1544648 Joseph Rowland SHAWLER, RA

Hello everyone,

I'm just beginning to research my father's wartime service, I've done 2 things so far, No1 join this forum, No2 applied to TNA for his service record.

I very quickly had a reply from TNA that they had found a service record on their index which matched his service number, name and DoB, so far so good.

Before my father died in 2008 he wrote an account of his wartime service, he finished writing this in 2002, it amounts to about 200 pages of A4, from this memoir I've managed to construct a timeline...

Enlisted in the royal artillery in the summer of 1938.
Basic training at Woolwich, followed by horse driver training at Tidworth cavalry barracks.
January 1939 posted to 234 battery, 59th anti tank regiment (TA) (Portsmouth), took care of middle 2 horses in gun team (Pegasus and Pandora).
Promoted Bombardier at some point.
59th was mechanised at some point in early 1940.
Home front for most of 1940, towards the end of 1940 he volunteered for a unit in North Africa.
Arrived in North Africa end of 1940.
When 234 anti tank battery arrived in North Africa as part of the 73rd anti tank regiment he was called back to the battery and promoted Troop Sergeant of P Troop. (Summer 1942.)
234 battery SP guns were detached individually to cavalry patrols (11th Hussars and KDGs) for most of the rest of the North African campaign.
Before the invasion of Sicily he was sent with a veterinary WO to the Highland Division to teach them how to pack and care for Mules.
He went to Sicily as part of 234 battery.
He returned from Sicily to the UK in January 1944.
Issued all new kit including M10 SP guns, started training for DDay, billeted at Felixstowe in Suffolk.
Landed DDay Gold beach, Arromanche.
Wounded some point Autumn 1944, posted to lines of communication.
January 1945 posted to 2225c POW camp (Caen), returned UK end of 1945.
Demobbed May 1946.

My father wrote his memoirs some 60 years after the events happened, so I'm curious to see what he remembered accurately. I have trouble remembering where I was last week so hats off to him for remembering anything...

Lastly if anyone has come across him in any of their own research I would be most interested and grateful.
His details were:
Name: Joseph Rowland Shawler
Service number: 1544648
Date of birth: 09/10/1918.

Many Thanks,
James

 

Hi James,

RA Tracer card for you.......

 

Ooops, missed this........his medal index card.....

 

Welcome aboard.

The RA became a corps with a million plus members, so individuals rarely appear in online research - unless they got a medal, wounded and died.

His name or number have not appeared here before.

A good start for unit history is a member's site: Royal Artillery in World War 2 - The Royal Artillery 1939-45 Which shows their history, general locations, weapons, and battery numbers.

If you search online with his unit(s) if known or later, so for example: "XXth Anti-Tank Regiment" site:ww2talk.com that may identify threads mentioning them, at a glance without adding much. If you drop the 'th' more may be found.

There are a good number of threads for his unit here, id'd using: "59 anti-tank" site:ww2talk.com Variations may find more.There are more id'd using: "73 anti-tank" site:ww2talk.com

Searching the National Archives for the subject or unit(s) can identify those who were awarded honours / medals and the existence of War Diaries – which rarely mention individuals soldiers. They do give context and details of activity.

Some research tips next via PM and good luck.

 

Hello James.

Here's the reverse side of your father's Medal Application Card (t'other side to that John has posted above at post #3).



It shows that your father posted his application in on 8th August 1948, and his medals were issued out to him on 16th September '48, a five week turnaround; but that we could have that sort of timescale for service record requests today!

Here's the entry from (listed as) 1938 RA Attestations Book (which ties in with the year you have your father joining up).



Good luck with your searching; and fingers crossed for not too long a wait for those service records.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Wow, thank you everyone for your swift replies.
The medal application card is very interesting, I still have his medals, although the 8th army clasp is missing from his Africa star. That's definitely his handwriting, although I had no idea he ever lived in Mount Bures!
Thank you for the research advice, I look forward to getting further down the rabbit hole....!

 

A photo of my father taken in Sicily in 1943.
I have a few more photos of him and units he was in, I'll post these when I get a chance....

 

Another photo of my father, just after promotion to Bombardier, this would have been early 1940.

 

This is a photo of the officers and sergeants of 2225 prisoner of war camp (Caen). Dated August 1945.
My father is in the back row, 4th from the left.

 

This photo has written on the back "No4 Troop, Westbury Wiltshire, April 1940."
My father has added, "Later P Troop, 234 A/T Battery."
My father is front and centre, crouching down.
At the time this troop would have been in the 59th anti tank regiment (TA), were troops given numbers which then were changed to letters? Or was this likely a training arrangement?

 

James
Please can you contact me.
I am writing a book about the 73rd A-T regiment. I have photos, even film footage of 234 battery.
Contact me here or my email antitank73@hotmail.com

 

HI
Currently, writing a book about the 73rd A-T.
Really need to chat with you, have lots to share
Chris
contact me here or at
antitank73@hotmail.com

 

Hi Chris,

I have sent you an email, be good to have a chat.

Cheers
James