No Service Number= No

[steve62]

Hi folks.
After my fathers WW2 Service Records. The only info I have is that he was a Sapper attached to the 8th Army and served in the Africa and Italy campaigns.
 Read somewhere, not here, that if you cannot provide a service number, but only name and dob the MOD will not be able to search and if you fill in the forms and send with the fee .you lose your £30.  True or not?

Many thanks

Steve62

[crisane]

Not true
 You can apply for them at a cost of 30 pounds. You do not need his service number but you will need a copy of his death certificate.
You can download the application forms from here
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records

[steve62]

Thank you.
Needed that expert advice.

Steve

[IMBER]

Just to observe that when I applied for my father in law's RAF records they said they couldn't find them without his service number because his name, John Robinson, was so common. We didn't lose our £30 though. Fortunately I doubt that many will experience the same problem.

Imber

[greenrig]

RAF Service numbers are online. Look for index AIR 78 in the National Archive; it is free to access.

[Ruskie]

Providing date and place of birth can help if you have a common name. 

[IMBER]

AIR 78 presents the same problem the RAF records people had - too many John Robinsons. RAF records were just not prepared to check them all out, even with date and place of birth. However, about two years after our unsuccessful application my wife's cousin came across his dead mother's war era address book and discovered she had been in the habit of writing to my father in law when he was with the RAF in France. His service address was there, along with his service number. A lucky break and now we have the records!

Imber

[greenrig]

While accepting that common names are an issue in Air/78, here is the technique I used to find my man  (a James Brown, who I knew had something to do with wireless).    This may be helpful to others.

Using Air/78, I built a list of the 166 "J Browns" in the RAF at its formation in April 1918.

I then worked through AIR 10/237 Volumes 1 and 2 (and the various supplements) and matched the seven "J Browns" who were Wireless Operators, Electricians or Wireless Mechanics.

I then called up their files from AIR 79 - and got a positive match on the third file.

[IMBER]

That's a very sensible and logical approach greenrig. I'm sure there must be many who would benefit from following that procedure.

Imber