Hello, i have just finally got my grandfathers service record and am about to get all his medals presented in a frame (not sure how or what style yet). Firstly can i check i have the order right for his medals. I know that they have to be presented in order of when he received them so it is difficult to tell me not knowing his service record. * All the photos i have seen show the 39-45 star being first, is this always the case? * From looking at his service record it looks like he got them in this order if i am working this out right - 39-45 star, africa star, italy star, france and germany star, defence medal, war medal and finally territorial efficient service medal. * Again i'm assuming that the defence medal comes before the war medal as thats what i have seen on most pictures. * I also have a Dunkirk medal but am i right in assuming that this is not presented with the above medals? *Lastly, looking at the 28 A4 pages of his service record and documents i was sent it very hard understand the handwritting and some of the abreviations. I was trying to see if he was at Normandy but the only reference in his record i can see around that time was "posted to 04 A B W/S on redesignation of 318 A B W/S" and on another sheet an ink stamp with 4 boxes with hand written numbers which i will poorly attempt to recreate. __________________yr_____________ | | | 2/115 | | yr | | | _____ | | <some text here but can't undertand it> | 27 | | | | | | | 1/166 | | |________|________|_______|_______| 3/281 Any help would be great. I guess i should scan some of the pages and post them up for some of you experts to help me work out what my wonderful grandfather did in the war. Although it has already made me laugh as it seems he took an army vehicle without permission and left it somewhere so was classed as stolen and was disciplined.
Hello and welcome - I'm sure someone will be along ref the medals etc. Do you know what unit he was serving with in France during 1940?
Anaar Hello and welcome to the forum You are very lucky indeed if you have 28 pages of his record. Please scan them if possible and then we can interpret the abbreviations for you-you will be surprised how many members will understand them. It will also help if we see them to help you put his medals in the order they were awarded. Lesley
Anaar The medals are right just ensure that the dark blue section ( representing the Royal Navy) of the 39/45 STAR is closest to the centre of the chest i.e first..and as Lesley points out - scan as many records as you like as we might be able to sort them out The Royal Navy being the senior service is ALWAYS first as per the Africa Star also..e.g.... Dark Blue = Navy; RED = Army ; Light blue = RAF Cheers
I've scaned some of the pages so this should let you experts get your teeth into it. He was i believe originally in the Lanc Fus in 1938 and at some point at the beginning of the war i think he was transfered to the REME. Included in the pack i got things like his TA Attestation which includes some medical exam details, release papers and lots of other things. I dont quite understand why i have two service records all i can assume is that one was created when he joined the TA initially and the other was for the war?? Any help telling me the story of my grandfathers time during the war would be great! I will try and scan all the other documents soon and once i have presented his medals in a nice frame i will post a picture as well.
It looks as if he was a pre-war Territorial with the 1/5 Lancashire Fusiliers and went to France with them. Do you know what his pre-war occupation was ? The army seems to have decided that he would be more useful as a fitter rather than an infantryman (which may be based on his old trade) and he then joined RAOC (The Ordnance Corps). Most of the RAOC technical and maintenance duties were later taken over by the newly-formed REME and he appears to have been transferred at that time.
As far as i know he was around 18 when he joined the Territorials so not much time to have pre war occupation. * Do you know what the ink stamped box with numbers inside is on the last document? * On the third document what does the 'posted to 04 A B W/S on redesignation of 318 A B W/S' mean? * Also i was trying to find out the regulations for which he was a naughty boy and got punished. For example Sect 46 on the last document and Sect 11 AA on the same document. I know that he was a Lance Corp at one point but lost that when he decided that my grans bed was more inviting than going back to the barracks ... would that be one of them?
* On the third document what does the 'posted to 04 A B W/S on redesignation of 318 A B W/S' mean? From what I can see from the various documents he served with 318 Armoured Brigade Workshop which was part of 4 Armoured Brigade. Sometime later 318 ceased to be a separate unit and became 4 Armoured Brigade Workshop. (Googling "318 Armoured Brigade" might help) W/S seems to stand for Workshop in this context. It quite often means War Substantive (ie only applying during the duration of the war) - but it doesn't quite make sense in this context.
The records show that he disembarked NW Europe on 6/7/1944 which can only mean Normandy. 4th Armoured Brigade's part in the campaign is well documented but you may well find extra information in the War Diary for 4th Armoured Brigade Workshop REME.
