Request for help with Royal artillery tracer card

[thomas143]

I wonder whether somebody knowledgeable in this area would be willing to take a look at the attached card and provide some kind of interpretation. I've plenty of experience in other family history records but this is new to me.

This is (I think) my wife's grandfather. We believe that he enlisted in the ranks but was commissioned sometime before the end of the war. I don't believe he ever served outside th



Thanks in advance. Chris

[tonepad]

He seems to have been mostly in 368 Battery, 113th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Durham_Rifle_Volunteers

Scroll down to 113th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment


Tony

[thomas143]

Thanks for that.

There does seem to be some information available online for that battery.

Does the info on the card mean that he enlisted in 1939 but was not actually called for duty until Dec 1942?

Would there be diaries in existence for these types of units? There is a story that he was buried in a bomb blast when his battery suffered a near miss.

[tonepad]

113th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was formed in 1942 from 55th Searchlight Regiment, he could have been in the Searchlight Regiment or posted from another unit.

His service record would show what he was doing between 1939 and 1942.
Apply to the MOD:

FAQ: Where are Service Records? 1920s onwards including WW2 (UK)

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=651361.0



Tony

[MaxD]

The 1942 date is when he was transferred from Heavy Anti Aircraft (HAA) to Light AA

The info pointed to by Tonepad is most useful and his tracer card suggest he was with them in NW Europe,  So far I find a war diary for the regiment in 1942 at:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C793762

Have to take care when looking for war diaries, there was also a 113 LAA Battery, a sub unit of a different regiment.
Not found a record of a commission in the London Gazette.

MaxD

[ShaunJ]

His entries in the RA Attestation Register don't mention a commission. Transferred to Z(T) reserve in January 1946, discharged as over age in 1957.

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FROYALART%2F1538601-1539600%2F00012&parentid=GBM%2FROYALART%2F405567

[MaxD]

War diaries for 113 LAA REGIMENT are in this collection:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_aq=113%20anti&_ep=regiments&_nq1=heavy&_cr=WO&_dss=range&_ro=any&_st=adv  These are unfortunately not digitised.

You will note from the tracer card that he also spent time in Headquarter Battery of the regiment.  The regiment certainly went to NW Europe (Jun 44) whether he did, as Tonepad points out will be in his service record.

MaxD

[thomas143]

Thanks to all those who replied since my last post. Unfortunately I did not realise that notifications were going to an old email account which I don't often monitor.

With some further family research we have discovered that this is in fact the wrong George Lockwood. The one that I am looking for had a different service number which doesn't appear to be in the tracer card archive. The birth certificate of one of his children gives it as 1531686RA. The dates and units on the incorrect card are plausible as the family know that he served in anti aircraft units aroung East Anglia.

Apparently he enlisted the war as a private but ended as a captain. I am wondering whether the original card would have been moved to another filing system upon being comissioned. Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on that.

We have now applied for his service record so hopefully all will become clear.

[MaxD]

The tracer card collection is know to be not 100% complete and there wasn't another version.

But there is something not quite right.  The RA attestation register does not have a George Lockwood with the number you quote.  It also has no entry of any name with that number.  There is no entry I can find in the London Gazette for a commission relating to the number or the name.

Officers' records for the period are held by the National Archives although not all survive, he doesn't appear there.

Unless others can find something you may have to wait to see if your application bears fruit. If Glasgow cannot match the name and number then your application won't succeed.

MaxD