Hello, Recently I've being trying to find a little more about my relatives in WW2 By looking through an old WW2 era address book, which belonged to my grandma.I found an military address relating to my late Great Uncle Ted. He used to be known by his middle name which was Edward, hence Ted.rather than by his first name began with a ‘J’ My father can’t remember his first name exactly, however,he thinks it was Joseph.There were two Josephs in my grandma’s immediate family, so I guess it made sense to refer to one as ‘Joe’ and the other as ‘Ted’ to avoid confusion. The address book entry was however, useful start into my research into Ted’s war career. I was told that he was in Burma during the war and my dad remembered he was in either the Royal Engineers or REME. From the address book it appears he was in the former. Under the entry for one of J E Garner’s peacetime addresses my grandma wrote Sapper J Garner 3249016 No.1 C.W.T Coy R.E Figsbury Barracks Winterbourne Dauntsey Near Salisbury Unfortunately I don’t know what the acronym C.W.T. means. Does anyone know? I’ve read that the Royal Engineers had chemical warfare companies known as C.W. Coys. Did CWT mean chemical warfare training? I suppose all soldiers had to be trained gas drills like putting your mask on.Or was it specialist RE training like detecting for gas and decontaminating? Thank you in advance.? Jonathan
Hi Jonathan and welcome to the forum. I'm sure some will be able to help you with the Abbreiation but you may be onto something as Winterbourne is the British Army's home today for all things CBRN (Chem, Bio, Radio and Nuke). Did your man survive the war? Cheers Andy
Thanks for the information about the chemical weapons connection. Yes he did survive the war and as far as I know he became a caretaker for a school in the North East.
If you know the next of kin or if he has been dead for more than 25 years (I think) you can apply for his service records. This will shed some more light on what he was upto during the war. A
Im not an expert on these things, and as the service number is different, probably not related, but there is a Joseph Edward Garner listed in the Gazette http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/issues/35309/pages/5974/page.pdf
I'm a little embarassed to say this,but I now believe the entry concerning Winterbourne in the address book wasn't referring to uncle Ted at all. I think now it was James 'Jim' H. Garner ,one of my dad's other uncles, who was one of the oldest amongst the Garner brothers. My dad had to do a bit of cross referring and found that 3249016 was Jim's serial number.The number appears next to an entry for J.H Garner, who at a point in his army career had been admitted to the 21st General Hospital at Bridge of Earn,Perth,Scotland.He must have been there for some time as his sister Betty recorded it down in her address book Jim was a Dunkirk Evacuee,as my dad has told me,he never said anything about the war especially any details about Dunkirk.He was in the Cameronians. Perhaps he was based in Scotland and became ill or was recovering from injuries sustained in France in 1940? The hospital I read accepted many army patients from many different Scottish camps nearby. So a Cameronian could have ended up there. We have a picture of Jim and his wife Kate where you can see the Cameron's Star cap badge clearly. Now it appears he may have been transferred to the Royal Engineers sometime later. The plot thickens...
Good to see things are coming and thanks for the update....I would apply for all of their service records from Glasgow. They will 99% have the answers to your questions. Good luck ! Andy
Did CWT mean chemical warfare training? I suppose all soldiers had to be trained gas drills like putting your mask on.Or was it specialist RE training like detecting for gas and decontaminating? The CW Coys wouldn't necessarily have been on the receiving end... I believe they originally operated our CW weapons, e.g. the 4.2" mortar until it was given a conventional role. Forty's British Army Handbook 1939-45 mentions that there were three CW training depots in April 1940 so your interpretation could be correct, particularly if it is from the early war period.
I have recently discovered some more confusing info about my great uncle James H Garner Another relative(a niece of Jim's) has been posting some information unverified about him on ancestry.co.uk.She mentions that he was in the Scots Guards,which I initially thought was a mistake.But I then thought it seemed a bit weird that someone who knew the man in person and whose mother was close to her on brother would get something wrong about Jim's past. So I considered the possibility maybe he ended up in the Scots Guards as an engineer later in the war I've just looked up the Scots Guards databases on the website to try and see if his dual serial number (3249016) tied in with serial numbers of Royal Engineers under the Scots Guards unofficial nominal roll topic on this website It apparently doesn't tie in with the serials listed in that database.But does anyone know whether it could be possible for a sapper to hold a 324xxxx range in the Scots Guards at all? On the other hand does the fact Jim kept his 3249016 serial mean he was part of the Royal Engineers complement within the Cameronians? Thanks once again
Hello Jonathan, Jim's service number (3249016) is from the Cameronians block of numbers, which means he attested into that regiment. This doesn't mean he couldn't have later transferred or been transferred to either the Royal Engineers or the Scots Guards; but I believe the latter is unlikely. What I believe is more likely is that he was in the Scottish Rifles i.e. the Cameronians. Have you applied for his service records? These should reveal all! Regarding Message #1, most Chemical Warfare Coy's, RE, converted to 'Field Coy's', but in the case of 1st it was 1st Fortress Coy, RE, and served in Gibraltar throughout WWII. I do not know what the T in CWT would stand for unless it is for 'Training'; as mentioned in an earlier Message. No. 1 Training Bn, RE, was based at Clitheroe in Lancashire from 1940 onwards. The key here is Jim's service records... Best, Steve.
This thread was started in 2009 - I suspect you would have had the service records for over 3 years by now if you applied for them back then
