Hello All, I hope someone can help me in my quest. I am an ex-NAAFI girl who spent 14 years (1978 to 1992) serving the services in Germany. I am helping my old boss gather information for a NAAFI memorial website, to remember our colleagues who died on active service. At first, we thought it would be a relatively simple process since we were led to believe that there were known to be around 70 NAAFI personnel to have died on active service. As far as the Royal Navy is concerned, they have very clearly indicated those who were NAAFI personnel even though they had naval rank, service number etc. which has simplified things for us and made it easier to identify and acknowledge those men. However, we have discovered that the MOD, in their wisdom, listed NAAFI personnel serving with the Army and Royal Air Force as the units they were serving/attached to. Consequently, we are finding the land and air based personnel much harder to find. We have been informed that a massive number of NAAFI personnel were attached to the RASC, EFI, and even ENSA. I'm sure you can understand the fix we are in as the RASC was enormous and suffered huge losses during WW2. We have contacted NAAFI who were completely useless. We have also contacted the IWM and National Archives who say that they cannot help. I am wondering if there is a way to speak to someone regarding the RASC to see if there is any history related to NAAFI personnel who served with their units. Can anyone offer any advice please? I would be grateful for any leads, however small. Best Wishes to you all.
Welcome aboard NAAFI Girl ! To be completely honest, I've never given much thought to the problems that faced NAAFI employees during WW2 but you've set me thinking about your quest for remembrance, There are various items on the internet already, a case in point is: http://www.lingfieldpoint.co.uk/serving-the-services-naafi-our-national-treasure/755 Might I suggest you contact some of the TV chat shows and offer yourself or others to speak about your project ? Good luck and let us know how you get on In the meantime you might look at some of the items on this forum: http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/24734-talk-of-naafi-ymca-the-wonderful-sally-ann/ Ron
There are various files at the National Archives file categories to look at are ADM, AIR, DEFE, & WO using the search term NAAFI, you can also search the Commonwealth War Graves Website http://www.cwgc.org
Yes good luck. My Dad was in the RASC and there are several references in company war diaries to moving NAFFI from one location to another but nothing with great detail to be of much help. Brian
Thank you everyone! I will follow your leads and see what comes up, and I'll let you know how things go. The CWGC have been very helpful and we have managed to track most of the NAAFI personnel on their lists. They have even had the good grace to alter records where we have found personnel to be NAAFI staff yet CWGC had them listed in their attached military unit. Small win but something. We have a few honoured heroes in our ranks too. Brave boys and girls who could have stayed at home making tea but volunteered to go on active duty. I love this site. Packed full of interesting stories! Thanks again everyone!
