Can someone help me understand more please about the entry for Ernest Wilfred Burdge on this extract of Royal Artillery Attestation? In particular, all of the entries in the far right column "HAA/5", "16/1/46 2/T" and "(Field Branch)" and also in the middle column the stamp "Disch" (I'm presuming Discharge!) and "Age Limit" with the numbers 138/171 and "1954"? He was born on the 2nd of February 1907, so would have been 38 years old on 16/1/46 and 47 in 1954. I am in the process of obtaining his Service Records. Any pointers or suggestions in the meantime, gratefully received. Andy
HAA = Heavy Anti Aircraft Z Reserve, most soldiers went into the reserve after active service in case they needed to be mobilised again Class Z Reserve - Wikipedia Following his time in Z Reserve he was discharged.
Thanks so much for your help and taking the time to respond and send your father's documentation. Really useful and has answered the questions I had.
Interesting - for the service number 1727625 as per the attestation posted above then UK, World War II Royal Artillery Tracer Cards, 1939-1948 Name: John Macklin Enlistment Date: 12 Dec 1940 Discharge Date: 1954 Regiment: Royal Artillery Military Unit: 605 Regiment Royal Artillery Service Number: 1727 625 Unusual to find to people with the same service number - but odder things have happened TD
Hi, I think your HAA/5 is actually HAA/S denoting he was allocated to a Heavy Anti Aircraft Searchlight Unit. The 138/171 beside his 1946 demob date suggests to me that he was at that time serving with 138 Battery 171 Field Regiment RA but I’d wait for his service record for a definitive answer. Steve EDIT TO ADD On further research I now think he might’ve been serving with 138 Battery 171 (Mixed) Heavy Artillery Regiment RA at the time of his demobilisation.
Macklin's numbers look like 6s but look back at the original document. It's in numerical order with 021, 022, 023...
Member Lemons tree also includes this which may make life clearer Not sure what web site thats from, certainly not Ancestry TD
Looking at this and other RA Attestation Lists numbers such as “138/171” do not seem to have any correlation to battery/regiment or vice versa. No 138 Bty of any type (Field, LAA etc.) was in a 171 Regiment, neither was any 171 Bty found in any 138 Regiments. It’s probably a reference to a long lost record unfortunately.