Grandfather - 5677281 Lance-Corporal William Charles DURHAM, Somerset Light Infantry - India WW2

Hi,
I've decided it's about time I started researching my grandfather's WW2 history.
Name : William Charles Durham
No : 5677281
Regiment : Somerset Light Infantry.
Rank : Lance Corporal.
Stationed : India (I've been told Pashawar / Kashmir region).

Apart from above I know nothing else.
He lived in Berkshire, so interested to know why he was part of the Somerset Light Infantry and not the Royal Berkshire regiment.
Really interested into know more about what he was doing.

 

Welcome to the forum a great place to start is applying for his service records
Read this link on how to apply
Date of birth and death cert required
Get a copy of military records of service

 

Wiki states:

From: Somerset Light Infantry - Wikipedia

There are many threads here on 1st SLI. An online search with: "1st" + battalion" + "somerset light infantry" site:ww2talk.com found them. Alas it also shows other units, but 1st SLI sometimes appear in the posts, not the thread title. There is a B&W photo of a platoon group @ Peshawar in 1945 on: 1st Bn Somerset Light Infantry in Burma and India He is not named in the details (also on Post 7 in next linked thread)..

There is B&W footage of the SLI leaving India, which appears in: Which British units were left in India before and at the time of Partition? The location info is in Post 8 SLI in JPG3 and the footage in Post 52.

It appears his number was issued when he joined the SLI, pre- early 1942 (the system then changed). Demands for manpower and casualties meant you were posted where the Army needed you, hence not Berkshire.

 

Hi David,

Firstly thank you so much for talking the time to reply & the information you have provided, it is very much appreciated.
Over the weekend my uncle has given me some copies of my grandfathers war records. Unfortunetely they are copies of copies of copies, which means some of the writting is too faint to read.
Also much of the written information by officers looks like they may have been doctors in a previous life...hahaha
However I have managed to work out quite a bit.
02/04/40 : Enlisted
15/04/40 : Posted to "B" ?? (possible Tiverton, which I know is in Devon / hard to make out)
02/04/41 : Posted to *** Company 2 (Frome or Thame / hard to make out)
There are several entried over the next couple of years but I think they are just UK based.
04/05/44 : Embarked for service overseas.
02/06/44 : Disembarked Bombay.
02/06/44 : Posted TOS No.2 Wing *** ?.
29/06/44 : Posted TOS unit
29/03/45 : Promoted local Cpl
31/07/45 : Shows him in Peshwari
18/09/45 : Shows him in Rawalpindi
25/10/45 : Shows him in Peshwari
21/05/46 : Demobbed - I think.

Before enlisting he was a driver, and driver in mentioned on his records 43/44, so I don't think he was front line but more of a supplies role.
Think the first thing I need to do is try and get hold of some better copies.

 

A curious timeline. How old was he when he joined up? Given the demands for manpower it looks like he was at the bottom of the list for service abroad.

TOS is Taken On Strength.

It is Peshawar, in North West Frontier Province (now has a different name) and is the largest city close to the internal border with the tribal areas and beyond Afghanistan. In the colonial era it always had a large military garrison. See: Peshawar - Wikipedia

Rawalpindi in the Punjab was also a large military city, still is and is next to the new Pakistani capital Islamabad.

Is there a family link to Rugby School? That appears in a Google search, with one serving in the SLI, probably in WW1.

Research tips via PM next.

 

He was 24 when he inlisted.
However, at the time he worked for, what was then known as the Milk Marketing Board. I wondered whether due to the shortage of food etc, he may have been in the catagory of essential workers ?
I remember when my dad was alive saying that my grandfather was at the Khyber pass at some point.
With regards to there being a link to Rugby School, it's not one that I've heard of.
My great grandfather came from a little village in Gloucestershire, near to Cirecester.
I believe my ancestors were humble farm workers, so a private school education is highly unlikely, unless one of the Durhams broke away generations before and went down a different social route.
Many thanks for the PM, I will have a look

 

I have just noticed on another piece of paper :
29/03/43 : To 5th Bn.
29/06/44 : To 1st Bn
25/05/45 : To 1st Bn SLI

 

Inching along now. From Wiki:

Elsewhere:

From:British Light Infantry Regiments

The 5th were part of 135th Infantry Brigade, part of the 45th Infantry Division and the footnote has a short history of that posting. See: https://www.britishmilitaryhistory..../124/2020/08/45-Infantry-Division-1944-45.pdf

More info on serving with the 5th. See: BBC - WW2 People's War - I Was Born Under A Lucky Star

There are three threads here on the 5th id'd using "5th somerset light infantry" site:ww2talk.com Two refer to a death in the UK and one Post 34 id'd their position in September 1940 @ Dymchurch. See: A good beach for a German Invasion?