4925102 George Lloyd, South Staffs & 104th LAA RA

Hi All.

I have found a Tracer card for my Grandfather and need help if possible deciphering it.

I can see he was transfered from South Staffs to 104th LAA.
I know he was in North Africa and possibly Italy?
He got injured quite badly to his lower leg. I have a bible given to him by a nurse from the American mission dated 31/01/44. It has a note from her saying that he was in the 43th Gen Hospital, Beirut.

I am waiting for his service records from NA, six months so far.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Andy

 

Whilst the card indicates a reference to the xii list (evacuated on medical grounds) and Y list (hospitalised > 21 days) he does not seem to appear in the casualty lists.

 

Your subject has not appeared here before your post.

His original unit was:

From: Post 1 Infantry battalions converted to LAA & other RA units

It was a 'hostilities only' battalion. From: South Staffordshire Regiment - Wikipedia

Tracer Cards are maintained at corps HQ by clerks, they did not accompany a soldier
Embarked UK 13/1/1943 (text in brackets is the source - an order)
Disembarked 31/3/1943
Taken on Strength Middle East Forces 19/5/1943
Hospital 27/10/1943 till 16/6/1944
'C' Battery LAA Depot, Royal Artillery 22/9/1944, ? the next day at Depot
Discharged 28/5/1946
ZT Reserve?

From the "go to" RA reference site a very short history of 104 LAA:

There is a calendar showing their movements and subordinated to whom. That would support him being in Egypt, Palestine and North Africa. Not in Italy - as he was in hospital.
From: 104 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA - The Royal Artillery 1939-45

Disbanded as the need for infantry soldiers became acute, the decline of an air threat LAA enabled this; other units were also disbanded, with unit members allocated where the army needed them.

There are two threads here on 104 LAA, both refer to their initial conversion. Almost nothing online about them at a glance.

Re the hospital:

From: Hospitals WW2 - Scarlet Finders

It appears that the American nurse could have been from a long established Christian missionary plus presence in The Lebanon. A starter: The National Evangelical Church of Beirut - History of the National Evangelical Union

Finally we always recommend applying for their Service Record, this is not available online and yes, it can take up to a year to arrive. Details on PM next.

 

Thanks for all the information, much appreciated.

I do have his transfer to army reserves form RA LAA dated 01/06/46 stating his transfer to reserves with effect from 05/08/46.
Also a letter thanking him for his clerical work at the Prisoners of War Information Bureau, London. From Jan 1945 to May 1946. Im guessing he was sent to work here because of his injury?

 

I'm glad you have had some input from the forum Andy. I can't add anything myself unfortunately, but was struck by the neatness of your grandfather's tracer card, as quite often these are extremely messy and haphazard in nature. Good luck going forward with your research.