General Chat

Hi

Could anyone help. I want to find out where my Dad and his Dad served in WWII and WWI Respectively. Dad was in Africa and Grandpop in |France, signed up in 1916 I contacted the army records, but they charge about 30 euro a go!

Thanks for all the help with Jennifer too everyone
Julie

That's the only way to find out, Julie, get their records which have to be paid for.

WWI records might be on Ancestry, but be aware that a large proportion were destroyed during WW2 bombing. If he has an unusual name, it might be possibly to find Medal Record cards

WW2 records are not available of line - you do have to purchase them from the MOD at a cost of £30. If he or his wife are still living, they can apply at no charge.

Added - in future, you might want to post this general type of query on Genealogy Chat, rather than General Chat. This particular board is intended for virtually everything else not related to FH.

There is also 'Find Ancestors' for Look ups, and 'Find Living Relatives' for those likely to be alive

World War 2 records are still with the MOD so your only option for them is to order them and pay the charge which is about £30-£40. There is quite a long wait for these - several months.

A lot of World War 1 records were destroyed in a fire so it depends on whether your grandfather's records survived or not. There are some World War 1 records on Findmypast so if you want to give a name and approx. year of birth someone will have a look for you to see if they have survived.

Kath. x

WW1 - only about 30% of records exist thanks to a Luftwaffe bomb but give his name and we can check on Ancestry to see if his records are among those that survive. Name, DOB and place of birth.

WW2 - if you dad is still alive he can apply for his records free of charge. If not you as his next of kin can apply it costs £30.00 and can take up to 10 months for the records to come. The office is in Glasgow I am sure someone on here will supply the address. The office in Glasgow deal with ALL records of current servicemen as well and all their personnel requests take precedence, hence the length of time

Now with WW2 a lot depend on what you want to know. The records from Glasgow are his admission papers and his conduct record and the places he was posted and other related information, if you are lucky they may contain lots of information. But if you want to know about what his regiment did in the war then you need the War Diaries and these are kept in several places (not all at the same time!) the main repository is The National Archives at Kew, next is the Imperial War Museum and in some cases held within the Regimental Archives.

Hope this helps

Thanks everyone for the help. I have Grandpop's record card showing his medal and his pte no. There is no record of where he was though. I think he was at the Somme in WWI

Thanks again to you all.
Julie

Thanks everyone for the help. I have Grandpop's record card showing his medal and his pte no. There is no record of where he was though. I think he was at the Somme in WWI

Thanks again to you all.
Julie

If you have his record card it should show what regiment he was in - if you google this adding WW1 you might get some more information online about his regiments activities in WW1.

I did this with my granddad who was in Turkey (the forgotten part of WW1) which was an awful posting.

He also joined in 1916 - this was when conscription was finally brought in as they needed more cannon fodder....

You need to know which battalion he served with in WW1 - then you can look at War Diaries to see what he might have been involved in.

If there are no service records for him on Ancestry (WW1 Army records are on Ancestry, not FindMyPast), you can normally get his battalion from the Medal Rolls- depending on his regiment - what was it? They aren't online though - they are at the National Archives.

You could also try this web site......its a join & paying one !


http://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/

The Forces War Records site has not got Medal Rolls

Yes it has....

Click on Quick Links.........for Collection Lists..... vast amount of war medals for WW1 & WW2 !!

:-)

British Army WW1 Medal Rolls aren't on the list

Thanks Piglets Pal and everyone for your help
Julie

Oh dear......!!

http://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/Medal-Rolls

They are the Medal Rolls index - ie Medal cards, which are available on Ancestry and the National Archives site. They aren't the Medal Rolls

Ann...

I know they are available on Ancestry & National Archives & many other Web sites all of which I have used, but Julie was asking about Amy Records in general not only Medals !

The Medal Roll Index ....would have given her good information.

Just trying to be helpful .

The Forces website doesn't have WW1 or WW2 Army service records