ROYAL ENGINEERS & MERCHANT NAVY- BEVAN, Thomas Douglas

Hi Jeff

If he was missing for 5 months from a RA unit in Malaya, I would have expected him to pop up on a British Army casualties 1939-1945 on FMP but I found nothing.

If he was missing and presumed a POW I would have expected him to pop up on POW searches on FMP and Ancestry, but I found nothing there either.

The attestation says Egypt and Jerusalem (Palestine) in the notes, and so that does tie in to his Africa Star award.

But if he was in Malaya/Singapore, I would have expected him to have received the Pacific Star. But the record you post here says nothing of that.

Obtaining his UK RA service record would be the only way this would be properly resolved.

Hope this helps

Gus

 

Thanks indeed Gus, I will have the son complete the Application Forms to apply for his Royal Artillery records.
Can you advise me where I can get forms to apply for his Merchant Navy Records?

Regards,

JEFF.

 

Hi Gus,
Have had a lengthy phone call with Australian Navy History section today- they confirm there are no World War 2 Navy Service Records for BEVAN and they are not aware of any other reasons why his son would have been informed of a 2028 release date. Therefore I am abandoning any interest in contents in the Serviceman's letter that are Post War.
I will now focus solely on obtaining full details of his Royal Artillery & Merchant Navy Records. Is it possible for a British researcher to obtain this information, or do we definitely need Application Forms Part 1 & 2 signed by his son and posted to the Ministry of Defence?.
Your advice will be sincerely appreciated.

Regards,
JEFF.

 

Hi Jeff

If you look at the very first reply to your post and the first link is what you need for his army service record.

It costs £30 and you will need his death certificate too which I believe to be £25.

Hughs post should have the info you need about merchant navy

Hope this helps

Gus

 

A death certificate costs $48 from Apply for birth, death or marriage certificate (Northern Territory: Births, Deaths & Marriages).

Edit: $48 is about £25. Yes, you are correct Gus!

 

Hi Jeff,
Putting it all together for you.
It is possible to obtain both pouches online (but not the CRS10) by contacting TNA Kew but the pouches are not service records and they can be hit or miss. I would suggest you obtain all the pouches along with his CRS 10 together, as without the CRS 10 you only have bits of the puzzle and I think what you need now is primary records about his service. There used to be guys on this forum who went to Kew on a regular basis and would copy for a reasonable charge but I am not really sure who goes now.

I would suggest you reach out to them maybe by creating another thread specifically asking if anyone would go for you. The alternative is to contact Kew on their website and ask them for a list of researchers or if they could do anything for you. I could never recommend the Kew researchers they are expensive and I was bitten a long time ago by someone who charged me a lot of money for not much in return. However, maybe I am being unfair and things have moved on..

Whoever you get to copy, this is what you need to ask.
Copy the CRS 10 for R323607, BEVAN, Thomas Douglas, 20.3.1920 and check if there is also a CRS 10 for R672532, BEVAN, Thomas Douglas, 20.3.1920 in this file: BT 382/123 (he is shown has having two numbers so check in the file under both) If there are none then please check both names and discharge numbers in piece: BT 382/2088

Copy the Seaman's pouch for R323607, BEVAN, Thomas Douglas, 20.3.1920 in BT 372/798/6
Copy the Seaman's pouch for R672532, BEVAN, Thomas Douglas, 20.3.1920 in BT 372/2047/140

I hope that makes sense - any questions please feel free.
Regards
Hugh