I'm working on deciphering my uncle Billy's service record. William Reginald Bartlett, number 2569331 (allocated when he joined the TAs in 1933). He was always in branches of the Royal Signals during WW2, mainly the Air Formation Signals, going to North Africa, Malta and Greece. But later movements are: 16/08/44 - To xii 1/11/44 - From xii list to AFM Signals 18/02/45 - HQ Brit Mil (?) Mission (Greece) 27/03/45 - To xii 08/05/45 - To xii 11/06/45 - From xii To ?2 Gen Hosp. 12/08/45 - Y List 'A' 23/01/46 - Discharged Para 390 (xvi) Kings Regs 1940. Permanently unfit for duty. I managed to Google the KR (xvi) but I can't find what all the 'xii' entries mean. I infer that it is some kind of sick designation?
Many thanks Owen! It looks like he kept getting poorly until he finally had to be let go. There's no family 'oral history' of his being wounded but Mum, his brother, did mention he had trouble with his 'nerves' as they used to say. I vaguely remember seeing once in the 1960s or 1970s and he had a wide-eyed look which I always remembered.
This may have been the hospital he was in. 72 British General Hospital Netley 29/8/42 to 11/42 then overseas; Souk Ahras 1/43 to 4/44 then to Cancello; Cancello 4/44 to 7/44; Ellinko (Greece) 1/45 to 6/46. Hospitals WW2 - Scarlet Finders Don't think it was nerves, that would be under another paragraph. A soldier who has been found physically unfit by a medical board is discharged from Army service under King's Regulations, 1940, paragraph 390 (xvi) as "ceasing to fulfil Army physical requirements."
Many thanks! I really appreciate your help in unlocking this for me! This has enabled me to make more sense of Uncle Billy's record. Once he became ill he was moved about quite a bit: - 27-Mar-1945: X(ii) list. Admitted to British General Hospital 97 in Athens. - 08-May-1945: Ditto entry. - 11-Jun-1945: Transferred to British General Hospital 72 in Ellinko, (suburb of Athens). - 16-Jun-1945: Transferred to British General Hospital 98 in Bari, south east coast of Italy. - 05-Jul-1945: Transferred to British General Hospital 103 in Nocera, between Salerno and Naples. - 05-Aug-1945: ‘SOS. CNIF to UK (sick)’. - 12-Aug-1945: Disembarked in UK and posted to Y List ‘A’ What would SOS and CNIF have stood for I wonder?
SOS =Struck off strength (of the unit) CNIF = I think you may have read it incorrectly-I am sure it is CMF Central Mediterranean Force Lesley
Hi The 97th BGH was located in the Athens suburb of Psychiko.The 72 BGH was in Ellinikon, which was just south of Kalamaki Airfield. Medical cases that required medical evacuation usually went out of Kalamaki and usually flew to Bari. I have searched the Army Casualty lists for ww2 and he does not appear. This would suggest that he was very sick rather than a battle casualty. There was a section (G) of Air Formation Signals based at the RAF's Air Headquarters (AHQ) in Kifissia, about 15 miles north of Athens. Some light reading on the British Military Mission in Greece (BMM(G)) guerrilla warfare in greece 1941–1945 Hope this helps Gus
Many thanks everyone for all this invaluable help. I've also resolved a long standing query as to whether Uncle Billy was a POW - my brother and I have a vague recollection that Mum told us this. It turns out he was a prisoner, but of Her Majesty The Queen! He was sentenced to 112 days with hard labour (commuted to 74 days and no hard labour), initially in Chelmsford Prison, then Chatham Barracks, for 'stealing public property' and receiving. He was also reduced from Lance Corporal to Private. He was a cook in the catering corp so perhaps he misused his access to the stores! John
I'm trying to understand his decorations now: - Africa Star BNAF - 1st Army Clasp (goes with Efficiency Medal?) - The Efficiency Medal Dec. 1944 (for 11 years service. Wikipedia says it should be for 12? He joined up 26/06/33) - War Medal 1939/45 - The Italy Star (He wasn't on active service in Italy; probably for his one month in Greece before being taken ill?) - Defence Medal (For Catering Corp work?)
- Africa Star BNAF - 1st Army Clasp (goes with Efficiency Medal?) No it goes with Africa Star. - The Efficiency Medal Dec. 1944 (for 11 years service. Wikipedia says it should be for 12? He joined up 26/06/33) Maybe a typo and should be 45 - War Medal 1939/45 - The Italy Star (I can't see that he was on active service in Italy; just in hospital there) The area in which the Italy Star was awarded includes Greece. - Defence Medal (For Catering Corp work?) No, he was in the army, so automatically entitled to it. The Defence Medal was instituted by the United Kingdom in May 1945, to be awarded to British military and civilian personnel for a range of services in the United Kingdom, and to British, British Commonwealth and British Colonial personnel who served from or outside their home countries in a non-operational area or in an area subject to threat, such as attacks from the air
