Hello, I am attempting to decipher my grandad’s Service Records. His name was Edward Charles Hayward 7640113. He served with RAOC as an MT Storeman (Motorised Transport) and had something to do with delivering post too, I think. He was attached to 5th Battalion for some of the time, but i’m not sure if that was for the whole of the war. I’m currently stuck with a couple of issues. Firstly, his service records say ‘53rd Sect and Draft RCMMC’. But for the life of me I can’t find RCMMC on any abbreviation or acronym list. Secondly, is it possible to find out the name of the ship on which he travelled to Egypt? I have dates:- Embarked Middle East 20.3.41 Disembarked M.E Egypt 21.5.41 But no ship is named. Thank you very much for any help you can give me clarifying these points. Claire
Hi Claire Yes the code you mention is basically the same as a boarding pass/code today, everyone and everything with that code goes on a particular ship at a particular date. Do you have a port of departure or of arrival? - it may be difficult anyway as they may have travelled in convoy, and in those days the details were kept secret so today it can be more difficult, also during the war passengers lists only seem to have been made for non military passengers. If you want more help it would be worth you uploading his service records. War Diaries probably do exist that should tell you where he was but if he was not an officer he is unlikely to be named as an individual TD
Hi Tricky Dicky, Thank you, I didn’t even realise what a draft code was. It makes sense why I couldn’t find the acronym or abbreviation I can’t see a port of departure or arrival, but I know he was at Hilsea, Portsmouth to train and was stationed in Alexandria. Everything you say makes sense. I had read that the ships would be in convoy, so makes sense they wouldn’t specify which ship each man was on. I will try to upload the service records, if I can work out how to do it. Thank you very much for your help. Claire
At the bottom right hand corner there is an option to 'Upload a File' - so long as the file is smaller then 2Mb there wont be a problem - there's enough records on here so I would guess they are all less than than that. Just make sure they are clear images and orientated the correct way - arthritis in my neck makes it difficult these days to read upside down Yes - if you think of it as a flight number that goes on luggage and passengers - thats is its use TD
I will attempt to upload just the ‘Service and Casualty Form’ section. I have left off the front page as the file was too large. Hopefully all oriented the right way!
Just add them as seperate files/images so long as each is less than 2Mb, you can add as many as you wish to a post, you dont need to have a post for an image TD
This is the front page to the Service and Casualty Form. It was a bit too large a file to put all four pages together.
I do have a few more pages, apart from ones attached below. But they are easy to understand. They just state my Grandad served in the Middle East for 4 years, 4 months and in the U.K for 1 year, 6 months. They also mention he had Yellow Jaundice in Egypt in 1944. Thank you for anything you can decipher for me, it is much appreciated. Claire
Hi Claire Have found one War Diary at present - there should be others, perhaps you want to investigate. The files below do not fully cover your Grandfathers time in the Army (RAOC) but they will provide a day to day diary of his general life in North Africa Royal Army Ordnance Corps: 6 Advanced Ordnance Depot (RAOC AOD) | The National Archives Reference: WO 169/12171 Description: Royal Army Ordnance Corps: 6 Advanced Ordnance Depot (RAOC AOD) Date: 1943 Jan.- Dec. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Royal Army Ordnance Corps: 6 Advanced Ordnance Depot (RAOC AOD) | The National Archives Reference: WO 169/6109 Description: Royal Army Ordnance Corps: 6 Advanced Ordnance Depot (RAOC AOD) Date: 1942 Jan.- Dec. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Royal Army Ordnance Corps: 6 Advanced Ordnance Depot and Captured Stores Depot,... | The National Archives Reference: WO 169/2298 Description: Royal Army Ordnance Corps: 6 Advanced Ordnance Depot and Captured Stores Depot, Alexandria (RAOC AOD) Date: 1941 Aug.- Dec. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Copies of these War Diaries can be obtained from TNA (The National Archives) - if you cannot or do not want to go there yourself we have some members who offer a service of copying files such as this TD
Wow Tricky Dicky, Thank you SO much for all this! I live in South London, so getting to Kew is easy enough. I assume I would have to have some kind of membership, I will look into it. Where did you find these War Diaries? I didn’t even know Kew held any. My Dad is one of five children of Edward. My aunts and uncles and lots of my cousins are very interested in what his Service Records mean. Sadly Edward died from Cancer when his children were very young, so no one knows very much about his experiences during the war. Do you mostly research WW2? I have down a small amount of research on my family tree, but going through the Service Record makes me realise how little I really know about WW2. Thank you again for your help, it’s very kind of you to go to all this trouble. Claire
I do family tree work as well. TNA link - The National Archives you will be surprised at the documents they hold One thing that you will find the most rewarding is actually finding out information for yourself, so the process of going to Kew and finding out how that works gives you experience and confidence in other things. AS with most of this site we start by finding out about our relatives and that grows into knowing more about, Regiments, equipment used, battles, etc etc. He seems to have spent most of WW2 based in and around Alexandria, I cant at the moment find the diaries for his time in the UK before going to Egypt. TD
Yes, TD. Just deciphering the bits I have from the Service Records has been great fun. Now i’m torn whether I should tell my family what I know, or let them discover things themselves. I think I will take their lead on that. We lived in the Middle East in the early 1980’s, due to my Dad’s work. I wonder now whether my Dad’s decision to do that was influenced by the fact his Dad had been in the same part of the world during the war. It’s very interesting how the past influences us. I’ll try to attach a photo of Edward below.
