Where else do I go?

[Dundee]

Even though the main information page says "You need to know the person’s full name, date of birth and service number the actual search application document says "SERVICE NUMBER AND/OR DATE OF BIRTH MUST BE INCLUDED".  This needs to be clarified with them.

So I think that what we are saying is to just apply with the service number and no date of birth with a notation that the date of birth on his death certificate is known to be incorrect.

If this works then you are paying to just see this particular service record to set yourself at ease that it is not the right person otherwise you will always wonder (well I would)  .

You would know better than us what sort of help the person at the APC has given you.  Perhaps you are confident that they have cross checked the info to a point where nothing else matches - next of kin, a Glasgow address etc. - I don't know if they go that far for you.  Many men lied about their age to enlist and I am sure they would know this, but perhaps what they have found is that this man is, for example, only aged 20 so way out of the ballpark.

I can't believe that after 70 years they still feel unable to release a basic nominal roll of those who served - just name, number and where enlisted would do.

Debra 

[Dundee]

I have been trying to think of anywhere else there might be a mention of Patrick's military service.

You probably know this but his wife and children arrived in New Zealand on the 'Tamaroa' in January 1954. 

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6P16-ML

Mentioned on the shipping manifest is 'Cubbitt and Zschokki' (Cubitts and Zschokke) who had the contract for the Roxburgh Hydro-electric power project.  Plenty about it online including some videos, and these parliamentary papers say that the men were flown from the UK to New Zealand - is that how your grandfather arrived?

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01lzu/

It starts on page 465 and the whole thing is quite interesting for background info but the bits about the contracted workers are on pages 476, 480, 506, 511, 543 and possibly more.  Of most interest is the mention on pages 511/512 where one of the men says that he went to the High Commissioner's office in London in response to advertisements and put in an application.  It is a long shot, but I wonder if any of this documentation still survives?

I had a look at Archway NZ and there are some mentions of the company there so maybe you should contact NZ Archives first to see what they have first.

Do you know if your grandmother was on an assisted passage?  The records can be hugely informative but as far as I can see there are only Immigration Case Files for non-British immigrants indexed on Archway.  I don't know why this is, perhaps someone on the NZ board might know.  I thought that they followed the same British immigration application system as Australia after 1949.

Debra 

[PMILLS]

Thanks Debra,
                     You are right, my grandfather from what I understand learn't a few things in the army and was good at blowing things up.He worked on the Loch sloy hydro-electric scheme in Inveruglas for Edmund Nuttall and Sons as a General Foreman in charge of the gangs.
I have a certificate for him for the British Rock Tunnelling  Record dated 18th April 1951( I have a photo of this).We also have the invite to the opening by the Queen to him and my Grandmother dated 18th October 1950.He was presented with a silver cigarette case by the Queen.
My understanding is as part of his contract to come to New Zealand he had to do at least two years before the family could come out.My Grandparents had lost a child in a fire,the oldest stayed behind and one,a girl was kept by my grandmothers mother.As I've stated my grandfather didn't talk about the war,as a matter of fact he didn't talk a lot at all,he was a big man,6'5 or so but very quite.I was very close to him wright up until his death.Trying to get these records and hopefully his medals has brought a lot of info forward and been interesting. EG: the girl child I talk about above, as with all the children was put with relatives after the fire,after the family got sorted my grandmothers mother refused to give her back.I have thought about the guy we thought was my grandfather,the dates could be wrong somewhere but I'm not sure they would give them to me now and I feel a bit funny if they are not him and someone else's family member which makes things difficult.Thanks for the info and help.
Thanks.

[MaxD]

The either/or is correct, they will work from either.  Thus if you cite both and one is wrong then they have no choice but to say there is no match. As to whether you apply again, using only the service number, as Dundee is intimating, it all rather depends on how keen you are to at least eliminate the man with the service number in Forces War Records.  It would be interesting to know how your mate is so convinced that the Forces War Records man is yours.  If he is simply looking at the listing that comes up by searching the name then he has more insight than most of us!

MaxD

[doch]

Hi,i had a similar experience while trying to find my fathers army records.my father like a lot of men never spoke of his time during the war and we were more or less discouraged to ask,this resulted in when i was filling out the application form i was at a loss as i didn't know his army number nor even which regiment he was in so i applied with his D.O.B. i sent the form off along with the fee,and a few weeks later i recieved a letter from the m.o.d. saying there was no match for my dads name and D.O.B. i rang the records office in glasgow and was told they had done a search and there was no record of my father being in the army during ww2,and more or less that was the end of the matter.
 i pushed the issue a bit further and asked could they look at any other record that had the same name and date of birth but different year of birth,there was one match but unfortunately it wasn't the record i was after. i took things a bit further again as i knew for certain my dad served in the army,i got the phone number for a higher department in the records dept and spoke to a very helpful lady,i asked her if she could look at some records a few days before and a few days after my dads d.o.b.(which should have been done in the first place ) and she rang me back within an hour and asked who my dads next of kin was,when i told her this,she confirmed she had found my dads records. there was a days discrepancy in my dads d.o.b. and the date on his enlistment papers.
apologies for the long winded answer,but the m.o.d. will only look at the date you put on your application and if there is no match they'll send back your application,so it might be worth your while to push for a further search as there could be a clerical error as in my dads enlistment papers.

[PMILLS]

Thanks guys for all your help, I have been looking at all the things you have put up.My mate is overseas with the army so not available at the moment. I think I will contact the APC/MOD again and see if they can do more to help,.        Thanks, Pat

[PMILLS]

Just an update. Been five years or so since I started this search for my grandfather's ww2 records and although I have found a lot of info out I still have had no luck with his records, including two applications to the APC. Have no idea where to go from here.
Thanks for all the help.