John Reginald Skinner

[AngieToton]

I'm trying to find out about my great Uncle - John Reginald Skinner born 13th March 1921 and died on the 26th January 1969.

He served in the Navy during WW2 - I can only find 1 document but don't really understand what is means :
By his name is shows Rank : Sid   - Official No : D/LX 20171 - Ship : Cardiff  - 10th March 1941

[Andy J2022]

I suspect that 'Sid' is actually Std, standing for steward. This is not technically his rank but his trade. He was probably an AB (able seaman).
The D/LX 20171 is his personal number. The D stands for Devonport - his home port division - the L means he was an Officers' Steward, or possibly an Officers' Cook. X is just padding and the rest is his unique number.
HMS Cardiff was a fairly elderly light cruiser launched in 1917. By the time he joined the ship she was being employed as a gunnery training ship, so he probably didn't see much action during his time on board her.
I suspect that 10 March 1941 was the date he joined the ship, but you can check this by looking at what it says at the head of the column.

[Tickettyboo]

Ancestry have a service record for a Reginald John Skinner service no Devonport LX20171 but the birth date given was 23 Feb 1905 and it covers the period 12 Apr 1926 to 1928- there's a ref to the record being transferred to card in 1929 and medal being traced in 1941 but that is not online.
Given the dates and the transposition of the  first and middle names this is not the man you are looking for.

Boo

[Andy J2022]

No Boo, I think you have found the same man. Service numbers weren't transferred and the two are the same, irrespective of the order of the first names and the date of birth anomaly. He may re-joined to fight in the Second World War and possibly altered his date of birth to increase that chance that he would be accepted.  More likely that one of the DoBs is a clerical mistake.
Ideally the OP should request his service record from the MOD to get a more complete picture.

[Tickettyboo]

No Boo, I think you have found the same man. Service numbers weren't transferred and the two are the same, irrespective of the order of the first names and the date of birth anomaly. He may re-joined to fight in the Second World War and possibly altered his date of birth to increase that chance that he would be accepted.  More likely that one of the DoBs is a clerical mistake.
Ideally the OP should request his service record from the MOD to get a more complete picture.

Its the record for the man in the snippet posted - but NOT the record for the man the OP is looking for who was born in 1921 so highly unlikely to be serving in 1926 :-)
Boo

[Andy J2022]

Ah yes, I see what you mean. I had assumed that the OP had already established that his uncle was the man in the snippet.