Help with my granddads service records please!

Discussion in 'Service Records' started by megan0123456, Jun 1, 2012.

  1. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    I was looking through my Grandads RAF certificate of service book and this is what it says about him:

    Performs duties as a member of a rifle section. carries out personal decontamination and decontamination of small arms. assists with the handling of casualties, and administers first aid.
    May be required to perform duties as a member of a 3 inch mortar detachment and under the supervision of an armament fitter to undertake minor servicing of small arms and to assist in servicing LAA equipment. When required commands a rifle section or acts a 2 inch mortar man, when qualified may be called upon to act as deputy commander of a 3 inch mortar detachment.

    Can anyone tell me what this all means please?! Thanks!
     
  2. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    Hi Megan and welcome to the forum.
    It sounds to me as though your Grandfather could have been in the RAF Regiment, which is the RAFs integral airfield defence organisation and performs similar duties to an Army infantry unit. Most of the content of your post seems straightforward in that context, the only abbreviation being 'LAA' which is 'Light Anti-Aircraft' as in Anti-aircraft guns etc.
    Hope that helps, come back if you need anything else.

    Mike
     
  3. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Mike
    a light AA unit would have a helluva job to bring down an aircraft with 2" mortar- usually they depended on 40mm guns - sound more like an Infantry mob with some REME attached- but she says RAF ....
    Cheers
     
  4. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    I would suggest RAF Regiment.

    Megan, could you possibly scan or photograph the Service Certificate and post in it's entirety? This will help with identifying a great deal of information which we can decipher and pass back to you.

    Mark
     
  5. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    I would suggest RAF Regiment.

    Megan, could you possibly scan or photograph the Service Certificate and post in it's entirety? This will help with identifying a great deal of information which we can decipher and pass back to you.

    Mark

    I would be more than happy to! I will do it first thing in the morning, I've actually got a fair bit of stuff so I will scan it all in and tell me what you think :) Thanks so much!
     
  6. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    RAF Regiment History

    At it's formation the Regiments task was essentially defensive specialising in LAA sqns comprising anti-aircraft guns, Bofors 40/60 and ground defence (field) sqns comprising 7 officers, 178 airmen organised as 3 rifle flights plus support with armoured cars, anti aircraft flights and 3 inch mortars. As the war progressed the Regiment adopted a more aggressive role. On the 15 September 1943 RAF Regiment sqns and their weapons were air transported to Cos and Southern Italy. Regiment sqns were also landed at Salerno and later became involved in the battle for Monte Cassino. In the European theatre of operations, the Regiment landed sqns on Juno beach in the early hours of D Day +1. As the European operation continued on its drive towards Germany, the Regiment undertook a number of tasks ranging from airfield defence, mine clearing, airstrip construction, escort duties and then racing ahead of the second army to occupy all airfields in North West Germany. They were the first allied unit to enter Denmark and also one of the first allied units whilst on escort duties to enter Paris.
     
  7. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    RAF Regiment History

    At it's formation the Regiments task was essentially defensive specialising in LAA sqns comprising anti-aircraft guns, Bofors 40/60 and ground defence (field) sqns comprising 7 officers, 178 airmen organised as 3 rifle flights plus support with armoured cars, anti aircraft flights and 3 inch mortars. As the war progressed the Regiment adopted a more aggressive role. On the 15 September 1943 RAF Regiment sqns and their weapons were air transported to Cos and Southern Italy. Regiment sqns were also landed at Salerno and later became involved in the battle for Monte Cassino. In the European theatre of operations, the Regiment landed sqns on Juno beach in the early hours of D Day +1. As the European operation continued on its drive towards Germany, the Regiment undertook a number of tasks ranging from airfield defence, mine clearing, airstrip construction, escort duties and then racing ahead of the second army to occupy all airfields in North West Germany. They were the first allied unit to enter Denmark and also one of the first allied units whilst on escort duties to enter Paris.

    This is really interesting, thank you. It definitely makes sense as my auntie was born in Rostrup.
     
  8. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    I would suggest RAF Regiment.

    Megan, could you possibly scan or photograph the Service Certificate and post in it's entirety? This will help with identifying a great deal of information which we can decipher and pass back to you.

    Mark

    Here are some photos of the book,I hope I uploaded it right!
     

    Attached Files:

  9. bofors

    bofors Senior Member

    Hi Megan

    Nice photos and great information to have on him.
    Interestingly the first page has his rank as gunner (=private in the Royal Artillery usually)
    With the AA guns it looks like he was not firing them , he just had to know how to help with maintenance on them.
    According to his medals he must have been in Burma during the war and Cyprus afterwards and was in the T.A. Res (territorial Army Reserve for a period.

    regards

    Robert
     
  10. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    Excellent images, nice work.

    Without his service records, and looking at his duties I would suggest that from 1953 to 1965 he was a member of the RAF Regiment, but to be sure you really do need to get his service records.

    They will be held by the MOD, and for information on obtaining them visit this site: Ministry of Defence | About Defence | What we do | Personnel | Service Records | Making a Request for Information held on the Personnel Records of Deceased Service Personnel.
    You whoulc apply for his records from the Army at the same time. It looks like your Grandfather had a very interesting period of Service first in the Army during the War and secondly in the RAF.

    I would be more than interested to learn more. Good luck with your research, and please keep us posted, and keep asking questions.

    Mark
     
  11. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    Thanks to the both of you! we are actually in the process of requesting his records, just getting stuff together like his death certificate. I will take more photos now of stuff we have got and put them on here, be back in a tic :)
     
  12. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    So theres a lot of photos! But would be grateful if anyone could tell me anything interesting about anything they see. Also there is a german address somewhere in the middle of all of this, and I know that in 1954 my auntie was born in Rostrup, does anyone know where this address is or anything about it?

    Thanks everyone!
     

    Attached Files:

  13. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    Megan, thank you for posting these.

    The address Megan mentions is:

    14 Nierstrasse
    A.M.Q. RA4 GOCH
    BAOR 43

    (I am not sure on 'RA4' anyone else have an idea?)

    A.M.Q. Could be Airmans Married Quarters.

    I do know that BAOR is British Army of the Rhine.

    Mark
     
  14. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

  15. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    Hi Megan

    Nice photos and great information to have on him.
    Interestingly the first page has his rank as gunner (=private in the Royal Artillery usually)
    With the AA guns it looks like he was not firing them , he just had to know how to help with maintenance on them.
    According to his medals he must have been in Burma during the war and Cyprus afterwards and was in the T.A. Res (territorial Army Reserve for a period.

    regards

    Robert

    Excellent images, nice work.

    Without his service records, and looking at his duties I would suggest that from 1953 to 1965 he was a member of the RAF Regiment, but to be sure you really do need to get his service records.

    They will be held by the MOD, and for information on obtaining them visit this site: Ministry of Defence | About Defence | What we do | Personnel | Service Records | Making a Request for Information held on the Personnel Records of Deceased Service Personnel.
    You whoulc apply for his records from the Army at the same time. It looks like your Grandfather had a very interesting period of Service first in the Army during the War and secondly in the RAF.

    I would be more than interested to learn more. Good luck with your research, and please keep us posted, and keep asking questions.

    Mark

    Having carried out a quick Google search, it looks like this could have been: RAF Laarbruch:

    RAF Laarbruch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    The reason for jumping to the conclusion: RAF Laarbruch (Merged) - RAF Forum, and it is a big jump and could be wrong.

    Mark

    Wow, thank you very much for all of that! It seems to be RAF Laarbruch. I would be really interested to try find a picture of where they lived somehow, and find out why he was posted there. I think at some point I will create a timeline to make things easier, as he went here there and everywhere.
     
  16. BFBSM

    BFBSM Very Senior Member

    This is really interesting, thank you. It definitely makes sense as my auntie was born in Rostrup.

    More information on the RAF Regiment can be found here: RAF Regiment - History

    Again, a caveat here, without your grandfather's service records, nothing given here is concrete information regarding nis service, but pure assumption (which I sometimes refer to as consumption as it may consume a lot of time) o_O.

    Mark
     
  17. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    More information on the RAF Regiment can be found here: RAF Regiment - History

    Again, a caveat here, without your grandfather's service records, nothing given here is concrete information regarding nis service, but pure assumption (which I sometimes refer to as consumption as it may consume a lot of time) o_O.

    Mark

    I can see this turning into a massive project, theres so much to learn, there is so much he did, and he never ever uttered a single word to anyone about his entire time from 1940-1965 in the forces.
     
  18. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    Noting the Burma Star - I have a book which covers the use of the RAF Regiment in that theatre of operations, I will dig it out over the next day or so and see if it might be of interest (once I remember what it's title was....)

    and from my original RAF Regiment link, this may provide some background on the sort of work the unit was performing in Burma:

    The first RAF Regiment parachute sqn was formed during operations against the Japanese in South East Asia and Regiment sqns were soon involved in the heavy fighting on the Imphal plain in 1944 as part of the "forgotten” army. When the Japanese forces started to retreat, the Regiment sqns were then tasked with seizing airstrips as the 14th army advanced, much the same as their fellow Sqns were doing in Europe. At the end of hostilities in the Far East, the Supreme Allied Commander, Lord Mountbatten sent for an airman from the Regiment to witness the signing of the Japanese surrender in Singapore.
     
  19. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    I also thought I would upload some photos of the man himself so you can put a face to all of this :)
     

    Attached Files:

  20. megan0123456

    megan0123456 Junior Member

    Noting the Burma Star - I have a book which covers the use of the RAF Regiment in that theatre of operations, I will dig it out over the next day or so and see if it might be of interest (once I remember what it's title was....)

    Wow, thankyou, that would be fantastic!


    I also have a question, I have some older photos as some older generations were also in the forces. I know you won't be able to tell me who they are, but would you be able to identify sort of the time, where a bouts they are, what force they were in etc? I have about 4/5 which seem to be a group photo in a hospital setting.

    Thanks everyone you have all been fantastic!
     

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