Service Records destroyed by Veterans Agency?

Andy, the Service and Vetrans Personel Agency pay my war pension. They are a govt agency. Used to be known as war pensions Norbeck...Changed over to new name and now cant even get em to answer phone.

 

Jim,

Absolutely great news.

It also begs the question as to why the original records were forwarded in the first place instead of certified copies.

Probably a case of an organisation whose left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

Regards
Tom

What great news for you :smile: ......... bureaucracy !!!

All the best with future research.
Lindsay


Thank you both.When the original records came there was details of his enlistment(1933) his transfer from 1st DLI to 6th DLI ,his subsequent death in action..and that was that.The `New` records show his middle east history including details of wounds etc a hell of a lot more detail...the only thing missing his his pre-war record 33-39.Perhaps anyone who has received a similar initial letter should make a follow up enquiry?

Best Wishes

Jim

 

Hello again Jim,

I found my father's pre-War record with the TA via his old school.

Dad was a L.Cpl. in 1931 (TA Junior Division, Officers Training Corps.)
By July 1939 he had been commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant 9th RWR, TA. He was embodied for service on 2nd September, 1939, and subsequently promoted to War Substantive Lieutenant.

On from the above juncture he then volunteered to join the Glider Pilot Regiment and was transferred to the Army Air Corps.
Like yourself .... I'll keep searching for more records covering his time with the GPR .... thankfully he returned safely from Operation Varsity, The Rhine Crossing, 24.03.45., to marry mother in 1947.

Dad died in 1964 after a long illness but with the help of WW2 Talk members' I've come to know so much more about the father I hardly knew ... Dad is first on the left shown in the photograph used for my avatar!

Good luck to you with your future endeavours.

Lindsay

 

Thank you both.When the original records came there was details of his enlistment(1933) his transfer from 1st DLI to 6th DLI ,his subsequent death in action..and that was that.The `New` records show his middle east history including details of wounds etc a hell of a lot more detail...the only thing missing his his pre-war record 33-39.Perhaps anyone who has received a similar initial letter should make a follow up enquiry?

Best Wishes

Jim

Jim,

My late fathers records arrived with a couple of black holes, one being a twelve month period!

I recontacted the records office and was told that they would retrieve the file again and make sure that I had a copy of everypage.

Two weeks later I received a very polite email stating that I had received copies of every page held.

My father never received and pension, so there is no question of his records being forwarded on to any other department.

The only way I have traced his movements was by looking through his Divisions War Diaries and also with the aid of tracing an old colleague who was with father in Italy and Greece.

Even so I now have a much better understanding of my fathers service to his country.

Regards
Tom

 

Jim
I am delighted you finally received most of the service papers you wanted.
I looked again at the covering letter that came with my Father in Law's records and note that they say " I am enclosing copies of all the relevant documents from his service file and I hope you will find these interesting". I actually would have found the irrelevant documents interesting as well. I suppose we can't complain as they sent 19 documents, but on the whole it is not a lot to show for someone who spent almost half his life in the Army - (from 16 - 30 years of age).
Hope the rest of your papers turn up and good luck with the research.
Cheers
Rosie

 

I know that this is an old theead but perhaps it will be helpful.

When I received my Uncle's service records they were incomplete. After months of trying to get some answers from the MOD and the Veterans Agency I received the following e-mail which may be of interest.
My first e-mail was Jan 2019 and my second e-mail 9/5/2019 not 2018


Sent: Thursday, 23 May 2019 1:10 PM
Subject: 20190523_SAR reply re missing B103 form

Dear Mrs Everett

Thank you for the email on 09/5/18 which has been passed to the SAR team at Norcross

I am sorry you did not receive a reply in January, I do apologise as I cannot proffer an explanation on why that occurred and you have been waiting all this time, but let me make reply now.

The original War Pension file for your late Uncle Harry Rossiter would have been destroyed in 2010 during a filestore weeding exercise, the cases for destruction were based on Date of Death and relevant time lapse. All service medical and service records were extracted off files and sent back to the Main MOD Store, otherwise known to you as the APC at Kentigern House, Glasgow

I am sorry you have made contact with them and they do not have the records but we don’t have a file and therefore do not have the records anywhere within our remit, once the interest in War Pension has ceased then the service records, if originals, are extracted and returned to the Main MOD Service record store

I do apologise for this disappointing reply

Tel 08081914218| veterans-uk@mod.co.uk

So the big question is what did the APC do with the records. They are adamant that they don't have them.
Fortunately, with the help of forum members and war diaries, I have managed to piece together my Uncle's service history

 

When a person requests their Army Service Records from the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), it is not typical to receive a covering letter explaining the status of their records within the Veterans Agency or any other external agency. Typically, the request for service records is processed by the MOD, and they provide the requested documents to the individual or their authorized representative trux cargo tracking.

In cases where records have been transferred or requested by other agencies, the MOD usually keeps copies of the records for their own archives. If there were any issues with the return of records, it would generally be an internal matter between the MOD and the relevant agency.