my father war records

[dustybaby]

helllo jds1949

what a very nice thing to do for me.

many many thanks.

mmhh!!! strange info does not tally with what i have been told in the past.
so looks like the best way foreward would be to try and obtain his army records by the info in his marriage certificate which does only say "private royal army ordanance corps".am feeling like iam looking for a needle in a haystack.
so i thank you very much

[carol8353]

You want info from WW2 don't you,if your dad was born in 1919?

You will have to send away for those records- hope someone else can come up with an address for you.....I requested my dad's RAF records,but don't know anything about Army ones for WW2.

Carol

[jds1949]

It is possible that your father stayed in the Army after his return from captivity. He did not marry until 1948, three years after the end of the war, so it is entirely possible that he changed Regiments. My Uncle was in the Loyals when he was captured in Singapore, when he returned home in 1945 he too stayed in the army, but transferred to the Veterinary Corps - so it did happen.

I'd be more concerned about the difference in birth date - not something you'd normally get wrong. If you know that your dad was born on 19th June 1919 then it's difficult to see how he could give a different date when he was captured. Do the parent's names tally - was your dad the son of James and Jean?

The records for soldiers who served after 1920 I think are still with the Ministry of Defence. This is the link I think you need:

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/Personnel/ServiceRecords/MakingARequestForServiceDetailsOfDeceasedServicePersonnel.htm

jds1949

[dustybaby]

hello.

i have his parents details and they tally to their marriage certificate.

on my fathers it says james hammond private royal army ordanance corps  aged 29yrs (29/6/1919) . barrhead. renfrew.

his parents are listed as james hammond and janet mcphail.

also in his wedding photo with my mother he is wearing his army uniform with what looks like a stripe of i suppose narrow coloured band above his left pocket.

[jds1949]

The coloured band would probably be his medal ribbon - he would have been entitled to several medals following his war service. The parents' names would seem to match those on the POW card [Janet and Jean are usually fairly interchangeable], so it is probably your dad's. If I have time - no promises - I'll see if his questionnaire form was completed when I'm next at Kew - possibly next week. 

If he was in the 2nd Battalion A & S Highlanders then you should also be able to find out quite a bit about his wartime experiences up until the fall of Singapore.

You might try and get a copy of Peter Thompson's book "The Battle for Singapore" from your local library - it has several references to the 2nd Battalion A & S Highlanders - including the information that they were, for a time, stationed at Gillman Barracks at the same time as my Uncle was there in the 2nd Battalion The Loyals.

jds1949

[dustybaby]

thank you so very much.

you are just a mine of information. could not have got this far without you.
many many thanks.

[jds1949]

OK, just a little bit more. There is a questionnaire form for James Hammond in the NA [WO 344/380/1] - unfortunately it contains very little that is new.

2979826 Private Hammond, James 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
DoB 1/5/18
Date of enlistment: 4/5/36
Address: 116, Ferguslie Park Avenue, Paisley, Renfrewshire
Place of Capture: Klang [F. M. S.] on 10/4/42

And that's all there is. Men were not ordered to fill in the forms, the authorities knew only too well what they had been through and, quite frankly, some of them were in no position to give much more that name, rank and number.

However:
The date of enlistment confirms that your man was a regular;
Klang would appear to be Port Klang, which is on the Malay peninsula and the date of capture is a good few weeks after the fall of Singapore, so there may be a story there.

I did also find in the same file the questionnaire of another man who was in the 2nd Battalion A & S Highlanders and he was captured at Singapore on the date that it fell. He listed some of the camps that he had been held in:
Changi
Ban Pong
Chunkah
Takanoon

It would be fairly usual to keep men from the same unit together - so it may well be the case that your man was in one or more of those camps. He would almost certainly have been in Changi, which was the main holding camp in the immediate aftermath of the surrender. The FEPOW site should help you identify a few more details.

Hope that helps

jds1949

[dustybaby]

hello jds 1949

what can i say. thank you so very much for all the time you have taken over this.
i owe you so much for all the information you have givin me.
its so much more that i could have got myself.
i do remember my father before he died mentioning that area in paisley when he refered to his childhood.
now not sure where this burma thing came into it?
however, makes a whole lot of sense about the details you found out.
i suppose it is possible he either lied about his age etc. not sure what to make of that as i do not even have his birth certificate only marriage certificate and i do know he found out in the 1960"s he had a half sister. all this just came to light for me about 10yrs ago. so i suppose there are a few more roads i have to go down yet.
at least i now have some info that i can make a start with now.
god bless you.
dustybabyx

[jds1949]

You're welcome.
If your Dad was at Ban Pong that would make sense - it was a camp in Thailand and men from there worked on the Burma Railway.

See: http://greatlakeshistorical.museum.com/burmarailway/thailand.html

for a part of the story - there's been a lot written about this so I'm sure that you'll find lots of details both online and in your local library.

Good hunting,

jds1949