Thomas Cole Bethnal Green

[MaxD]

"Hints" is only related to a family tree. 

Use the card catalogue to start from scratch.  Entering "Silver" in the key word will lead direct to the search form for Silver War Badges.

The date of entering France is on his medal card.

In the Military section there are also the Service medal and Award rolls where the (in his case) the Rifle Brigade medals are all consolidated.  His 1914 Star comes up under T Cole and his number, the War and Victory under Thomas Cole and number.

The war diaries are also accessible on Ancestry as you have it.  Find the war diaries France/Belgium/Germany via the card catalogue.  In the search box put 1731 and nothing else and hit Search - start at the beginning and go as far as his discharge date (although he would have been invalided home before that date).

Happy reading.

MaxD

[BB78]

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)

[MaxD]

You have it exactly right as far as full service records from WW2 are concerned.  While ForcesWar Records may have some matches, they are not the man's service record which will give you all the information you list in your piece.  So yes, you do have to wait for MoD.

I am a little concerned that IF your application has quoted the wrong service number, it will not match the date of birth and this may affect the ability of the people at Glasgow to find your man, it is not up to them to decide which is the right one..  I would suggest you call the help line on  0345 600 9663.  They are always very helpful and should be able to advise as to the progress of your application.


MaxD
MaxD

[BB78]

On the application form we left the sections for service number and regiment blank because obviously we’re not sure but included a separate sheet with a copy of the photo and the same explanation. Hopefully they’ll process it the same way they normally do from the information off the application form and if they find him from his date of birth and he was in the Durham Light Infantry or they have a photo of him matching ours then they know they’ve got the right man.
What surprises me most is that they haven’t banked the cheque, I was expecting that to go within a week of them receiving the application form.
Thank you for the helpline number, I’ll tell my Mum to bring the copy of the application form with her when she comes to visit on Monday and will call them then.

[rosie99]

What surprises me most is that they haven’t banked the cheque, I was expecting that to go within a week of them receiving the application form.

I have recently applied for a record and the cheque was not banked until they started processing the application some weeks after I had sent it.  My application to them was like yours not straightforward but they communicated to me by email to clarify some information around the same time that the cheque was banked and the records arrived quite quickly after that.

[BB78]

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.