General Service Medals

[Connie Sparrow]

If you know his units and the dates he was with them would you like to know what unit war diaries are available that he served with?

Apologies for the late reply.  I was away visiting my cousin for a while, started playing catch-up & keep-up, then had a head on collision (dog's head 1, my hand 0)

It'd be interesting to know if there are any war diaries. My cousin hasn't found any so far though. The information we have comes from the Payment & Victual Ledgers. It's not on the service record card.

A lot of his service was on shore stations which is possibly where the story he never served abroad came from. He served on the Shropshire from 7 Jan 1942 to 5 Apr 1943, was "lent to the London Blitz" 19 June to 28 June 1944.  From 1 Jan to 30 Sept 1945 he was on Tank Landing Ship 347 before "ship hopping" back to England and HMS Pembroke. He'd done gunnery training as well

He was also on HMS Eaglet (19 July-6 Sept 1944) but it's not clear if that was the shore station or the ship of the same name.

I'm slightly puzzled why he spent so much time on shore stations. His service record runs from 29 Sept 1941 to 29 Jan 1946 when he was demobbed. He never rose above Able Seaman.

[IMBER]

The name HMS Pembroke can also refer to someone's accounting station even while they were serving on a vessel at sea. I'm no expert but I've seen such accounting stations numbered such as "HMS Pembroke 11". You'd have to pursue this further but you get the general idea. The definitive work on this is:

Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy by Ben Warlow

Imber

[Connie Sparrow]

The name HMS Pembroke can also refer to someone's accounting station even while they were serving on a vessel at sea. I'm no expert but I've seen such accounting stations numbered such as "HMS Pembroke 11". You'd have to pursue this further but you get the general idea. The definitive work on this is:

Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy by Ben Warlow

Thank you.  That could be why the Pembroke appears so many times although there's no number after it.

The order of the ships/shore stations was Ganges (training), Pembroke, Shropshire, Pembroke, Alecto, Pembroke, (London Blitz), Pembroke, Eaglet, Pembroke, Tank Landing Ship 347, (Ship hopped via Pursuer/Lucia/Nigeria), Pembroke.

I'll have a look for the book. Thanks again

[IMBER]

There's one on Ebay right now:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shore-Establishments-of-the-Royal-Navy-by-Ben-Warlow-Paperback-2000-/271630931740?pt=UK_Books_EducationalTextbooks_EducationalTextbooks_GL&hash=item3f3e77171c

That's actually quite a good price.

Imber

[Connie Sparrow]

There's one on Ebay right now:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shore-Establishments-of-the-Royal-Navy-by-Ben-Warlow-Paperback-2000-/271630931740?pt=UK_Books_EducationalTextbooks_EducationalTextbooks_GL&hash=item3f3e77171c

That's actually quite a good price.

Thank you for the link.  Yes, it is.  Elsewhere I've seen an asking price of £20-£30.

[Connie Sparrow]

There's one on Ebay right now:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shore-Establishments-of-the-Royal-Navy-by-Ben-Warlow-Paperback-2000-/271630931740?pt=UK_Books_EducationalTextbooks_EducationalTextbooks_GL&hash=item3f3e77171c

That's actually quite a good price.

Thank you for the link.  Yes, it.  Elsewhere I've seen an asking price of £20-£30.