RootsChat.Com
General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: Oldhasbeen on Wednesday 25 October 23 10:40 BST (UK)
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My father told me he volunteered for the Navy as soon as WW2 started, and mentioned doing training in Scotland and near Gosport.
His naval service record, however, only starts at 13th October 1941, although there is a note staying, I think, "Entered Index NS (AS) Act 1939" - see attached. Any idea what this means?
How could I find out what he did between 1939 and 1941?
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"Under" rather than "Index".
Looks like he was called up on 13 October 1941 under the authority of the National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/collections-second-world-war/second-world-war-legislation/national-service-armed-forces-act-c81-1939-/
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"Under" rather than "Index".
Looks like he was called up on 13 October 1941 under the authority of the National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/yourcountry/collections/collections-second-world-war/second-world-war-legislation/national-service-armed-forces-act-c81-1939-/
"Under" makes more sense - thank you
But I'm still wondering what my father was doing 1939-41.
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Courtesy of Wikipedia here is list of men and women who were exempt from the National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939:
- Medically unfit as well as the blind, disabled, and those with mental disorders
British subjects from outside Britain and the Isle of Man who had lived in the country for less than two years
Students
Persons employed by the government of any country of the British Empire except the United Kingdom
Clergy of any denomination
Married women
Women who had one or more children 14 years old or younger living with them. This included their own children, legitimate or illegitimate, stepchildren, and adopted children, as long as the child was adopted before 18 December 1941. Pregnant women were liable to be called up but in practice were not.
Conscientious objectors
People working in reserved occupations like baking, farming, medicine, and engineering.
As the Act applied only to those who were physically present in Great Britain and the Isle of Man, in effect all those living overseas were also exempt.
Perhaps your father was a student or in one of the reserved occupations.
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No way. Dad left school at 15 and was a (Very junior) clerk at Carter Patterson, who later became teh National Freight.
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Is he on the 1939 register? If he is - then he was presumably still a cilvilian at that time