, Civilian or Military ?
If Civilian, was His Occupation at the time of Marriage, considered as a Reserve Occupation ?
ADD:
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/overview/conscriptionww2/
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Surely if Jordans grandfather is still alive he can request his service record himself. There is a downloadable form on the govt website.
It's the great grandfather that they are looking for :)
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Surely if Jordans grandfather is still alive he can request his service record himself. There is a downloadable form on the govt website.
It's the great grandfather that they are looking for :)
Apologies, my mistake.
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The fact that you have been looking for 6 years and presumably in the right places speaks for itself and tends to prove that, as pointed out already, that there are no full WW2 service records on line.
Ancestry for example does have some WW2 records such as the UK Roll of Honour which shows name and number of some WW2 casualties (but then so does the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site) and POWs. Findmypast also has some records such as RAF combat reports and some casualty lists. Other similar sites also have random WW2 related info but none have full service records.
Why not if WW1 records are available (if they survived) on some sites? Because, when the relevant regulations allowed, the service personnel authorities first handed over the records to the National Archives and the National Archives entered a commercial arrangement with Ancestry etc.
That process has not happened with WW2 records. However, it may be of interest to know that there is a plan to do the first part of that process, ie military to National Archives, in the coming months/years. How the National Archives will make them available will be up to them. The task will be a mammoth one and will no doubt add time to the already long time frame to obtain records which has been much exacerbated by covid such that waits of over a year now are not uncommon.
MaxD
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My earlier post should have made it clear that I was talking about army records currently under the cintrol of the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow.
MaxD