I am currently doing the family tree and have several family mambers who served in ww1 and ww2 the info i am looking for is for Stanley Colman Name: S. Colman Rank: Private Army Number: 4457978 Regiment: Durham Light Infantry POW Number: 14621 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: 344 Camp Location: Lambinowice, Poland Record Office: Infantry and Army Educational Corps Record Office, York Record Office Number: 20 We are trying to find out more about this period of his life. How long he was there etc ,is this something you can help with Thanks
I am currently doing the family tree and have several family mambers who served in ww1 and ww2 the info i am looking for is for Stanley Colman Name: S. Colman Rank: Private Army Number: 4457978 Regiment: Durham Light Infantry POW Number: 14621 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: 344 Camp Location: Lambinowice, Poland Record Office: Infantry and Army Educational Corps Record Office, York Record Office Number: 20 We are trying to find out more about this period of his life. How long he was there etc ,is this something you can help with Thanks Might be worth seeing if he completed a POW liberation questionnaire, it should list which camps he was in between which dates. Also where and when he was captured. The questionnaires are available at the National Archives. Lee
Hi Cherlh, welcome to the forum. As you are aware WW1 records are available on Ancestry and elsewhere with subscriptions. With the WW1 records, they may or may not be there, depending on if they survived the bombing in London in 1940, some say over 60% were destroyed, others say more. If you cannot find WW1 records, search WW1 pensions and WW1 Medal cards. Pensions usually give you enough to verify the person, medal cards often not. Ancestry also only shows you 1 page for the soldiers war records, make sure you scroll forward and back, I have found 43 pages on one of my relatives, they are separated by "New Soldier Record" pages. To confirm your man check the page called "Military History Sheet", he should have listed his next of kin on this page about 2/3 the way down. Now WW2 is a different game. Most only have the POW records and not much else. As Psywar.org says, liberation reports are a good start. They are held at KEW. Several folks on this form go there regularly and can get you copies, always much cheaper than ordering direct from KEW. If he filled one out it may have good information provided he was detailed enough. Items like capture date, place, camps he was in, bad treatment, and possibly other data could be there. For the £10-20 it is worth it. Drew5233 and Psywar.org are two who can get the reports for you, PM them. Also, send an inquiry off to the International Red Cross. They have POW records as they visited POW camps. If they have info on your man they will send it to you. It is free, and takes 12-24 months to get. Fill in the form as completely as possible. ICRC Archives Next would be ordering his service records. They cost £30, and take 12 months or so to get from Ministry of Defence (MoD). Read the instructions, make sure you get the right forms done (next-of-kin, General Enquirer's), attach a Death Certificate and your money. Ensure you ask for "Full" records. 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 and Home Guard records If you have any information such as pictures, paybooks, notes, letters, crests, badges, etc, scan and post them here as they may help some of the resident experts shine some light for you while you await the arrival of the Red Cross and MoD records. The POW camp in the record you have is the LAST POW camp he was in. Stalag 344 had hundreds of satellite work camps attached to it, no telling where he actually was unless he put it on his liberation report, or the Red Cross knows. They also moved them frequently to avoid them getting too comfortable or familiar with the area/people to avoid escape attempts. Cheers, Wayne I am currently doing the family tree and have several family mambers who served in ww1 and ww2 the info i am looking for is for Stanley Colman Name: S. Colman Rank: Private Army Number: 4457978 Regiment: Durham Light Infantry POW Number: 14621 Camp Type: Stalag Camp Number: 344 Camp Location: Lambinowice, Poland Record Office: Infantry and Army Educational Corps Record Office, York Record Office Number: 20 We are trying to find out more about this period of his life. How long he was there etc ,is this something you can help with Thanks
Thankyou that is really helpfull will give it a go and see what i find.Have already sent a pm to ask about the records. So look forward to that .
I know this is a very old post and the original poster hasnt been online here for over seven years but I am going to tidy up a little and provide a few answers ;- 4457978 Pte. Stanley Colman Served with the 11th Durham Light Infantry Posted Missing serving with the BEF in France 1940. Confirmed Prisoner of War 10th May 1940- 16th June 1940 Discharged under King's Regulations 1940 Para 390 (xvi) 11/11/1945 (DLI 1920-46) Kyle
