RootsChat.Com

Thanks MaxD.  I remember someone or somewhere I heard or read that there are a lot of Maltese records in Kew.  Do you think this is untrue or perhaps something that I might have misunderstood?
Carm.

Hi Birkbeck,

It will eventually be my paternal grandfather Carmelo [also could show as Carmel] Galea (1893-1977) Royal Navy service during WW1 - he was released from his civil service job (in Malta) to serve, then return back to his job without loss of service.  He only served for a few years, but eventually I would like to know what medals he got (his children [only one survives now] repeatedly confirmed that they saw his medals, but somehow the same medals eventually disappeared). I do not know which years he served, and what was his service number.  This is the same ancestor that I had an issue about with Forces War Records (refer my first original posting) here.

Then there will be my maternal grandfather Vincenzo [also could show as Vincent] Brincat (1889-1930) Army service during WW1 - he served with the King's Own Malta Regiment of Militia.  I have got a copy of his army records (not sure whether complete) that I got from Malta, and they show 'Campaigns Expeditionary Force Malta'.  A historian friend of mine in Malta told me that this was a term for all Maltese who volunteered for overseas service, and that he must have been sent overseas.  My mum (long since passed away) had told me that he was in France (but I am not sure whether during his army service or just on business [he was a carpenter by trade], perhaps ?).  The copy of his service that I have does not show anything about overseas service, so I am thinking that perhaps, if he did serve overseas, he might have been assigned to a British Regiment. He enlisted in Malta on 17 March 1915 and his Army No was 10523, and discharged by purchase on 11 October 1919.

I will eventually come back with more details, but these are my two ancestors that I am very interested to find out about their service during WW1.

Thank you for now.
Carm.

Had a bit of a problem working out my way around this website, but thanks to Sarah this seem to be over and done with.  I do not think there is a way that I can answer you individually, so I will try and show my gratitude to you all in one reply.
Before I do so, I only happened to land on this site by accident, when I googled Forces War Records reviews (or something to that effect), though I have a vague memory that I might have caught a glimpse of this site at some other time.
To:  gortonboy
You are right when you said I should have asked for advice before;  the only problem I did not know where to do this - looks like I know now.  Thanks gortonboy for taking the time to respond.
To: jim1
Unfortunately I learned the hard way about Forces War Records, and I did hear about a lot of WW1 records having been destroyed during the German blitz during WW2.  You mention MOD - I think this is Ministry of Defence I would think ?  It is really nice to know that I can rely on some kind people on this site than offer their services free of charge, or perhaps can suggest other places to ask questions.  I have now cancelled one other commission that I gave to Forces War Records, and asked for a refund of almost 90pds on the other one, mentioned in my original posting.
To: Ruskie
Yes, as I mentioned above, when I google about Forces War Records reviews, it came up with a 2014 issue that someone had, which was then posted on this site, as I did with mine.
To: jess5athome
Now that I know about this time, I know where I can post my questions and queries.  I suppose we all learn from our own mistakes, at times quite expensive ones, like mine.  You are right about I should not have perhaps gone the same path, but Forces War Records said 10pds deposit and nothing else if no records found, and so I thought OK I will risk loosing 10pds, but they of course turned around and took the rest of the money, although nothing relating to my relative was found. What a bunch of greedy people they are - that's what I think about them now.  I trusted them with 10pds, and they took away another 90pds for nothing !
To: KGarrad
It is great to hear that I can now rely on experts on this site for information, perhaps even at no charge to me. What a great relief - pity I did not know about this before, however, better late than never.
To: Jebber
I will try what you said about looking on the National Archives website.  3.50pds is much much more cheaper than the 10pds+90pds those people at Forces War Records extracted from me, without giving me one single bit of information that relate to my relative in question.
To: MaxD
Forces War Records told me that I am paying for a researcher that spent many hours looking for information I was after.  I have told them (not mentioning names of course) that they should have told me "nothing to be found", and then I asked for a refund of the 90pds - so far they have not responded, though it was only yesterday that I did.

To:  all of the above good people
Thank you all for your interest in my post, and I now look forward to a happy future on this site, which seems to me to be an honest site (very rare in these days where money seem to blind a lot of people).
Thank you all.
Carm.