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Author Topic: British soldiers  (Read 900 times)

Offline Neesha

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British soldiers
« on: Thursday 19 June 08 06:23 BST (UK) »
Hey,

Im trying to trace details of my family tree and find my British Ancestors..My great grand dad was in WWI where he was working as an engineer aboad a German Destroyer that helped sink Emden...

He then joined the Royal Army and served for a few years...We have details of his Regiment number and that he was an acting Sergent in the Oxs and Bucks Regiment and even have a copy of his medal card...I was wondeing though

(A) if soldiers serving from India in the Royal Army/Navy were needed to have British passports or not?

(B) If they did have passports then where can I can information of this or where can I get his details and get a copy of his passport?

Regards,
Nee

Offline scrimnet

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Re: British soldiers
« Reply #1 on: Thursday 19 June 08 08:03 BST (UK) »
Soldiers normally travel on their ID documents, so his paybook AB64 pt 1 or 2...

These days we do carry passports, but are still able to travel on our ID cards (MOD 90)
One more charge and then be dumb,
            When the forts of Folly fall,
        May the victors when they come
            Find my body near the wall.

Offline Neesha

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Re: British soldiers
« Reply #2 on: Thursday 19 June 08 08:18 BST (UK) »
cool...but where can i get a copy of this pay book or id card? will it be with the British Library in Uk or will it be in an office elsewhere?

Offline scrimnet

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Re: British soldiers
« Reply #3 on: Thursday 19 June 08 08:24 BST (UK) »
They were issued to the individual soldier and were normally kept by them. I know of no repository for such things.

I have my fathers AB64 pt1...My parents were going to visit relatives in Switzerland after the war, and so were issued a passport, but they never went...
One more charge and then be dumb,
            When the forts of Folly fall,
        May the victors when they come
            Find my body near the wall.

Offline Neesha

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Re: British soldiers
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 19 June 08 08:30 BST (UK) »
k..im a lil new to this stuff and dont understand much of the details as yet...im still learning...  :)

If its not too much trouble since u understand it better and u have the stuff with you would u be able to explain to me or tell me where i can get info about the AB64..like what does it stand for...a few details would help me understand what ur telling me about if not it just seems like alphabets with numbers...  :(

Offline scrimnet

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Re: British soldiers
« Reply #5 on: Thursday 19 June 08 09:06 BST (UK) »
The AB64 pt 1 was his paybook and was just known as that...It only stands for Army Book 64 Part 1!!

Its a small brown ish  type book that was carried in the top right hand breast pocket

Here are some...

http://www.ab64.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.htm

Explore his site...Most of it is for WW2 but there were not many changes...
One more charge and then be dumb,
            When the forts of Folly fall,
        May the victors when they come
            Find my body near the wall.
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