Hi Cell,
It came from the MOD and is only 4 pages! The papers show his service record and his notification of release in 1945. Service record starts with his service in school Officer Training Corps through Territorial service with RAMC and war service and then shows him being placed on the reserve. Only redactions are his religion and details of his spouse which I obviously know already. Helped confirm a few stories that I had been told but only actually served overseas for 4 months in 1945 which is different to what I had been told.
Hi,
That's interesting that the MOD redacted his religion as the TNA haven't done the same with my grandfather's record. His religion is left uncovered right throughout his records . They also haven't redacted my grandmother either ( his spouse)
Mine is a massive document 165 pages , I think it would have taken the staff a while for them to read through it all and decide whether to blank any of it out ( it took me a good part of the day yesterday and that's only light reading it)
The only things they have redacted on mine are his children's names ( they are all are dead except my mother) but yet they left a statement in the records ( his written statement when he was in a military hospital in 1958 ) talking about his three daughters, and saying two of which are about to get married. It wouldn't really take much for a non family member to do a bit of digging and find those three daughters names . ( one is my mother and the other two who are about to marry are my aunts ) . There seems no rhyme and reason with some of these redacted ones.
Yes they certainly help with confirming their stories, I now know exactly what happened when my grandfather was injured in a land mine in 1938 in Palestine now, which I knew he was blown up there ( which wasn't how he suffered being injured - he actually escaped the explosions of the land mines" blowing him up" - only to have his truck driver run over one of his legs, in the heat of the explosions. His truck hit a landmine and my grandfather jumped from the truck , who was sitting in the front next to the driver, inbetween the first landmine and the second landmine explosion and landed just a couple feet away from a third - which didnt go off ). There is a whole statement from him in his records detailing it . Reading it, He was lucky to be alive( one of the other men in his vechicle weren't so lucky who is also named. )
The only one I was surprised at , which didn't confirm what I've been told - in fact the complete opposite what I was always told that he loved Singapore . I was always told he wanted to live there, and was offered a job to run the racetrack ,move his family out there to join him and retire there, and my gran didn't want to move there, wow how wrong is that! . It is totally incorrect going by his own statements on the records. (He was in and out of hospital in Singapore with various ailments ) .He was actually very miffed off ( miffed is not his exact word - disgruntled ) that he wasn't shipped to Hong Kong as he hated the Singapore climate,and had enough of travelling and he wanted to go home and become a " gardener" which I had to laugh at this statement of wanting to garden ( he always did love his gardening lol. I used to spend many a day with him down the allotments when I was kid, where he tried to escape from my gran's nagging lol)
I also found out he was also a qualified football ref which- was written down in the records,,which I knew nothing about, except that he always did love his football when I knew him. Apparently he injured his knee ( twice) back in the late 1920s at football which stopped him playing, so refereed the army matches I suppose. Just odd why they used " qualified " , don't know if that is army qualified, or an outside body qualification .
Too much to take in . Mine retired at his own request in 1966 , poor granddad he must have been very tired at the time he retired in 1966.. He had been constantly in the forces from from he was just 19 beng posted to Indian and sudan , Palestine then the landings in france , and then Germany ,"peacekeeping" in various countries such as Korea and Singapore after that , rose through the ranks to staff/ quartermaster sergeant which most I did know about of course.
He stepped back from postings ( after his last stint in hospital in 1958 and being pretty much too old for keep carrying on like that ) and took the post of head gardener in the military prison back home in the UK (he got his wish lol) . Then the last couple of years , he went semi retired , into the TA , and worked in the stores.
I'll have to order my husband's grandfather's records, I applied for his about a week after mine through the Tna's portal, but didn't take it further ( recieved a letter from the MOD saying they have moved ,but I didn't take it further to apply from the TNA for his.) His granddad served in the war years for a couple of years ,as a medic/ stretcher bearer I believe, My husband never knew his grandfather, he died before he was born so it should be interesting.)
Odd why they have redacted your religion and didn't with mine. It almost seems as if it depends on how they interpret the Freedom and information act.
Kind regards
