Genealogy Chat

Thanks Jennifer, hopefully my aunt has it and i will get her to check. I never knew they would put that on there, thats a very personal thing!

He should have had the British War Medal, if that is still in the family you should find his number engraved on the rim of the medal. Jennifer

Hi Phoenix Im not too bothered about the WW2 ones yet, i know theres quite a long wait and you need lots of information for you to get hold of those. I just wondering if that because he was still in the forces after 1920 his records might not be there, if i could get WW1 that would def be great and also help towards me being able to get WW2 info.

Hi, I managed to find my WW2 ancester on this site, and i wasn't even sure if he was in the war. http://www.military-genealogy.com/ you need to pay to see the details, and beware of repeated records but overall I found it very useful. Rachel

This will only be ww1. WW2 records are more difficult to get hold of. Have you looked on the home page for info there? Either that, or search the site for threads on the topic.

Hi Phoenix that would be really excellent, would his records still be in there if he was in WW2 too? What i know at the moment is his name was Ernest Elliott, born 28th October 1901 in York, but his dad and brothers were both in the Northumberland Fusiliers. Dad was Christopher Elliott and mum was Martha (nee Sleight) and although grandad was born in York (his dad was away with the army so mum was at home when he was born), Newcastle was defiantely their home. Im hoping that one of my aunts is going to come back to me with the details of a medal, or at a really long shot his service number. Many thanks again for anything you can find

Hi Robyne A friend of mine had a grandfather in the predecessor of the RAF in WW1 and I looked their records up at Kew recently. They are microfilm. The reference is AIRsomething (I can't remember the number!) and they are very easy to search as they weren't burnt. They are not so detailed as the army papers, but do survive in their entirety. I'm going there in a fortnight, so can easily look these up for you (provided the name isn't Smith!)

Thanks very much, i have taken a look at that site but im not getting much luck. Would i need to apply through the army or through the RAF? I believe he wasnt in the RAF during WW2, but i could be mistaken. Also if he lied about his age, his death cert and marriage cert wont add up to the same age as he stated when joining. Also i dont have his service number and i doubt if any of my aunts have it, one has his medals so i may be able to go that way if it is possible that he got a medal in WW1.

You may find something here http://www.nationalarchives.*gov.uk/documentsonline/ Replace the * with a dot Linda

Probably someone knows a good deal more about this than I, but I have got my grandfather's WW1 from New Zealand and grandfather-in-law's WW2 from Australia quite easily. I just googled the defence force and it was all there on how to buy the records. Presume UK has something similar.

Hi, my grandad fought in WWI but also in WW2. He was like many boys and lied about his age when joining. I know he joined the Flying Corps before it became the RAF, and in WW2 he was injured to was discharged. Because he was in WW2 does that mean i wont be able to get his info without applying to the military?