How to find a soldiers regiment

[aidansrest]

Hi

A friend is searching for her father-in-law's World War Army Service record as a surprise birthday present for her husband.

John Edward Kelly was born on the 18th April 1920 and has been deceased for some years now, (we have his death certificate).
He served abroad in North Africa, Italy, Burma and, perhaps, Italy.

Would TNA hold records that would enable me to find John's regiment using his name and DOB?

Any other ideas?

Many Thnaks

Sue

[Andy J2022]

The service records for soldiers who served after 1920 are either with the MOD or are in the process of being transferred to the National Archives. There are about 14 million records which all need to be checked and indexed so it's a slow process. Unfortunately the two organisations have slightly different procedures for dealing with requests, so to save yourself time I would start by using the MOD's request procedure and if the documents have already transfered to TNA the MOD will provide a reference number which will allow TNA to find the documents more quickly. If the MOD still has the documents, the procedure can take up to 6 months, but because TNA are digitizing the records as they receive them, documents from TNA can be obtained fairly swiftly. There is also a difference in the cost depending on who has the documents.
https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/apply-for-someone-elses-records

More details here: https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=869450.msg7447341#msg7447341

[aidansrest]

That great!! Thank you!

I'll give it a go

Sue