George William COWELL 3855604, RA - 2nd Maritime Anti Aircraft Battery

Greetings alll.

I'm new to the forum and after lurking and reading many posts, I'm hoping someone will be able to assist with my grandfather's war record, as I've hit a bit of a brick wall.

So far I have the following details:

Enlisted into the Loyal Reg (Chorley), TA & posted to 4th battalion 16/4/35
Discharged on reorganisation 31/10/38
Re-enlisted into RA (TA) Chorley posted to 437/62 Searchlight Reg. 31/3/39
Embodied 2/9/39
Posted to 2nd Maritime AA Battery 30/10/41

Served on the following ships:

TIBA 27/5/41 - 31/5/41
EMPIRE LYNX 11/7/41 - 22/9/41
St MAGNUS 24/10/41 - 5/12/41
LOCHNAGAR 12/3/42 - 14/10/42 (Iceland with US NOBI)
ROSENBORG 14/10/42 - 18/11/42 (Iceland US NOBI)
LANCASHIRE COAST 15/6/43 - 15/6/43
BANFORA 28/6/43 - 22/5/44 (KMF26 - Sinking of the Rohna, Nov 1943)
EMPIRE ROSALIND 20/6/44 - 31/8/44 (TM1 - Operation Anvil/Dragoon)
ORBITA 14/9/44 - 18/12/44

39-45 Star
Atlantic Star
Burma Star
Italy Star
War Medal
TA Efficiency Medal

It's been difficult to find information about his service prior to TIBA, although I know he was in Kirkwall, Orkney Islands in 1941, as I have a photo of him with another Gunner - Ivor Davies.

I already have the movement cards for each of the ships, and Convoyweb.org has been a fantastic source of information too.

All suggestions are welcome with open arms, as to how I should proceed.

TIA

Nanette

 

Finally received my grandfather's service record and the first thing my mum picked up on, was that he fudged his year of birth - 1917 rather than 1918 when he originally joined the TA. (Although it appears to have been corrected later on some of the paperwork.)

We've been trying to decipher it as best we can, although some abbreviations do have us rather stumped, for example:

• What does the "W" stand for in W/Cpl & W/Bdr?

It was also interesting to note that he was sent to military hospital at The Castle, Edinburgh in early 1942 for almost 3 weeks, as very soon after, he headed to Iceland OHMS until mid October 1942. (We wondered if it may have been pneumonia, as he had been a gunner on merchant ships since May 1941, spending a couple of months prior shuttling between Lerwick and Aberdeen on the St. Magnus.)

The only item missing from the file was a copy of his "Maritime Card" - I have contacted the MOD to check if this was an oversight, as the summary I have (dated 1992) does include information from this, but still waiting to hear from them.

Certainly made for interesting reading - well worth the $AUD85!

 

Hello Nanette,

http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/16211-british-army-rank-wwii-wsgt/

Regards
Hugh

 

Ah, Hugh, as always you're a mine of information!

Thank you for the link - it makes for interesting reading. In my grandfather's case he remained a corporal upon returning to the Army and retained that rank until being discharged in 1959.