Hi All, I am trying to get any info on a chap who its understood may have served with the military in WW2. I can't find any service record for him at all and wondered if the homeguard are included on the database too? It is reported within the family that he may have been attached to the Americans for D Day although I am unsure if this was a family rumour. Any help would be appreciated. Name is Francis Edward Oswell Born 20 Feb 1910 in Darlington. I've done the Fold3/Forces War Records and Ancestry but can't see anything. In 1939 he was a school teacher in Kent. Many thanks and wishing you all well.
Hello Adam, theres no service records on any of those sites you mention for WW2 despite whatever title they may wish to be known by. The MoD hold these (WW2 service records) and they charge £30 and under present circumstances theres a considerable wait . Get a copy of military service records Someone may be along and have some private research which may be helpful but its those records to prevent false paths and a lot of presumptions. Kyle
Home Guard records are here. Although all you usually receive is two sides of his initial Home Guard application form & no detail of individual duties & postings, such as attachment to american forces. Request Home Guard service records Sometimes Home Guards are mentioned in local papers & the British Newspaper Archive may hold the local paper. Its also worth remembering that civilian services were also involved in the build up to the D Day Landings. I had a family friend who was in the National Fire Service, & for run in to D Day he was serving in the New Forrest, Hants.
His occupation may have affected when he was called up or volunteered for the forces. I have seen mention on the forum before of a teacher who opted to do his war work by teaching instead of joining up, and of teachers who joined up later than others of a similar age etc. Sorry can't remember any definate posts about this, but it's worth considering. At my Dad's school by the end of the war many of the male teachers had been replaced by men called out of retirement.