After some 20 years of searching I finally found my late Fathers WW11 Army No (1526123). He served with the Royal Artillery in both North Africa and Malta. On 10th August 1943 he was seriously injured - possibly whilst riding Motor Despatch - sustaining serious head injuries from which he spent over 100 days in '90 General Hospital' in Malta. He was discharged from hospital on 24th Nov. 1943 and continued to serve until he was demobbed on 2nd Nov. 1945. However his condition deteriorated during the latter part of his service due to the severity of the head injuries which he had sustained - from which he eventually died in 1954 at the age of 44. Can anyone suggest a means to obtain some further detail of his service record e.g. how did he actually sustain the original injury or in fact any minor detail of his service. Is it possible that he may be posthumously entitled to any medals and if so how can we follow up on this? All help would be greatly appreciated. Regards Tony Devlin
link for info re medals https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-ministry-of-defence-medal-office link for service records https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-service-records/overview
Tony, His medical papers should be with his personnel file at Glasgow. However MOD do not release medical papers unless for "exceptional" reasons. I'm not aware what they consider "exceptional" reasons but they don't consider "family history research" an exceptional reason. I know Canadian WW2 service files - available online - do contain medical forms. Regards Steve Y
Tony, His medical papers should be with his personnel file at Glasgow. However MOD do not release medical papers unless for "exceptional" reasons. I'm not aware what they consider "exceptional" reasons but they don't consider "family history research" an exceptional reason. I know Canadian WW2 service files - available online - do contain medical forms. Regards Steve Y PS Canadian files also contain "courts of enquiry" papers relating to injuries sustained on duty. I've seen them in relation to motor vehicle collisions. If MOD don't forward any court of enquiry paperwork I would ask for them. I don't know if they will provide them or if it is not possible under UK FOI.
My partners grandfather and uncles service records listed their injuries (wounded fighting in Normandy), both of which saw them medically discharged. Whilst we don't have copies of their medical records the injuries are listed in the main part of their records. Regarding the circumstances I would think there's a very good chance the incident may get a mention in the units war diary, you would need the service records to confirm the unit he was in at the time of the accident though. Just as a secondary point he would only have been a Dispatch Rider if he was in the Royal Signals. Anyone else who delivered messages on a motorbike for their unit would have been a messenger. Dispatch Rider was a trade only within the Royal Signals during WW2. Good luck with your research Andy
