Hi all, I've recently signed up to this page as I'm looking for information about my Grandfather who was Lance Bombardier C Watkins in Battery 360 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment of the Royal Artillery. My Grandfather never spoke about being in the Army so I had no idea until I was going through some of his pictures and found some of him and some of the men he was with. I've was very fortunate at the time that my Grandmother was still alive and she said that he went to training camps. Since then sadly my Grandmother has passed away and I've inherited some lovely letters that were sent to her with all his information and some of the place he was sent - South Wales, Cornwall, Thetford. In his letter's he goes into so much detail about going on the shooting range and also mentioned an accident he was involved in when in one of the convoy trucks going to camp. I've been researching trying to find little bits of information but nothing comes up using his service number. Thanks
The only place to start is with his service records and you will only get these from the MOD - link to forms here - Request records of deceased service personnel You will need a copy of his death cert - you do not need his service number, its helpful but not necessary If you have further details of him i.e. forenames, date and place of birth etc etc it all helps to build a picture TD
Hi Smithy, Welcome to the forum. The unit you refer to is the 360th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery. This battery was regimented with the 114th H.A.A. Regiment, R.A. on 10th December 1940. The 260th Battery left the 114th H.A.A. Regiment to join the 147th H.A.A. Regiment on 17th May 1942. The battery was on the move again in 1943 when it left the 147th Regiment and joined the 177th H.A.A. Regiment on 26th September 1943. There was further change in 1944, when the 177th Regiment was re-designated to become the 12th H.A.A. Regiment on 5th May 1944 - the 360th Battery remaining with the re-titled regiment. The Battery remained with this regiment until it was re-designated once again to become the 70th H.A.A. Regiment, R.A. on 1st April 1947 at which point the 360th Battery was also re-designated to become the 242nd H.A.A. Battery. I'm sorry I don't have any further details for you at this time but maybe other forum members might have location details for the 360th H.A.A. Battery for you. Steve
:HAA organization is explained on this thread: Who did what in a Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery? (164 Bty, 59th (Essex Regt) HAA)
That's a postwar number. Army Number Block Allocations 22000000 to 22199408 Until October 1950 Is there a date on the letter ?
Those numbers came into use in 1950, as Dave says in the thread I linked to. I feel sorry for Rothy giving all that WW2 info when it wasn't needed. Always best to give as much info as possible to start with.
I thought it was fleas but now I know why I was scratching my head Cheshire Artillery Volunteers Postwar When the TA was reconstituted in 1947, the regiment was reformed as 360th (Mobile) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment. It formed part of 59 AA Bde (the prewar 33 (Western) AA Bde) at Liverpool. TD His name or number do not appear in - UK, World War II Royal Artillery Tracer Cards, 1939-1948
Oh come on guys some of these replys are rude. Smithy is asking for help and your just being rude! No wonder people don't wanna join/write on forums!!
