Author Topic: theatres of war mysteries  (Read 483 times)

Offline samw80

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theatres of war mysteries
« on: Tuesday 05 August 14 16:53 BST (UK) »
Hi, is it possible to find out where my great grandad, Earnest E Spinner, served, which fields of battle etc.  I have located his medal card.  But I am guessing he enlisted after 1915 as the section at the bottom with ' theatre of war first served in'  and 'date of entry therein' is blank.  As he served in the Royal Engineers as general search isnt completely helpful. 

Offline km1971

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Re: theatres of war mysteries
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 05 August 14 18:52 BST (UK) »
If you cannot find his service record - and 66% were destroyed in WW2 - you will not find where he served in military records. Your best hope then is more traditional family history sources - BMDs, letters and postcards he may have sent, asking family members etc

The RE motto is 'Everywhere', so wherever there were troops there would be RE serving alongside them.

http://www.1914-1918.net/cre.htm

Does his number have a prefix, or did he have a pre-war skill? It may narrow down which part of the RE he served.

Ken

Offline samw80

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Re: theatres of war mysteries
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 05 August 14 18:55 BST (UK) »
thank you for replying Ken, much appreciated.  I was afraid that would be the case.  I will have a go when I visit Kew, but dont hold much hope.  Unfortunately the more traditional routes are already exhausted.  Thanks again.

xx