Genealogy Chat

It all depends on what you already know.

If you want to know his service history then yes it is useful

BUT if you want to know what he actually did in the war, then NO his war records will not be very useful. For this information you would need to access the regimental war diaries.

These are kept in one of 3 places 1: Kew 2: Imperial War Museum
3: Regimental Archives.

What you will find most useful is both so you can tie up information about his service from his records and what his regiment was doing at that time from the diaries.

Hope this helps

Oh and when ordering records from Glasgow there is about an 8 month wait.

In the context of making applications, 'Next of Kin', means the spouse or civil partner of the subject at the time of death (or parent if there was no spouse or civil partner).

The £30 charge only applies where there is no living 'Next of Kin'

In the case of my father, my mum, as nok, signed a consent letter authorising me to have access, and all further correspondence was then through myself. I also provided copies of his death and marriage certificates.

When we received the dossier we say that we already had copies of many of the documents from his own personal papers but there was some information that he had kept to himself and came as a bit of a surprise. I was also able to apply for his War Medal which he had declined to collect at the time.

This is the link for obtaining UK service records:
http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/service_records.html

One has to be next of kin, or obtain permission of next of kin, provide proof of that ie birth / marriage certificates and death certificate of the deceased.

I sent a letter with the proof and cheque. It was worth every penny. I knew quite a lot of the information but it was good to learn more. The documents were photocopies of every record concerning my father's service.

Shazzlou,

My Mum signed for my Dad's WW2 Naval records and as she was next of kin no charge, but it did take several months before receiving anything. As Dad like many men never spoke of his time in the war so made very interesting reading. I also had to write to the Ministry of Defense to see what medals he had been awarded as my Mum didn't know of any. Another wait in all it took about nine months to receive all his information but well worth the wait.

yes it would be good if you both added your names to the form, should have no problems

I had to send a copy of my grandfathers death cert before I was able to get his.Mother couldnt just sign it,have things changed?

£30,but worth it even though they took 4 months to come.

Where did you find these records?
I'd be interested in looking at my Dad's. He was in Italy during the war.

Heather

Found the answer to my own question. I've printed out the form,do I have to get my brother's permission as he's older than me?

Hi, I got my dads record after he died, got mum to sign for it, found it very interesting, i knew he was in Africa then Italy but he only had the Italy Star, but when i got his service record i found out why, he landed in Africa 4 week to late, I also got my Great uncles, he was Lancaster bomber crew, shot down over Germany 1944 and killed, I was amazed he was 2 years training to become air crew, I told them that I was his next of kin, just filled in the form sent of my £35 and they sent it to me, well worth the money.

I managed to get Father-in-law's WWII records, after getting OH to sign the form. He didn't know what he was signing for as I was trying to surprise him. Cost me £30.
Not an awful lot of interesting stuff but as it is family records, you can't beat actual paperwork. It also surpised us to see where his wife was living at the time FIL was away.

nudge

It just my Uncle was in Staffordshire regiment and went to France etc & was wounded there. He was also in Dunkirk & managed to get on one of the little boats to get back.

I got my Dads RAF record, Mum had to give me a letter giving them permission to send to me as she was NOK, it didn't cost me anything but it was 20 years ago so may have changed.

But most of the postings just gave a code number not an actual place, but I was lucky in that I had known most of the Squadrons Dad was in and where [mostly India], plus we had some photo albums to go on as well.

I handed the lot over to friend who is interested in RAF history, who managed to make sense of it all for me. I did ring the RAF when I got it and they confirmed that, they at least, used codes during wartime. Oddly the time he spent in the RAF before and after the war was not coded.......

And yes it was worth getting it as I ended up contacting a couple of clubs for Ex RAF and put a notice in the magazine and got letters from a few people who remembered Dad mainly I think because everyone mentioned he always had a football with him and was ready for a kickabout at a moments notice!

Has anybody ordered any world war 2 records while doing their research?
What information did it give you and was it worth the money??