Army Records Research

[Costanza]

Folks,

I'm in the process of beginning to start research my grandad's military service in WW2.

He died back in 1983 and I'm told that he rarely spoke of his active service. All I know is that he was in the Royal Marines and operated landing craft during the D-Day Landings.

Any tips on how to learn more?

[leefer]

http://www.ww2talk.com/

Hi bud.....this forum is what you want....you will get help on here.
Dont use it much because i researched my grandads brother who died during WW2  so i use the Great War Forum rather than this one as your relly fought in WW2.

Good luck with it and if you have no luck let me know and i will redirect you to the forum i used...even though it it is WW1 i know the members will help you.

Register on the above and leave a messege try and put his full name on as a middle name may help...they will help you if they can....and remember unlike the TEF they are a little more serious on there but dont take it personal

[Costanza]

Cheers leefer.

[leefer]

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=652340

This is my grandads brother my great uncle who died so so close to the end of WW1...he survived nearly the whole war to be killed a few weeks before its end.
His regiment the Hampshires was decimated so the last few hundred of them were placed with the Wiltshire Regiment.....he lays a long way from home in Israel in Ramleh which can be seen by clicking on it on the certificate...like me,my dad and his family he was a Southampton man.
It left a terrible void in the family made even worse by the fact he was so close to surviving it.
I will remember him on Sunday and will be proud..

Just to say Constanza the info may not be much on your grandad given he survived.....but hopefully i am wrong and you can get some details.

Good luck

[Simon Pieman]

You can look this up on ancestry.co.uk I think

[Batch]

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=2450518

This is my great great uncle. He was wounded pretty much literally right at the end of WW2. The story is he was covering a shift for a drunk colleague. He didn't die until 1947, but is classified of having died from his wounds. His name is on the Chippenham war memorial.

My great great aunty Doris, his wife, died in April this year one week shy of her 99th birthday, and had never remarried. She lived in Chippenham most of her life, and was Arkela of first Chippenham cubs for many years. In fact there is a chance some of the less young Chippenham based fans may have known her (if they went to cubs).

Make you realise what 'tough times' really are.

[Peter Venkman]

My great Uncle, died in WWI on the first day he set foot in France at the Somme 13th November 1914, we still have his Soldiers Penny, his name is on the Menin Gate at Ypres.

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=1611175

[url width=800 height=600]http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g171/jjedmunds/PICT2870.jpg[/url]

[Batch]

That's nice JJ. Well not that he died but that he's remembered. Someone else in the 'other' half of the family has the dead mans penny that belonged to my great great aunts Doris'  dad.

[Peter Venkman]

That's nice JJ. Well not that he died but that he's remembered. Someone else in the 'other' half of the family has the dead mans penny that belonged to my great great aunts Doris'  dad.

No I understand Batch, there must be many thousand out there but not many people have even heard of the Penny, its a fair old size too, about 4 inches across, we have the covering letter from the King too and cuttings from the local papers in the Forest of Dean.

Does make you think what these (often very young) ancestors did to protect our country from those that threatened us and our way of life.

With the 11/11/11 coming up.......

    They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
    Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
    They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
    They fell with their faces to the foe.

    They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
    Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
    At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
    We will remember them.

[wiggy]

Neither of my grandfathers fought in WW2. One was in the coal industry and I have never heard anything about what he did or where, and the other was a building site supervisor who was involved in pulling down bombed houses in London during the blitz. He was very badly affected by his experience - pulling mangled bodies out of houses day after day gave him psychological problems for the rest of his life.

[Ironside]

I will remember them.

Thanks for posting up those connections.

[Samdy Gray]

Cheers for that link leefer, just managed to find my Great Great Grandfather.

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=4019683

I knew he was killed in WW1 because his name is on the cenotaph in Purton, but I never knew where he was buried.

A quick google even shows a discussion about him on a WW1 forum.

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=148294

Turns out he died of tetanus from his wounds. The son, Stanley, listed on that link is my Great Grandfather.

God bless the internet.

[Ironside]

Neither of my grandfathers fought in WW2. One was in the coal industry and I have never heard anything about what he did or where, and the other was a building site supervisor who was involved in pulling down bombed houses in London during the blitz. He was very badly affected by his experience - pulling mangled bodies out of houses day after day gave him psychological problems for the rest of his life.

A terrible experience but there is a medal for the lads who got stuck down a mine at the time, perhaps look into that?

[leefer]

Mining was a valued job though many poor souls thought joining up would get them away from there dark dangerous work...many miners with explosive experience were drafted in as tunnellers.


http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/flanders/hooge.html

The link above shows the magnitude of this explosion which in fact killed very few of the enemy.


The Hooge explosion in Belgium where tunnelers blew up land above them was heard in Kent....to this day it is still one of the biggest man made explsions ever.
As i say mining and other jobs meant many men who wanted to fight were not allowed to because there jobs were invaluable.

Ref Samdy........The Great War Forum is a great forum if you need any other info on your G/G Grandfather....pleased that you found him......in fact the posts are exellent and we all should be proud and humble.

[leefer]

Batch....Arnos Vale cemetery is amazing,all the rich and famous of Bristol are buried there from bygone days....it is like Highgate in London....suprised me he was buried there i have been there and the Memorials are incredible....it is currently being renovated.

http://www.arnosvalefriends.org.uk/pictures.htm


Samdy you may be aware but where your relly was buried was not likely where he was wounded...Le Havre was the main place where the badly wounded were taken after nearby fighting.