my father war records

[Sloe Gin]

i really dont know where to start to look for any info about his military history

You can, as next of kin, apply for his service record - you seem to have all the necessary details except for service number, but they should be able to trace it.  You can download the application form from here:

http://veterans-uk.info/service_records/army.html

[narnie TL]

I used to work for SSAFA and I have many time contacted the regiment itself.You can  find the regimental websites too. they have a contact point on them, and maybe they have photos of the person you are looking for.You have to remember that some have merged. hope this was helpful

[Maddie]

Hi

Can I suggest you have a look at http://www.fepow-community.org.uk/

My Father was also a Japanese POW & spent some of his time on the Burma Railway. If you join the Fepow community group the chaps on there are very knowledgeable & were a great help to me in discovering facts about his time in the Far East.

Good luck with your research.

Maddie

[LizzieW]

You can, as next of kin, apply for his service record

If you go down that route, you will have to be patient.  It used to take 3 months to get information, but as they informed me, "due to the very high volume of urgent welfare requests on behalf of former soldiers, family interest enquiries may take as much as six to eight months to complete"

So far I've waited 6 months, so will give them another month or so then contact them again.

Lizzie

[carol8353]

Yes I too have waited 4 months so far...and of course they cashed my £30 cheque immediately

[Maddie]

I had considered getting my Fathers war record but was advised that there may well be no information included about his time spent as a POW in the Far East.

I don't know if this is the case for all Service records but I'm sure someone can advise you further.

However, I was able to get his Japanese POW Card & his Liberation questionnaire, both which went a long way in helping me discover the worst four years of my Dad's life.

Maddie

[dustybaby]

what a lovely caring bunch of people you are
we are all after the same thing information.
you have all been a great help to me as i was just hitting brick walls as to what i could do next.
i have taken everything on board and will be acting on as much info as i can.
so frustrating when your searhing hits a brick wall.

not wishing to push my luck here, but can anyone help with this also?
i am also trying to trace irish records, wedding and births about 1865 but am also coming unstuck here as well.

thanking you all in anticipation

[carol8353]

Regarding your irish query,probably best to start a new thread on the Irish county boards. They have their own experts there who can help to explain the system over there.

Give them as much info as possible,names,dates and places and also if you know if they were Catholic or Protestant- makes all the difference apparently 

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,50.0.html

Carol

[jds1949]

I had a spare few minutes at Kew today - so I had a quick look for James Hammond in the Japanese POW records. There are only two cards for men named James Hammond, the only one that looks possible is this one:

James Hammond born 1/05/1918
Private 297826 2nd Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
Place of capture: KLUANG
Father's name: James Hammond 116, Ferguslie Avenue, Paisley
Mother's name: Jean
Place of origin: Barrhead, Glasgow

The only name of a camp [in English] would seem to be somewhere called Eachern

I know that the above does not tally with the information that you gave earlier - except for the Barrhead connection, but the only other card was for an obviously English James Hammond with absolutely no connection to anything Scottish. Hope that it is of some use.

jds1949