Hello, Who could tell me who this soldier was, the name and number can be found on an English canvas bag. LG. Smith 2-18-1345
Dan Where was the bag found and is there an image showing its military source.say WD or AM? Not really familiar with army service numbers but the RAF had seven digit service numbers but looking up the number, it is not what I would have thought.The other point is that British service number digits would be recorded continuously without spaces. Interesting to see what is revealed by others.
If it was 2181345 he'd have enlisted into the RE Royal Engineers 1842001 - 2303000 Army Number Block Allocations But 2-18-1345 makes no sense. Would help if you could post a photo of it.
Good........ Owen we are on our way.The Army service number reference makes sense. Last night I had a trawl through the CWGC Smith casualties assuming a death,It threw up over 3400 Smiths for the Second World War....quite a number of L.Gs as initials.
The pictures. http://img111.xooimage.com/files/e/9/e/sac-1-5797b4e.jpg http://img112.xooimage.com/files/2/e/5/sac-2-5797b52.jpg
I think that more info is needed before one can just assume that L G Smith was a soldier. Such bags were sold in large numbers by army surplus shops and used as tool bags etc. In my 60s student days I had one on the pannier rack of my motor bike and it had my name on it. What is its background - where was it found for example?
I cannot see any long straps which would be found on certain WD haversacks.In khaki material and with metal protected small straps,presumably for securing the main flap, it does seem to take the form of a WD haversack. The RAF had similar haversacks in blue. With long straps, which is not evidence from the image,it could be a gas mask haversack with the "service number " format added later.
It looks like a standard British army Large Pack (Valise) introduced with the 1908 pattern but which served on through the 1937 pattern (not sure about small adaptations through the life of the design) until 1958 pattern was adopted - it is missing the shoulder straps. These were standard issue among British and Commonwealth forces and Free European units as well as being commonly used by European Forces post War
And the RN in dark blue - in the days when many kids used an army surplus pack in lieu of a satchel getting a rare navy one gave one kudos
