Hi all, Below is an email i sent to the Indian army last year for any information that they might have regarding my Father while he was stationed there, their reply is a bit strange, what do you think?? you have to read from the bottom up. Dear Sir, It is intimated that the Parachute Regiment was raised on 15 Apr 1952 and as per records of that duration, there is no any information of No 5249950 Lance Corporal Frederick Edwards. With Regards, Webmaster, Indian Army From: Indian Army Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2018 4:53 PM To: Edwards Malcolm Subject: Re: Frederick Edwards. Dear Sir, Thank you for your e-mail. For future reference you may quote ID No 6404 for your query. With Regards, Webmaster, Indian Army From: Edwards Malcolm Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2018 11:06 PM To: webmaster.indianarmy@nic.in Subject: Frederick Edwards. Hi. I hope you don't mind me contacting you but i was wondering if you could help me in any way to trace my late fathers war history as i know that he was based in Sialkot India in 1936. The information that i have that might help you is as follows. His name was Frederick Edwards, date of birth 23rd December 1913, army number 5249950, his rank was Lance Corporal. He first went to India with the Worcestershire Regiment, then In November 1941 while still in India he joined the 151 Parachute Battalion, which was later re-named the 156 Parachute Battalion, i also have information that he was an English instructor, he then went on to serve in the Middle East and North Africa. I know that it's a long shot but any information, details or photos of him that you could find would be most appreciated. Yours Hopefully Malcolm Edwards.
Hi, My reading of the reply is that the 15th April 1952 date is the date of the re raising of a Parachute Regiment in the post partition Indian Army - supported by the content of this article. Parachute Regiment (India) - Wikipedia Although the reply doesn’t expressly say so it could be inferred that the archives of the post 1947 Indian Army likely don’t hold material on British Army Personnel based in India during the WW2 period. Steve
His name appears on the list of participants on the 3rd Parachute Course undertaken at the Air Landing School Chacklala (Delhi) which ran between the 8th - 20th December 1941. As it therefore appears that he joined the 151/156 Parachute Battalion I would suggest applying to the MoD for his Service Records. His name is mentioned in John O’Reilly’s book about the 151/156 “From Delhi to Arnhem” where hs recorded as being with A Coy 151 Parachute Battalion. He is not shown amongst the names of the 156 Battalion that served at Arnhem
Thanks very much for the replies and cheers Horsapassenger for your info, where do you find it from? i have my Fathers war records from the MOD and it's strange that he's not in the names for the 156 Battalion as his records show that he was in the 156 in 1943, he never served in Arnhem as he was in North Africa and the Middle East, any more info would be great and are there any photos of 151 Battalion A company anywhere? Thanks again.
