Hunting Wartime Records

[daisy1942]

I am interested in family history and I am hoping people on this site might be able to help fill in the gaps in my father-in-law’s war time history and that this might produce clues to his earlier life. I have tried the various birth, death and marriage records without success. I have also tried the Military records here in the UK again without success The names on the ships in 1944 onwards come from DM Stringer's CRS10 but I have only a partial copy.  According to the British War Records my father in law did not serve in an capacity in spite of the fact that we have a photo of him in "navy whites" that was identified by the Captain of the P10 many years after the war.

Can anyone help me with the following questions:
What was DM Stringer doing in Singapore?
How he travel there?
How did he get from Emmerhaven/Padang to Trinidad?
Are there surviving Crew list for any of the ships mentioned and does the name DM Stringer appear on them?
It is possible that until Trinidad he may have been using his brother’s name.

Thank you for reading and most of the known details are below. If anything is unclear or if there are questions, please ask.

Full Name Dominic Michael Stringer
Born 14.04.1919 or 1922
Father John Patrick Stringer (taken from marriage certificate)
Mother Unkown

He was brought up in Glasgow, sibling known as “Jack” but nothing else is known of his early years.

World War Two
DM Stringer was in Singapore in the weeks before the fall. We do not know what he was doing there nor how he got there.

DM Stringer was in Singapore for at least two weeks before it fell. He left on 13/14 February 1942 on board Daisy under the command of Capt. W. Walmsley. Also on board were Purvis, Peter Black; Stewart, James George; McArthur, William; McMahon, Gerald Manning; Dyce, John (Medical Hall, Singapore); Campbell (Gatty & Bateman) and six naval ratings (one report says five ratings and a petty officer). The named men all knew each other and all had some connection with Scotland.
At the mouth of the Djambi river, Daisy was scuttled and her crew were taken upstream by S.Lt. Weatherstone-Lammert, who commanded P10 The group travelled together across the mountains to Padang where most seemed to escape on board the Duijmaer Van Twist. Many of those aboard Daisy, P10 and P12 appear on the Zandaam passenger list available at the NAA. DM Stringer does not appear on either list and I do not know how he left Padang. P10 and P12 were Dutch patrol boats that were loaned to the British Royal Navy. DM Stringer was identified as one of the naval ratings on board Daisy. I have information about the Zandaam and its passenger and crew lists lists but there are gaps in time and most lists I have seen are incomplete.

Late in 1942, DM Stringer enlisted into the USED whilst in Trinidad. He said he arrived in Trinidad after his ship had been torpedoed nearby. He frequented the Old Racecourse in Port of Spain where many merchant seamen stayed after arriving in Trinidad. He married Evelyn Genevieve Stringer in Bridgetown, Barbados. Throughout that year he worked on board Delamar and Wellandoc.

In 1944 DM Stringer was in Montreal, Canada and signed on Samspeed bound for the Mediterranean. Thereafter he served on Fort Massac, Trevanion and Empire Bairn. He was not averse to getting into trouble and was involved in at least one Naval Court. He was returned to the UK on 2.7.1945

Thank you for reading.

[Ruskie]

Although you are searching for information about his service, it sounds like ou already have substantially more than most people do about their relatives.

You could apply for his service record:
https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records

Regarding his early life, you might be better starting a new thread on the Scotland boards, as you are  looking at different records, research and knowledge required for each search. If you start another thread provide a link to this thread to prevent any duplicated information.

[ScouseBoy]

Have you looked for him on the 1939 Register.

What does USED   stand for, please?

What did he give as his occupation on the marriage certificate?

[KGarrad]

Maybe he started with the Merchant Navy?
And was therefore in the Mercantile Reserve, rather than the RN?

When doing a friend's tree, we found his grandfather did exactly that, also in Singapore.
He failed to escape after the Japanese Invasion, and ended up as a POW.

[ScouseBoy]

Although you are searching for information about his service, it sounds like ou already have substantially more than most people do about their relatives.

You could apply for his service record:
https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records

            However,   without a definite  Date of Birth  and not knowing    which branch of the military  he may have served in,  that search is not likely to succeed,  unfortunately.

[daisy1942]

Have you looked for him on the 1939 Register.

What does USED   stand for, please?

What did he give as his occupation on the marriage certificate?

USED stands for United States Engineering Department.  Rather weird he was stationed on board seagoing tugs but this small unit appears to have been attached to either US Army or Coastguard!

His Marriage Certificate lists him as Engineer..

Thanks for your interest,

[daisy1942]

Have you looked for him on the 1939 Register.

What does USED   stand for, please?

What did he give as his occupation on the marriage certificate?

Missed the question  about the 1939 Register...He does not appear on it - this may be because he was already out of the country or that the 1949 register does not seem to cover Scotland.

[ScouseBoy]

He may have worked in Singapore  as a Ship Repairs Engineer  in the dock yard.

[daisy1942]

Although you are searching for information about his service, it sounds like ou already have substantially more than most people do about their relatives.

You could apply for his service record:
https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records

            However,   without a definite  Date of Birth  and not knowing    which branch of the military  he may have served in,  that search is not likely to succeed,  unfortunately.

 

Thanks to both for your interest and suggestions.

The information I have does not tally with any entries in the Birth, Death or Marriage  records in the UK Scotland or as far as I can tell Ireland, although there is a distinct possibility he was born in Ireland.  As I do not have a definite unit or service number the MOD Records cannot help me.  Hence, appeals on boards like this to see if I can shake any more information out of the woodwork!

It is certainly worth trying the Scotland Board (and an Irish one too if you have one)  but I do not know how to link the requests to this post.

Thanks again