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Thanks for letting me know that Rosie99, so maybe it’s still in the queue. Think it’s still worth a quick ring on Monday even if it just puts my Mum’s mind at rest that they have received it.

Ah I see I’m using Ancestry all wrong. No wonder it’s so hard to find stuff. 

One other question, am I right in thinking it’s only possible to find peoples records online for WW1 at the moment as WW2 hasn’t been released yet?
I’m also trying to find out about Thomas George Cole, my Great Uncle, Thomas Cole’s son who served in the Army in WW2.
G Uncle Tommy died in 1961 from brain cancer, again we don’t know his service number or regiment but do have a photo of him that was taken in France in 1944, whilst randomly Googling I came across the photo on a website with the caption “a stretcher bearer of the Durham Light Infantry, 50th Division”, and then using forceswarrecords I found a possible match:

T Cole Private 14600165

My Mum has sent off the forms to the MOD to request his service record but that was several weeks ago and they haven’t banked the cheque yet.  Again we’re not expecting the service record to contain a lot of detail all we really want to know is the pertinent information: enlistment date, regiment, service number, discharge date etc and then we’ll look up whatever we can as to where his regiment went during the war.
The only other question specifically relating to him we are hoping to find an answer to; which may or may not be in his service record, is we’ve always been told he was a Commando, we know this isn’t the same as being a Commando these days but would like to know if it’s true.

Is it possible to find out anything about Thomas George Cole and his WW2 Army service or do we need to wait for the MOD to answer? (He’s the same son I’ve been talking about in my earlier posts so date of birth 08/10/1914)

I’m so happy I’m literally dancing around the living room! It’s been driving me nuts not being able to find him.

Thank you guys for the additional info but please tell me how you are finding it? How do you know when he joined up and when he was discharged?

And thank you MaxD for the link to the war diaries, I didn’t think any of them were available online.

The stuff with Herbert has only got mixed in today, I knew he had enlisted because I’d seen his Attestation papers but didn’t know anything about his service but since we’ve found out the record that was found was Herbert’s and not Thomas’ I’ve discounted it and gone back to the original story.

I’ve been talking to my Mum and yes Thomas was definitely in the Army, this took place in France and was late 1914/early 1915. Thomas received gun shot wounds to the stomach, some of the shrapnel was never removed and he died from stomach cancer in Bethnal Green Hospital (don’t know if this is related to the shrapnel or not just repeating what she told me.)
Thomas was found by someone from his regiment and was fed snow to keep him alive until he reached the field hospital.
It was definitely Elizabeth and Thomas George who were on the ship (or boat as my Mum called it) that got torpedoed, they were almost in France when they were attacked, she doesn’t know the name of the ship or if it sank but she said Elizabeth ended up in the water.  Elizabeth and Thomas George both made it to France and did see Thomas in the field hospital, she doesn’t know if Thomas came home with them or at a later date but he was medically discharged.
On the 1911 Census Thomas is a Hawker but he had a Licenced Hawker’s badge and my Nan told my Mum Thomas got that because he was invalided out of the Army.  I asked her about an Army Pension but she’s not aware of one but then again she was only 4 when Thomas died.

I haven’t got Thomas George’s or Stanley’s birth certificates only their birth registrations:
Thomas George Bethnal Green 1 c 289
Stanley George Bethnal Green 1 c 154
and Stanley’s death registration Bethnal Green 1 c 362
Do their Birth and Death certificates contain their parents home address? and if I order pdf copies will that give me the information I’m looking for? Just checking.

I’ve seen Stanley’s Burial Record and thought I had downloaded it but can’t find it and have only written the plot number (F593) and death age (5 months) down. I can’t remember if it’s his or his sisters’ Florence who died in 1922 that said Bethnal Green Infirmary.

I haven’t found Thomas on the 1918 Electroral Register but only because I haven’t looked before now and wouldn’t have been sure of an address but I’d place money on it being Bethnal Green now.
Also I don’t know but would a Hawker be in a trade directory?

Nothing on FindMyPast Philip.

I think we should have explained that there really is no type of service record that would have a detailed description of the type of incident, the details of which have been handed down (and parts of which you have already found aren't quite right). So it isn't really a needle in a haystack, there is no needle to be searched for.

Philip's thought that there might have been a newspaper report is a good one but I find nothing in the archive on Findmypast.  If you are local to Bethnal Green you might like to visit the local library to see local newspapers of the time.

Jim's explanation of FP No 1 perhaps illustrates how one incident can be conflated with another as the story passes down the generations.  Interesting that brother Herbert was sentenced to such a punishment in 1916 and again in 1917!!  He was also a POW.

MaxD

I’m missing something, what punishment was Herbert sentenced to?

Got to be honest I didn’t think there would be a ‘detailed account’ of what actually happened anywhere, I know that even in War Diaries it’s unlikely to find anyone other than Officers mentioned by name, I was more hoping that given that they thought he wouldn’t survive that maybe there would be some medical record somewhere, maybe something to do with his medical discharge, I didn’t know if it would make the papers or if it was the kind of thing they were told not to report in the press - I’m not local to Bethnal Green but will make a point of going there one day to check the local papers.  Rather than an official detailed account say on his service record I’m looking for clues, I thought if I could find his regiment then I could track where they were, check the war diaries, maybe narrow down where he was and when this might of happened and you never know I might have stumbled across a mention of something, I’m not expecting to find his name in bold type with all the gory details but something would be good. I was also wondering as Elizabeth travelled out to (I’m guessing) France to see him and again I’m guessing this would’ve been on a military ship would her name appear anywhere? The ship was torpedoed but didn’t sink (that I know of, I don’t know how badly damaged it was) is there any way of tracking the story from this?
Are there records of ships torpedoed between England and France from late 1914 and early 1915? and if there are are we talking a list of hundreds? Again showing my lack of knowledge here and yes I realise I’m clutching at straws.