Hi I’m hoping someone may be able to help? I am researching my grandfathers service and have already received documents that state he was posted to RASC 67co He unfortunately passed away last year and despite asking, didn’t talk about where he was and what he had been involved with. All I really know is that he was in North Africa and he was shot in the leg by a colleague accidentally. It would mean a great deal to know more about his service, especially for my mum who has taken his death extremely hard. His name was Robert DUNSTER Any help would be greatly appreciated
Hi Matthew If you've received a his service records from the MoD it would be worth posting a scan of them. If you've got something else from somewhere else you will need to request his full service record from the MoD - it's the only place you can get them. They should be able to find him from full name and date of birth, don't worry about his service number if you haven't got it. It will cost you £30 and you'll need his death certificate. 67 Company on its own may not be enough to identify his unit as there were probably several different types of company with that number.
War Diaries available at Kew Royal Army Service Corps: 67 Company (RASC) War Office: British Forces, Middle East: War Diaries, Second World War. ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS. COMPANIES. Royal Army Service Corps: 67 Company (RASC). Held by: The National Archives, Kew - War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies Date: 1943 Reference: WO 169/11719 Subjects: Armed Forces (General Administration) | Army | Conflict | Diaries | Middle East | Operations, battles and campaigns Royal Army Service Corps: 67 Company (RASC) War Office: British Forces, Middle East: War Diaries, Second World War. ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS. Royal Army Service Corps: 67 Company (RASC). Held by: The National Archives, Kew - War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies Date: 1939 - 1940 Reference: WO 169/475 Subjects: Armed Forces (General Administration) | Army | Conflict | Diaries | Middle East | Operations, battles and campaigns Royal Army Service Corps: 67 Company (RASC) War Office: British Forces, Middle East: War Diaries, Second World War. ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS. COMPANIES. Royal Army Service Corps: 67 Company (RASC). Held by: The National Archives, Kew - War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies Date: 1941 Reference: WO 169/2231 Subjects: Armed Forces (General Administration) | Army | Conflict | Diaries | Middle East | Operations, battles and campaigns Royal Army Service Corps: 67 Company (RASC) War Office: British Forces, Middle East: War Diaries, Second World War. ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS. COMPANIES. Royal Army Service Corps: 67 Company (RASC). Held by: The National Archives, Kew - War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies Date: 01 February 1942 - 31 December 1942 Reference: WO 169/5977 Subjects: Armed Forces (General Administration) | Army | Conflict | Diaries | Middle East | Operations, battles and campaigns There are chaps on this forum who can obtain copies of them for you and a more competitive than Kew. But I'd only get these after you have his service records as he may have not stayed with the same unit throughout his wartime career. Hope this helps Gus
In the NW Europe campaign, 67 Coy RASC was part of 7th Armoured Division, I’m not sure when they joined them though. I’ll have a trawl through some of my incredibly badly organised research files and see what I can find. Regards Tom
Hi Tom Yes i had seen that they had been involved with 7th Armoured. It just seems quite challenging trying to find anything out even with the internet. I have contacted a few of the associations for royal logistics as they are now called but can't seem to get a reply anywhere so if you have anything at all i would be grateful Many thanks Matt
Hi Idler Thank you for your reply. Sorry for the delay everyone but we have just lost my nan this week and things are a little up in the air. I have scanned what i received from MOD. I think it is his service record although there doesnt seem to be a lot of information contained. I am familiar with a few of the abbreviations but i am finding them a little hard to follow sometimes. It appears he was a bit of a naughty boy by all accounts. For what ever reason he was AWOL fora short time and got CB Confined to barracks and fined a days pay. Many thanks Matt
Thanks Gus All seems quite confusing Are the records easy to get hold of? I have uploaded the paperwork i have received but cant really make sense of a lot of it
Hi Matt This should get you started. Basic Timeline. Joined General Service Corps – 19/11/42 Transferred into RASC – 31/12/42 2nd Training Battalion – UK RASC Training till 22/04/43 Posted to 16 Tank Brigade Company RASC 22/04/43 Embarked British Army Of Rhine (Germany) – 13/07/44 Unit renamed as 16 Company (Armoured Brigade) - 22/05/45 Posted to 172 Infantry Brigade Company RASC - 21/07/45 Embarked for ME from BAOR 08/10/45 Arrived ME 19/10/45 Back in UK 27/04/46 with 1 Holding Brigade Hope this helps Gus
Matthew, I was very sorry to read that you had lost your nan. I'm definitely not one of the service document experts on here but on looking through the documents you have posted up it seems clear that your grandfather served in 16 Coy RASC (Tank Bde) - where did the clue to 67 Coy come from? I've got quite a bit of the diary for 16 Coy transcribed for 1944 - they actually landed in Normandy in mid-June 1944 under command of 31 Tank Brigade. It looks like your grandfather was part of one of the residues (small parties of men and vehicles who followed the main parties of units to the continent days or weeks after the initial deployment). If you have a look in the RASC section of the forum I've posted up some of the war diary for the unit for 1944. Regards Tom
Thanks Gus seems like i was looking at what was potentially his initial training regiment on join up That breakdown will certainly give me something to work with
Hi Tom Thank you, was quite a shock I think it was a lack of knowledge in looking at the documents that gave me 67 coy but on reflection it would seem that it was his first training regiment before joining RASC. Be interested to read that, i'll take a look, thank you Regards