Hi hope you all could help i am trying to paint a picture of what my great grandad did during the war as never really talked about it untill not long before he died. I got his service record from the m.o.d but this only really shows us what we already know. I know that he work with the SaS maybe have been part (nothing on service record) From a few things that he said. I know he was it North africa,Greese and italy say so on service record. And spoke about was at 4th battle of monti cassino. But while he alive he said he had work with difrent resistance groups italians.frence and dutch but no mention of europe on service record.he was a mine overseer before joining in 1940 with explosive knowledge and serveying knowledge To cut to the piont was woundering Would that stuff been put on service record or would it been changed.
Hi Adrian. Why don't you post your great grandfather's record here and hopefully someone will spot something. Gus
after a lot of effort i finally manager to up load his record so hope this helps shed some light on it ..
Hi Adrian What makes you believe he served with the SAS at some point ?? Might have been easier just to upload the .jpeg images rather than put them into .zip mode TD
hi and i he never said he was part of to sas but was watching a program a bit before he died (this is your life) and he was naming men of the unit just by there voices and saying what there nick names where. he also told us that he was parachute trained to and was behind enemy line a lot. would this have been normal for a sapper in the 59th f.c r.e. Would it have been normal at that time to to join in 1940 but not be deployed until 1943 . thank you for the help
sorry loads a questions all at once is it possible to find out what he was in the hospitals for as there is a few trips on the record we only knew of one where he was shot in the hand by a sniper . and one was in 1941 when he shill in england..??
Medical paperwork is almost impossible to access. The closest you will likely come is if he was wounded in battle it may well be recorded.
he was mentioned in despathes but again i dont know when and i dont know what for when he was shot he was a driver for a officer and was taken to a american field hospital
Hi, Thanks for posting your great grandfathers service papers. Can’t see any mention of a Parachute training course? Have you searched the London Gazette? MID ought to be mentioned there - as well as on his service record but I can’t see it listed with his campaign medals. Have you any wartime era photos? Uniform badges might assist in determining his wartime activities. Don’t want to cause any upset to you or your family but there have been a number of enquiries on the forum over the years similar to yours where service records have not supported the post war assertions of relatives serving with SAS. Steve
Citations for being Mentioned In Dispatches are occasionally preserved in the National Archives (At Kew), but usually not. Cross your fingers and try searching with their 'Discovery' search engine at their website.
My g grandad never said that he was in the sas . I only got 1 or 2 photo and dont think there there is any badges on the uniform but will up load later The story of when he was demobed i was told was that when he was handing in hom uniform the girl at the depo where taking the diffrent unit badges and was going to make a flag with them all together and that the badge that my g grandad had was not allowed on there and the girls made a bit of a protest and a MP came in to see what going on .when told what was going on and seeing the badge he told the girls they cant have it and usherd me g grandadoff some where ..
Adrian The title of your thread is - Special service on mod record In your first post you state: The you state Then in your last post you state: I'm a little confused here because if he was not in the SAS (or attached to it) why start a thread in the Special Forces section and entitle it Special service.............. TD
Like i said in the first post he never said he was in the sas as never really talked about what he did during the war. Only snipets later in life. With some of the few bits that i had heard and ppl he know i was not sure if in or attachet at some point the special service and would be put on his record or not as so secretive at time. Like so many ppl comi g back they just wanted to forget and get o as best they could. I wish that while he was alive i had asked him a lot more of what he did instead of scratching around now trying to put the story back together
Do you think the best bet then would be to post in a royal engineer thread and find out more about 59th f.c r.e???
Not really a good bet as if he was in the SAS (or similar) then the RE or 59th F C RE would know nothing about what he was up to, as he would be detached from them and attached to ?? someone else Can you upload the pictures who have of him in uniform etc As you only started this thread yesterday obtaining the answers to your questions may take a little time, especially if he was involved in the secret work - theres a clue in the phrase - his involvement will have to be dug out and not just read from a record TD
I've moved this thread to the 'Service Records' area of the forum, feel it's more suited to that area as we can delve into what Adrian's Great-Grandfather did there.
The only pic i can get my hands on at the min. The only other pic i know we have got he is in a shirt and cant see badges (well i cant lol) My g grandad is the man kneeling on the right hand side i have no idea who the others are in pic whould be nice to know if there was a way .
You could always obtain copies of the War Diaries Reference: WO 167/921 Description: 59 Field Company Royal Engineers Date: 1939 Sept.-1940 June Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Access conditions: Open Immediately Reference: WO 166/3574 Description: ROYAL ENGINEERS: COMPANIES: 59 Field Company. Date: 1940 July - 1941 Dec. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Access conditions: Closed For 29 years Reference: WO 166/8062 Description: ROYAL ENGINEERS: FIELD COMPANIES: 59 Company. Date: 1942 Jan.- Dec. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Access conditions: Closed For 29 years Reference: WO 169/10593 Description: Royal Engineers: 59 Field Company (RE Fd Coy) Date: 1943 July- Dec. Held by: The National Archives, Kew Legal status: Public Record(s) Closure status: Open Document, Open Description Access conditions: Closed For 29 years There must be others but I can't find them at the moment TD