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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: Brewins girl on Sunday 10 January 21 16:29 GMT (UK)
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Apologies if I've asked this before (I thought I had, but can't find it here, nor can I find any notes I would have made). The soldier in question had left his REME unit in Eastbourne just before Christmas 1943, and travelled to his home in Newton Abbot, Devon. He then travelled to his girl-friend's home in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, and then left Birmingham at the end of his leave to join his Unit which had moved to Grove Ferry, near Canterbury. In the absence of emails and text messaging (& as far `s I know, the telephone), how would he have known that the location of his Unit had changed?
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:) OHMS telegram to first address that was redirected several times ? That was the usual practice in NSW during WWII.
JM
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Telegram? They were frequently used for communication as not everyone had a 'phone. A lad on a bike would cycle to the house to deliver it.
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JM - NSW? If you mean New South Wales in Australia, I should have made it clear that my soldier was in UK
I did wonder about telegram, but I’m sure I’ve read somewhere that there would be instructions at places like railway stations.
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Local police could be used as well if urgent and he had to be found.
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JM - NSW? If you mean New South Wales in Australia, I should have made it clear that my soldier was in UK
I did wonder about telegram, but I’m sure I’ve read somewhere that there would be instructions at places like railway stations.
Yes, NSW is one of 8 jurisdictions in Australia, and of course our soldiers were part of the British Empire, serving under allegience to the King, and Australia was only a Dominion and our Army regulations were based on English regs.
:)
JM.
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I should add, an OHMS telegram in NSW had highest priority, and telegram boys (all employed by PMG department) had to wait to check if any reply was needed, hence it could quickly be redirected etc...
JM
:) OHMS telegram to first address that was redirected several times ? That was the usual practice in NSW during WWII.
JM
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To JM - one of our sons lives in Sydney, NSW, so I’m familiar with it. Although I know your Army regs were based on UK regs, I need to find evidence (anecdotal or in documentary form) of the actual practice where my soldier was, as I am writing a non-fiction book [yes MaxD and others - I’m still writing my book, although I’ve finished volume 1 (1943 letters) and am editing vol 2 (1944). I’m currently trying to find an agent willing to represent me]
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Well, may I please be added to your list of people interested in buying copies of your book.
I wonder if your PMG or royal mail or the Railways etc may have archived their own regulations from that era....
JM
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.... how would his unit have known that he was at his girlfriend’s house (and what her address was) rather than his own home? How would they know to contact him there?
In his personal diaries, my OH’s father had a girlfriend whose mother had a telephone at home. (He specified the phone number and I managed to find it in a directory) :D However if he was staying there I don’t think the army would have known that address or phone number, unless he had given it as a contact, which I know he did not. It is possible they could contact his parents (who I don’t think had a telephone) and they could then have passed on these details if they knew where he was, which I am sure they would not have done. :)
Would it be feasible that your chap would have had to remain in close regular contact with his unit to find out what what his next move was? (.... so he would contact them rather than them chasing him?) What would have happened in reality, I don’t know. Telegram, as the others suggest, seems likely.
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Thank you JM. Unfortunately while Coronovirus restricts us I’m not able to visit places like the Railway Museum, nor places like The National Archives which hold a lot of records. I will do a search to see if the Royal Mail Museum has any information online, and maybe I’ll try his regimental museum, which has been very helpful in the past. The trouble is most of these archives charge for doing a search of their records. Research is expensive! Unless of course, it’s RootsChat!
I hope it’s acceptable to post this here, but you might be interested in my blog (in which, I hasten to add, I’ve acknowledged RootsChat)
https://brewinsgirl.wordpress.com
https://brewinsgirl.wordpress.com/the-generosity-of-writers-and-researchers/
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Good evening,
As his leave was probably only 1 or maybe 2 weeks he could have known about the move before hand. Units would have been given notice of movements rather than being told at very short notice. They would need time to pack up and move.
He would also have been traveling on a travel warrant with which to obtain his ticket/s. So his return journey ticket would have the correct destination on it.
John915
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Good evening John915. He wrote to his sweetheart a few days before he left his Unit in Eastbourne to go to London for a Trade Test. From there he went direct to his home in Devon. He had 10days leave, then an extra 36hrs at the beginning because he finished the Trade Test early. He told her that he would return to Eastbourne, but of course it’s wrong for me to assume that in between his letter & actual departure from Eastbourne or London things hadn’t changed. Thank you for the info about the travel warrant.