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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Shropshire => Topic started by: solarsal on Tuesday 12 September 17 23:29 BST (UK)
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During a geneology investigation I was trying to find a military record for a soldier in the KSLI in WW2 who was a french translator. His father was French Canadian and had been in the KSLI in WW1 as a French translator and remained in Shropshire and married. They were both French translators in WW2. Try as I might I can't find anything about how the KSLI used these translators during the wars and I can't find any military record for either of them. Any help would be appreciated.
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Many units had translators attached to help with liaison with neighbouring French units. to negotiate billetting with locals and similar tasks.
As to records, all WW2 service records are still with MOD and can be applied (and paid) for, subject to the conditions spelled out here https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records. Don't worry if you don't have service numbers.
If you then find the battalions they worked with, they may well be mentioned in the war diaries by role if not by name. Can you post the names?
MaxD
PS Welcome!
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Hi MaxD, thanks for your information. The translators I'm interested in are Percy Hocking who was a French Canadian and came over to England in WW1 presumably to translate for the KSLI. He had a son in 1917, Lucian M Hocking, and both father and son were french translators attached to the KSLI in WW2. Lucian was a private and his service number was 2190277. I have no idea what happened to them between the wars or after WW2, no records appear to exist thereafter.
solarsal
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Puzzling.
I can find no service record (Brit or Canadian) for Percy Hocking in WW1 that links the name to the KSLI.
The WW2 number you quote for Lucian is in the number block allocated to the Royal Engineers although that of itself doesn't mean he couldn't have served with the KLSLI. The difficulty is that a WW2 soldiers' records would still be held by MOD and have to be applied (and paid) for.
May I ask how strong the evidence is for their involvement with the KSLI? With Percy you say "presumably".
While they won't have service records, it could be that the KSLI museum may have information relating to translators so if nothing else turns up, may I suggest contacting them.
I'm sorry that isn't very helpful, are there any other clues - medals perhaps?
MaxD
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Hi MaxD,
Thanks for the reply, I'm absolutely stumped at present. The KSLI connection came from Lucien Hocking's marriage certificate, he married in 1941 and the regiment and his service number were included on the document. Percy was thought to have been with the same regiment based at Tern Hill near Shrewsbury and was known to have settled in the area around Tern Hill. If not the KSLI then it may have been some other regiment at Tern Hill?. OR just the MoD at Tern Hill?
Next stop Shrewsbury I guess.
solarsal
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A new thought. Was he Percy Lionel Hocking??
Finding them in The 1939 in Harborne Birmngham shows Percy as a Percy L Hocking. There is a service record for WW1 for a Corporal Percy Lionel Hocking later commissioned as a Captain in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and later the Machine Gun Corps. His record, as an officer, is not on line but can be obtained from the National Archives.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1156092
Lucian's service record will clarify his WW2 military service https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records
Percy would have been 47 at the start of the war so could well have simply been working with the military (rather than in it) in WW2.
My suggestion, if you are happy to lay out a few pounds (and if Percy Lionel is yours) , is to get the two service records. They will tell you much more than the museum can.
MaxD
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Hi I'm also looking for a Lucien hocking and his father was Percy hocking ...French Canadian....although mine was born in 1919 ...I have information up to 1955 but nothing after...not sure if these are the same people
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Is that Lucien born 1919 or your Percy??
MaxD
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It was Lucien born in 1919
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And did he marry in 1941 (you said you had info up to 1955). It seems a bit odd that your Lucien was born in 1919 with a father Percy and there is another Lucien born 1917 also father Percy.
It may be that Solarsal could comment?
MaxD
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He married in 1941 to a Eva Mary Higgins...I had a lady who said she had a friend that was also looking for the same lucien sent me information about 2yrs ago...she was the daughter off Eva Mary Higgins.....my father who is the son off Lucien was born in 1946 his mother was mavis cox
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Looking back at Solarsal's posts I would say that the both Lucien's are the same person and that the difference in dates of birth is simply one of those errors that appears over the years.
MaxD
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Don't want to take this off topic, but can anyone supply any general info about the American Forces use of interpreters in Europe during WWll ?
My parents had come to Britain as children, and were employed by the US army in Switzerland (I think,) as interpreters, the British forces having rejected them as "aliens".