After requesting my fathers army records there appears to be to black hole periods of time on his record. They are from 16.7.44 to 12.7.45 and 13.9.46 to 7.1.47. I have been in contact with the records office and I am informed that I have received copies of all documents held on my fathers record. As his original records were lost in the post last year I thought the only chance left was to speak to my sister and see if she had a telephone number of a veteran who my father served with in Italy and who returned home to Montrose after the war. My father had made contact with his old captain, Don Smith who sadly passed away a year before my father and there was still a telephone number of his widow who my father continued correspondence with until his passing. Last night (Friday 3rd April) I had no sooner obtained both telephone numbers from my sister before I had to leave to attend the Royal British Legion. I had been at the RBL for about 30 minutes when a group of three Scottish ladies arrived. They had been invited to attend our gathering as they were over in berlin for the weekend to visit the grave of an RAF Rear Gunner, who was the brother of the older lady in the group. They introduced themselves and someone asked them were in Scotland they came from. The answer was Montrose. I said what a coicidence that was as I has obtained a telephone number of an old veteran who knew my father as they served together in Italy during the war and that this man did live in sheltered accommodation in Montrose. The older lady, Nancy asked me for the name as she visited several veterans in the town. I could not remember the name and so rang my better half at home who read out the name that I had written down and left by the telephone. When I spoke the name she was flabbergasted. She said that is my cousin! He is alive and just a little depressed at the moment due to Parkinsons disease. Nancy will visit "Jack" on Sunday evening and explain what has happened and that I will be telephoning him on Monday evening. I am informed that Jack remembers everthing from his wartime soldiering and perhaps the black holes can be filled in my fathers records. As this story unfolded at out table people thought it was unbelievable that such a coincidence had occured. I honestly thought a great hole had appeared and I was falling into it as the shock of the information hit home. I just cannot believe my luck. This morning I attended the CWGC and a small Remembrance was held with the family members and several RBL members and the Exhortation given. Regards Tom
Nice one Tom....You know the big fella is looking down on you when things like that happen. As Miss D said, 'Here's hoping you get those gaps filled in' Regards Andy
Many thanks Diane and Andy. I am still taking it in. The other really spooky thing is that my father had his photo taken on his first reunion with Jack. It was taken at the local football club by a photographer of the press from Dundee. He gave me a copy before I left for Germany and I mentioned this to Nancy and said that I would look for it and bring it to the cemetery together with other photos I had of dad. Well, this morning I spent half an hour looking for this photograph to no avail. Just before leaving for the cemetery I made one last search and lifted up a big brown envelope marked Christmas cards 2008 and out dropped Jack and Dads photograph as if it wanted to be found. I tell you, I started sweating thinking that too many coincidences are occurring to me!! I intend to download the photos in the next few days. Regards Tom
This is a picture of Jack taken with my Father at their first reunion in Montrose about 12 years ago. Jack is on the left with the real "Smudger" on the right. Regards Tom
Well done Tom I know how frustrated you sounded when we last spoke, I bet you can not wait for Sunday/Monday, I guess you are glad you went down the Legion now . Keep us informed Cheers Kieron
Kieron, It is hard to describe the feeling and yes I am truly grateful that I did not give the Legion a miss on Friday night! Regards Tom
Well done Tom I'm sure you feel fortunate with that happy turn of events. The window of opportunity to speak with those who were there is closing so quickly that these 'miracles' are all the more rare. Well done! Tim
So pleased for you, Tom. Lady Luck is sometimes too sparing in what she gives. I hope you find out all you need to know and more.
Tom Let's hope that your phonecall pays off. I know how bitterly disappointed you were at the missing timeline of the records. Robert.
Robert, Et al, Thank you and I hope this extremely lucky streak continues when I make the telephone call on Monday evening. Nancy said that the news will most certainly perk him up and I am hoping that he will be able to put me wise to a lot of questions. I am informed that he has a computer and has not used it for a while. Here's hoping that this will soon change . I have attached some of the photographs to share the experience with the forum. The first phot is taken outside the CWGC on Heer Strasse. RBL member Rolf is standing next to Nancy the sister of the deceased air gunner. On the outside are Nancy's Daughter and Niece. The second shot is the RBL Vice President assisting with writing the Remembrance notes on the flowers. The next is a mother and daughter shot, followed by a couple of shots of the simple ceremony of Remembrance. Then Mother daughter and Neice together, followed by a shot of the headstone. Regards Tom
I have just spoken to Jack who knew my father in the army. Jack states that he first came across my father towards the end of 1944 and that my father was a Sergeant in the Regimental Police. I asked him if he was positive about this as the records only show Lance Corporal and he said yes he was definitely a Sergeant. This really throws a spanner in the works at the moment. As jack is suffering from Parkinsons disease together with a new knee and frozen ankle joint I did not want to press him, but we will be corresponding from now on. Regards Tom
Good work Tom, I hope you cheered the old fellow up. War Substantive unpaid rank was quite common later in the war. My Dad has photographs of himself with a third stripe taken post war in Germany but it was never entered in his pay book and there is no reference in the official records. His thoughts at the time were simply of getting home and he was certainly not planning a military career - Strictly 'Duration of Emergency' Rich
TCS - possibly your Father's promotion is listed in the period of '45 which is also missing - as well as the period in the 4th Brit. Div in X corps in Italy then Greece - L/Cpl's never did stay in that rank for very long - unless they were yo-yo's ! Cheers
Rich and Tom, Many thanks for clearing up the rank question. That does tie in with something that my father once said many years ago. He was talking about his demob and his CO asked if he would consider staying in the army for a career and he would be made substansive Sergeant, meaning he could not lose the rank. But he just wanted to get home to his wife, I suspect like most did at the time. I also now remember him saying something about a foul up with his and several others paperwork when returning home. Apparently they were turned back at Calais and ended up in Germany until the paperwork was sorted out. This perhaps explains his two months or thereabouts in Germany before getting home. Things are coming together slowly now. Many thanks for the input. Regards Tom
Andy, Unfortunately Jack has just been moved into a nursing home as due to his Parkinsons illness, he was falling down a lot and was at risk of seriously injuring himself. I have spoken with jack on the telephone but it appears that they were not together all that long due to the splitting up of the Recce in 1945. I have copies of the war dairies and so know where they were when his squadron is mentioned. I am still looking into some of the grey/black areas. I have found Jacks transfer out to the 17/21st but not my fathers yet Regards Tom
