My father in law's father was discharged in 1941 as unfit for service, presumably on health grounds, and eventually died of tuberculosis in August 1945 in Bovey Tracey hospital, Devon. However, he is present on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission list, and has what looks like a military headstone in a cemetery in Exeter (near the hospital). He was neither serving while he died, nor died before the end of the war, so I'm confused why he would be included in this - was it extended to any soldier who served during the war who died within a certain amount of time of the war ending? Was Bovey Tracey a military (or military funded) hospital? We're not sure how he ended up there as he was living in London prior to this. I do have basic service records but they basically stop at 1941, so the period from there to his death are a bit of a black hole. Is there any way of getting medical records out of the MOD these days, particularly for next of kin (my wife is the soldier's granddaughter)?
From the CWGC website. https://www.cwgc.org/media/0awj5vti/policy-eligibility-criteria-for-commemoration_march21.pdf We commemorate people who served in the Commonwealth armed forces during the First or Second World War, whose death: • occurred during the official war period; and • was the result of: • wounds inflicted or accident occurring during active service; • disease contracted or commencing while on active service; or • disease aggravated by active service. In practice, this means that: • serving military personnel are commemorated irrespective of the cause or circumstances of their death; and • military personnel who died post-discharge are commemorated if it is established that they meet the above criteria. War Periods. References to serving in the First World War or Second World War mean service at any time during the official war periods stated below: First World War: 4 August 1914 to 31 August 1921 (dates inclusive). Second World War: 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947 (dates inclusive).
Ah so the tb was linked to his discharge. Does anyone know if the military would have funded treatment after discharge?
The Scots Guards WW2 era service records on findmypast have a number of examples of men discharged with TB during the war who continued to receive their medical treatment (sanatorium) at no cost to themselves. Steve
Thank you, so it's a possibility, I got the impression sanatoria weren't cheap back then. So last thing, is there a way of finding out medical records if they weren't included with a standard service record request? I read that it's just MOD policy not to release them now.
Corp Patrick Anthony Moriarty (unknown-1945) -... CORPORAL PATRICK ANTHONY MORIARTY Service Number: 7261636 Regiment & Unit/Ship Royal Army Medical Corps Date of Death Died 17 August 1945 Age 31 years old Buried or commemorated at EXETER HIGHER CEMETERY Sec. Z.M. Grave 24. United Kingdom Country of ServiceUnited Kingdom Additional InfoSon of Patrick and Ethel Maud Moriarty, of Plumstead, London. Personal InscriptionNO WORDS CAN BRING A LOVED ONE BACK. WE EVER WILL REMEMBER. MUM, DAD AND SISTER
Thanks I'd already found that site, it's the previous 5 years we're trying to pin down. Interestingly though, the service records came with a copy of that exact same photo, so they must be using FindaGrave as a resource somehow.
Thanks, you reminded me that I'd contacted them by email in June but not had a response, I might try phoning to ascertain whether they're likely to hold such records.
Poor bloke . CWGC commemoration post discharge is a bit of an unfathoramable lottery . Some seem to be , some don’t . People who died of the same causes around the same date, one is , one isn’t . I’ve not yet discovered how it was decided . I’ve come across many I think should be , who aren’t , and many who are who I think shouldn’t be .
MOD won’t release any medical information. The files I’ve seen contain medical information until the date of discharge but nothing further apart from an occasional request for. Information post death from the Ministry of Pensions. Steve
it’s probably not there anyway . Cause of death post discharge in records is quite rare . I’ve never managed to locate, even the CWGC don’t know , how someone was deemed eligible for commemoration
We have the death certificate, it's just whether there would be any medical records prior to discharge. If the MOD are just not releasing them then that's that for now. Although I read that it may be different when the records are transferred to the National Archive?
The National Archives may treat these records as they have with World War I servicemen and women by including medical details. However, to quote the National Archives, “As these are personnel records, they naturally contain a range of personal data including medical information. To protect the information in these records, closure will apply until 115 years past the date of birth of the individual. Whether or not the material can be open to all or closed fully or in part will be assessed on this basis or upon request under relevant data protection and freedom of information laws”.MOD Records Project - The National Archives So, in the case of Patrick Moriarty, his records will be closed until around 2029/30.
Interesting, thank you. Rather than start a new thread (this isn't really related to the title) there are half a dozen addresses listed in the Next of Kin box - most of them we recognise and/or make sense in the context of where he was (London) and who he was with, but the very last one is up in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. Does that place have a particular link to the RAMC/WW2? And would that have been the last next of kin address when he was discharged, i.e. they wouldn't update the addresses after discharge to stay in touch for any reason? Also, if anyone can shed any light on any of the attached qualifications that would be great, apart from the obvious ones they don't mean a lot to me, granted some of them may be RAMC specific.
Medical records are a lottery. My dad applied for his and as a surviving veteran, it's a freedom of information thing - he's allowed to know what they have on record about him. What arrived included lots of dental charts and information about when he enlisted, but only a single small reference to him being admitted to a field hospital in July 1944....no account of his wounds or treatment....a lot of things don't seem to have made it into the central records.