East Kent Regt (Buffs) in Italy 1944

For the detail, you will need a copy of Historical Records of the Buffs, Royal East Kent Regiment 1919-1948. CRB Knight. These draw on the Battalion's War Diaries for the period.

Regards

Frank

 

Not sure what you have found and I would consider the following information provisional until such time as you have received a positive id from his service records, but there are some possibilities:

Casualty List No. 1130 dated 10 May 1943
Expeditionary Forces / North Africa / Wounded
5th Bn The Buffs
6293446 BARNES Pte EJ date of casualty 15/4/43

Casualty List No. 1594 dated 3 November 1944
Expeditionary Forces / Central Mediteranean / Italy / Wounded
6293446 BARNES Pte EJ date of casualty 19/10/44

You will not find much more personal information online which is why you need his records.

 

I would wait for your Grandfather's service records to return.

Have you read the earlier post about the book that has been mentioned?

I do have the war diary WO 170/1368 5 Buffs (Royal East Kents) Jan-June 44. Has & when you can come back with his records, then i will gladly show them.

How long ago did you send off for them?
Regards,
Stu. Edit to also say that i have a copy of it.

 

Hi there Stu

waiting on records! Everything was delayed with Covid and then my mother took ill so all the stuff I was looking into was stopped for that.

email on the 18th to say working as quick as they can. Are you still able to show me diaries etc?

cheers lynn

 

Still in the same situation waiting on the records of my grandfather!

can’t find anything at all apart from his notes on being wounded!

I also wondered if anyone had heard about this, I remember being told he met my granny when they went for training up to Comrie, Perthshire at a place called Polinard. Now Comrie is famous for the camp they have which after the war they settled there and he worked for a time. But I cannot find anything mention of training the troops in this area for the buffs has anyone heard or read about this?
Thanks

 

Lynn, are you able to confirm his date of birth?

 

Hi Tony

it’s 26.03.1920

 

There is an Ancestry record with the name of Pte Edward James Barnes, number T/6293446, quoting the date of 26.3.20 in his 'Age & Service Group' and the Buffs as his regiment. Medals were requested on 4.7.83 as follows:
1939/45 Star
Africa Star (1st Army clasp)
Italy Star
Defence Medal
War Medal

I would think that it is almost certain that the details in my post #42 are correct. Unfortunately addresses are redacted due to the late request date.

 

Yeah that’s him, my mum had sent off for his medals in ‘83 for my brother.

Hopefully I’ll get his records soon feels like it’s been ages since we requested them! He was quite the storyteller so trying to sort fact from fiction.
The Comrie story is true as my Nana verified it. They married after the war and settled in Glasgow until the moved to Comrie in the 50s.

thanks for looking

 

The prefix T was put on the medal application to the War Office in 1983, so just quoting what that states, Lynn said that the request was made by her mother, obviously can't comment on where that came from? The number is a Buffs enlistment and the casualty lists also support that.

 

I’ll need to ask my mum, if was transport it would have been after being wounded in Italy or Sicily as I know he fought at Cassino

 

My grandfather was injured in Egypt when a bomb exploded near him and the shrapnel embedded into his back, he was lucky to survive. When he was recovering the sent him to the RASC he basically drove the supplies etc then once he was fully recovered he rejoined the 5th at the front.

thanks for mentioning it as I would never have asked that question and in doing so it triggered a memory for her.

 

Just want to say thanks for all your help. I’ve heard back from MOD and they are not releasing his records under act 41 so I’ve to wait til 2033. Feel bad for my mum but I’m managing to find little bits n pieces from stories she is remembering.

 

Lynn,

I am not versed in the MoD / TNA processes, but others here are. So taken from a June 2025 thread: T/14335465 Driver George Lionel HUMPHREYS, 795 Coy RASC

Here are two recent threads: Service records application refusal - Section 38 (1)(a) ? and Help needed with my Father's Service Records. The later needed Rishi Sunak's intervention, although it is not clear why the TNA refused initially.

Both threads are from 2024 and were id'd in an online search with: "service records" + "appeal" site:ww2talk.com There maybe more.

It would help if you posted up the MoD letter, so the experts can have a look. If they do not spot this thread try a PM to them - as indicated on the linked thread. Good luck.

 

No point in appeal - very little chance of change.

Currently a section 41 refusal - they have advised that a section 41 exemption available in 2033

So considered closed as information supplied by 3rd party and under duty of confidence but capable of being reviewed for opening with redactions on 25+1 years after death.

David - he died in 2007, section 41 refusal is different to section 38 with section 41 being most usually connected to Medical Information.

Ross

 

Another tidbit from mum, the more we talk the more memories she is having. My grandad said that he spent a year in a mental institution in Italy. She mentioned St Frances of Assisi. Now I can’t find anything about this. Could this be a story? Sorry about constantly asking my grandad was a storyteller we never knew fact from fiction. He did have extremely bad shellshock and we know that he was in the army for 6 years and the majority at the front. All opinions welcome!

 

Lynn,

Yes his reported time in a mental institution could be a 'story'. However for context the British Army had a big problem in Italy with mental illness. I found the AI summary useful when searching online with: "psychiatric hospital" + "british military" + "italy"

It is worth reading the section on Italy in this 2004 PhD thesis (pgs 180-197 using Control F). You may recoil at some front-line "treatments". See: https://salford-repository.worktribe.com/preview/1502086/417814.pdf

Each UK Corps had a psychiatric provision, with hospitals and Base Psychiatric Centres, like the one in Caserta (Not near Assisi).

There is a "go to" reference website for British military hospitals, which does not include psychiatric facilities, although three hospitals were @ Caserta in WW2. See: Hospitals WW2 - Scarlet Finders

 

Thank you so much. I’ll go check this all out and update mum. This is the one that bothered her the most.