London Auxiliary Fire Service Records

[lilirose03]

During WWII my father served as a fireman with the auxiliary fire service in London, and later he was involved with D-Day. He landed on D-Day and fought for over three weeks before being wounded.

Over the years, generally each Remembrance Sunday, I recall him saying that he never received any medals. We all thought it was strange, but never really thought much more about it.

As part of my family history research I decided to try and find out some more about the auxiliary fire service and D-Day, and found an interesting fact on the Veterans Agency website - that medals had to be claimed after WWII, they were not issued automatically.

As I read this I realised that my father must never have known he needed to claim his medals and that they were still there waiting. I wrote down all the details of how to make a claim and passed them on to my mum (as she would be the one who would have to make the claim as next of kin). After filling in many forms and a long wait, my mum received a letter of confirmation that my father's medals had indeed never been issued, he was owed a 1939-1940 Star and a France and Germany Star, which are now being prepared for dispatch.

The letter also mentioned that he would be owed a Defence Medal for his time in the auxiliary fire service, but that we would need to provide documentation. My question is this: are there any records for the auxiliary fire service and where would I find them?

I do all of my research online as I live in the middle of the countryside, and haven't been able to find anything out about these records. Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

[M.T.H]

Hi lilirose,

Great news about your father's medals!

With regard to his service with the London Auxiliary Fire Service, have you thought of contacting the London Fire Brigade museum? they might be able to help.As I understand it, the Fire Brigade kept all of their personel records rather than them being moved to the National Archives.

http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/about_us/our_history/visit_our_museum.asp

Good luck,

Mick

[lilirose03]

Thank you for the link Mick, it certainly looks hopeful as they mention the auxiliary service in the history section.  I've sent them an e-mail, so now to wait with fingers crossed

All the best,
lilirose

[manmack]

lilirose,hes entitled to the defense medal anyway,he served in the armed forces,that qualifies him straight away,i cant understand why they say you need docs for his auxillary service so you can claim the medal,even as a fireman ,hes entitled to it,heres the rules of qualification as laid down by the government.
awarded to service personnel for three years service at home or six months service overseas in territories subjected to air attacks or otherwise closely connected,personnel of anti aircraft command,RAF ground crews,dominion forces stationed in the UK,home guard,civil defense,national fire service,and many civilian units all qualify for this medal,
the ministry of defence issued a form in 1992 listing all those organisations and sub divisions of eligible personnel
the form is DM1/DM2,you dont need to run around all over the place for proof,his france and germany star are enough proof on their own to qualify,mack
ps these beaurocrats must have their brains up their ?&%^£ at times,give the man his medals,hes earned em,good luck lily

[SimonandKitty]

Hi,

Does anyone know whether the LOndon Fire Brigade records from WW2 (Auxillary Fire Service) survive today?

I am hoping to track my Grandfather's alleged service with them.

Simon (and Kitty).