Military Chat

Hi. Is there any way I can find out my father's army number so that I can get his army records. I have been told I cannot just give his name as I need his number, and I have no idea what it was. He was ion the army from about 1915 to about 1930's.

If he served in WW1 his medal card at least should be on Ancestry or FMP. Can you give some more details, please? His name, YOB, parents, where he was born.

You may also be able to find him the Absent Voters List for 1918 which should give his Regt No.

If he served after WW1 his docs are still with MOD.

http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/service_records.html
for details on how to apply.

Pat, I think Marlene has been to that site. The application form states that Service No and/or Date of Birth must be entered. Perhaps she mis-read it and thought it meant that Service No had to be entered, not that one or the other must.

Potty, I wanted Marlene to go to the site just in case she hadn't seen it and had been misinformed, so thought she couldn't order the docs.

Hope you are well.

:-)

Marlene this shows the army form and as Potty pointed out it states army number or date of birth

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/142479/request_for_service_details_army_application_part2_1_.pdf

:-)

Oh dear squashed photos - sorry. :-D

:-)

Pat, you can avoid squashed photos by using this

http://tinyurl.com/

Hi. Thank you for your help. I am not on Ancestry but I can give details as far as I know them. It is quite complicated. My father was illegitimate and was named Harold Clements born 1902 in Warrington. His mother then married a Walter Thomas when my dad was 4yrs old and on the 1911 census he still has his mother's name of Clements and is stated as Walter's stepson. He joined the army in Manchester as a boy soldier, we think about 15yrs old, so possibly about 1915/16 he joined. By the time he married my mum his name was Harold Thomas, so at some point he had changed his name. As far as I know, he was in the army till the 1930's. The problem is that I don't know if he joined the army as Harold Clements or Harold Thomas., so it just complicates matters. He was in the army a good few years so must have papers somewhere. It has been a nightmare trying to put the pieces of his life together as I only found out a few years ago that he was not related to the Thomas family. I am grateful for any help with this.

Was he still in the Army when he married? Perhaps you could send for his Army record using one of the surnames and add a note about the change of name?

Hi
. No, he wasn't in the army when he got married. On his marriage certificate in 1933 he is a commission Agent, so I don,t know the year he came out of the army.