381 Battery, 96th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery (T.A.).

My Uncle Flannan Michael Costello served in this unit. His younger brother served with the US Army and was decorated. In family correspondance and US newspaper reports about the younger brother's derring-do, it mentions Flannan had been in action in France.

Are there any records that show it is possible that Flannan served in France with 381 Battery?

I guess records - and family legends - can be wrong because of wartime chaos.

Regards, David

 

David, 96 Field Regt including 381 Bty never served in France. They spent most of the war in the UK transferring to India in early 1945.
See 96 Field Regt on my site.

Derek

 

Thanks Derek - just looking to see if the family record/legend could be true. So, unless he had a transfer to another unit, it looks like Flannan was in England somewhere between 1939 and 1941, manning field guns.

I see the 381st was "from Tiverton". Dumb question - does that mean they were located there? I've seen other references to them being in the South East, but pretty unspecific.

Another question - Flannan was invalided out in mid 1941. Was being part of a home-based battery risky?

He ended up being an aircraft technician at Glosters, so I guess gunners get taught some engineering skill to keep the guns operating.

Any idea where he might have gone for training? Essex?

 

Derek's summary history explains the Devon links:

Plus his time chart shows which two towns had a battery each.

We always recommend applying for the subject's Service Record, it is the definitive record and not available elsewhere. Yes, it can take up to year. More details on a PM next.

There are three threads here on the 96 Field, but they at a glance refer to 1942 onwards.

It all depends how far you want to dig!

 

Thanks Derek and David - yes I am in the phase of reconciling Flan's "received Service Record" and its lack of tally to records from his brothers' records. I might upload another thread with the details that I have and a pdf of his record to get views on transciption and what the abbreviations mean - it is pretty thin though. Regards David