R.A. (H.AA.)

[Prince-L]

Hi there. I'm trying to trace my grandfather's details. I've got a copy of his Transfer to the Army Reserves, and it says his regiment or Corps was the R.A.( H.A.A.), which I believe is Royal Artillery Heavy Anti-Aircraft. What I'm looking for is what he would have done during WWII. I've got a "release leave certificate' that says he joined the Territorial Army in 1938, and was "embodied" at the start of the war. Served with the British Army of the Rhine until January 1946, he is listed as BQ.M.S. (quarter master sergeant?) There's family talk of him being in Berlin at the end if the war, and also of him teaching women to drive trucks in Scotland during the war, but I don't have anything concrete - Any ideas how I can find out more about what he would have done? His name was William Charles Taylor and his army number 6779655. All suggestions of directions to go in this gratefully received, thanks!

[sharki]

BQ.M.S.= Battery Quarter Master Sergeant.

[gortonboy]

you could order his service record....it takes a while to get them {a few months } and there is a fee,,depending on circumstance.  have a look here

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/prose01/WW2_Army_ServiceRecord.htm

[Pete Keane]

He joined the TA in 1938 as a part-time volunteer - from what you've said,his local TA unit had converted to RA as an anti-aircraft unit - it would have been infantry originally but units were changed from 1936 onwards in readiness for the air war that was on ts way.

Whereabouts did he live when in the TA.

At outbreak of war, his unit were called up to full time war duty (embodied).

If you have any unit numbers it may help show what he was doing.

cheers

Pete

[Prince-L]

No idea how I managed to miss this reply! Would have been living around Southwark...

[scrimnet]

I cant find a Southwark based (or even any London based) TA unit that converted to HAA, although there are 35 unnamed war time infantry bns that were converted to artillery...eg 12th RWF became 116th LAA regt

[Prince-L]

Thanks. I'll have to keep digging!

[Prince-L]

On closer inspection, it doesn't look like his TA unit was what he ended up serving in. The release leave certificate from 1946 says he'd been serving under that particular commanding officer for only 18 months. Not sure about before that. The release book (I've only got a bad photocopy) has an address as RA )HAA) Records, St Marie's Hall, Dunchurch Road, Rugby, and contains an ink stamp: " No 10 D.C.U, and M.D.U. 5 May 1946 Aldershot"

[scrimnet]

The Aldershot addresses are demob/dispersal units...So I'm afraid they are not much cop to you either!!