Just had a chinwag with my dad. He is not very sure about the regiments grandad served with, though mention (if memory is correct) was made of the Durham Light the Green Howards and possibly the Black Watch. Don't take that as gospel. It would seem that he served with several different regiments through those years.
Grandad never saw battle and never fired a bullet in anger. Dad also says that his father got three medals though no idea what they were for. Grandad never went abroad during the war.
My dad does know that his father spent time at Pontsbury ammo store and time at Dishforth, and both those postings were for guard duties. Of course this photo we are discussing puts grandad at Portsmouth in 1943, again probably as a guard. Grandfather was also seemingly a Bat-man? personal assistant or valet to an officer, keeping uniform and boots clean and tidy. The only way to fully understand what grandad got up to would be to send for his papers. I have no idea what his service number was. Oh, he was also stationed at Gosforth, outside Newcastle. That is where and when he met my grandmother, in 1941 I think. They married in Northumberland in August 1942.
Grandad was also a petite man and only 5' 3" in his stocking feet. I sometimes wonder if that precluded him from the more 'exciting' stuff of service.
Philip
