Whilst checking some of my WW2 Royal Artillery ephemera against the Royal Artillery Tracer Cards, I have come to the conclusion that they have not saved all the cards as many appear to be missing. Others, do not give you the full history. Take for example this tracer card compiled for a Gunner/Driver in the Sussex Territorial Artillery. It shows service from 1st May 1947, and is the only card for Hugh James Jenner, which gives the misleading impression that he did not serve in the second world war.
Luckily, my obsession with collecting wartime ephemera has allowed me to tell more of the story. This Inspection, Maintenance and Care of Army Vehicles (Wheeled), booklet was picked up many years ago at a Sussex car boot sale. It was issued on the 11th November 1940 and has the name Dvr Jenner written on the cover. The inside cover shows that 300,000 were printed in December 1940. It is unlikely that this edition of the booklet was still being issued in 1947 but that, in itself, is not proof of earlier service.
This, on the other hand, does provide evidence. It is his, Territorial Army Instructions as to procedure on Embodiment, (Army Form E.523.)
We now have evidence that he enlisted in the Territorial Royal Artillery on 21st September 1938, but did he serve during WW2? He certainly did and was wounded in North West Europe, the date is not recorded, but judging from the other dates on the Casualty List, it would be around September 1944. Around this date the 84th Medium Regiment, R.A. was serving in Belgium with the Guard's Armoured Division before moving to Nijmegen, in Holland. What a pity that his WW2 Tracer Card has not survived.
Hugh James Jenner was born on the 10th December 1918 in Hastings, Sussex, he appears to have married a Caroline L.L. Taylor in 1939 in Hastings and a Mary J Harrison in 1948, also in Hastings. He died in the May quarter of 2004, in Hastings, age 87.
I'm not sure why but the first 3rd or so of the alphabet is really badly represented in the cards but after that it seems fairly good - I was once told that those killed or promoted had also had their cards removed - from the above it looks like on reenlistment the previous card may have been considered redundant and ditched.
58th (Sussex) Field Regiment R.A. disembarked at Cherbourg on 6th April 1940 and were evacuated from Dunkirk on the 30th May 1940.
Simon, I researched two brothers that served with 58th (Sussex) Field Regiment, R.A. On their return from France, they both volunteered for the same Army Commando and were wounded in action on the same day in Normandy in June 1944. I have the war diary for April and May 1940, if you need anymore information? Guy
Guy, many thanks for the kind offer. Does the war diary contain a list of those evacuated from the beaches? If not, I will pass for the time being as I can see this leading me away from my main research interest. I may be back at some point in the future asking for further details. Simon.
