Hi, I am not sure if anybody can assist, I have a name and service number but am trying to find out some more information. The name and number is associated with a 1st pattern Denison smock. (I know a long shot)! He may be one of the air landing guys as he doesn’t show up in any of the ringway lists for the para’s. any help or guidance is much appreciated thanks
14043947 Pte. Harding A couple of suggestions for you. Try to identify the year of manufacture of the Denison Smock. Visiting Paradata might be of help:- Paradata - Denison Smocks 1st Pattern Denison, C.W.S Ltd. 1942 The pattern was officially known as Drill No.4 Camouflaged. 1st Pattern Denison, C.W.S Ltd. 1943. These smocks were used throughout operations in North Africa and Italy and were replaced in 1944 by a new version. This had a light green base with mid green and red brown brush strokes. It also had fasteners to allow the “tail” to be stored when not in use and also dispensed with the knitted cuffs resulting in many men sewing sock tops to the sleeves to act as cuffs. Read Army Number Block Allocations page 12 on this site. It suggests that service number 14043947 enlisted sometime between 11.04.1945 and 04.10.1945. Do these dates match the year of manufacture of the Denison Smock? 14043947 Pte. Harding does not appear on casualty lists and was not awarded GSM for Southeast Asia or Palestine. All parachutists serving with an airborne division would have been issued a Denison Smock. Therefore, 14043947 Pte. Harding could have been R.A.S.C., R.E.M.E., R.A.O.C., R.A.M.C. or other. The following service numbers are all close to 14043947. Believe they all served in Palestine. 14038689 Pte. J. A. H. Millward 1st Parachute Battalion 14038821 Pte. A. S. J. Woodward 2nd Parachute Battalion K.I.A. Palestine Parachute Training Course B184 from 09.11.1945 to 26.12.1945 at R.A.F. Ringway 14047693 Pte. J. Easlea 3rd Parachute Battalion 14043716 Pte. G. Phillips 4th Parachute Battalion 14042280 L/Cpl. P. Murray 5th Parachute Battalion 14043947 Pte. Harding 14047027 Pte. J. R. Potts 6th Parachute Battalion 14046077 Pte. B. V. Washer 7th Parachute Battalion 14034321 Pte. F. J. Lineker 8th Parachute Battalion 14043657 Pte. F. J. Kidd 9th Parachute Battalion Hope this information narrows your search to a narrower time frame. Good luck!
Oh Wow, Thank you for the information, I really thought I wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere with this but this is fantastic… some great tips and points Denison is dated 1942, but can imagine the troops were issued what they had in stock. Many thanks again sir
Updating my previous post. Was about to post this just as another post arrived. Using R.A. Tracer Cards I was able to find a date of enlistment for 14043947 Pte. Harding. 14043773 Gnr. Sidney Wells G.S.C. to R.A. 21.06.1945 14043947 Pte. Harding 21.06.1945 14043963 Gnr. Claude William Honey G.S.C. to R.A. 21.06.1945 Unfortunately, there was no R.A. Tracer Card for 14043947 Pte. Harding However, GBM_ROYAL ENGINEER CARD_00143 revealed the following name and number:- 14043946 Pte. Cyril Lionel Hanover to R.E., just one number before 14043947 Pte. Harding. While not proof, it raises the possibility of 14043947 Pte. Harding transferring from G.S.C. to R.E.
Thank you all, Again so much more than I had ever hoped for! It is so nice to now have the information. thanks all again
