Great Grandfather Mystery WW2

[mmm45]

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/sheet/71

Wonder if he was a DEMS member?
Champollion was wrecked but post war.It was a troopship.

Ady

[iluleah]

Thanks so much for this.

I spoke to my grandfather tonight and he confirmed that he was in the Gloucestershire regiment. Does this still mean homeguard ties?

He definitely served aboard troopships and apparently the only time he ever cried was when the Champollion broke up off the Israel coast. He said it was HIS ship.  Apparently he also served aboard the Mauritania 2 as well.

He is a real puzzle....

Champollion 1952 due to faulty navigation stranded Beirut, broken into two parts at the beach, total loss. https://www.britishpathe.com/video/26-die-in-lebanon-shipwreck-aka-the-wreck-of-the
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/893690/title/champollion/cat/503  it carried troops to Saigon in 1947

HMT Mauretania the WW2 Troopship http://www.ssmaritime.com/RMS-Mauretania.htm

[MaxD]

The family info regarding troopships is so firm that I would discount the Home Guard.  Both vessels mentioned were troopships during the war so I think DEMS is also to be discounted.  The promotion to Sergeant doesn't sound like Merchant Navy and RM is also unlikely.
It is possible (I am looking into this) that troopships carried an army staff in addition to the MN crew for discipline/admin purposes which could add up.  Hopefully more on this to come?

Hope this doesn't sound rude but was the application that yielded no results to the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow?

MaxD

[thecapt]

I’m pretty sure the request was to Glasgow, yes...

Thanks for your help! 

[MaxD]

Just backtracking a wee bit.  I discounted DEMs because they were initially Royal Artillery, then Maritime Royal  Artillery and RN or RM and our man is in the Gloucestershires.

However  I suppose one can't discount transferring between regiments which puts Ady's DEMS proposal back in the frame.  It is my understanding that in straightforward DEMS vessel, the DEMS men had to sign on as part of the crew. I suspect (but don't know) that that would have obtained for troopships.  There are others on here more expert than I at MN crew lists who hopefully could advise on this with respect to the two vessels in question.

I acknowledge here the info at http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12782

I think Grandfather did this on purpose 

MaxD

[Regorian]

He looks like Gloucestershire Regiment to me. Uniform up to late 1930's perhaps. I don't see any problem with army personnel on troopships. Tell the troops how to behave on board ship.   

[Jebber]

You could enquire  at the Gloucesters Regimental Museum, you would have to pay for any research, but if you sent a copy of the photo and tell them what you know, they may be able to offer general advice on what he may have been doing.

www.soldersofglos.com

[thecapt]

Right.......

So let me capture this;

Arthur was definitely dressed in Gloucestershire regiment uniform from a period up to the late 1930’s.

The homeguard link is not likely (I did check the website that had ALL the homeguard information - there was no link that I could see).

There was maybe a transfer from this regiment to a troopship but still under the army ‘banner’. 

I did look at the Gloucester regiment website and there were 3 Arthur Walkers listed but 2 were the wrong time (ww1). The other had little to no information (service number 643).

I did wonder whether there were any medical records online as Arthur was shot at some point (again, contextually, was this training, combat, accidental, etc?).

Loving this.......

[thecapt]

And then DEMS link - that is the most intriguing one of all....