Any consistently successful links or advice for discovering war records?

[BristolClark]

I am attempting to locate war records for a few relatives of mine, and was wondering if anyone had any advice to locate them from the standpoint of knowing nothing about their service whatsoever.

I have tried a few subscription sites, but have found them below expectations even when placing in service information of relatives of those I know about.

Is there any free sites that cater towards the two world wars at all?

[Elaine ..Spain]

Useful links and research guides in our Military and Maritime pages in the reference library - accessed via the tab on the navigation bar at top of page.

http://www.familytreeforum.com/content.php/312-Military-and-Maritime

[Christine in Herts]

You don't say - but had you picked up that a substantial majority of WW1 service records were destroyed (or very much damaged) by a direct hit on the storage place during WW2? That means that some records are simply not there to be found.

Other sites will have invested significant amounts of money in getting the records scanned and indexed (with varying degrees of success), so will want to recoup their costs prior to investing in future records to be made available to subscribers.

Christine

[angelina]

going off on a tangent a bit - have you found their names on any war memorials where they lived before they joined up? Some areas had whole swathes of men joining about the same time and they were put in the 'Name of Town' Pals then you could try googling the name of the Pals regiment/battalion or whatever it was called and see if your people are in that group.
failing that I take it you have tracked them through the commonwealth war graves commission and tried to find their regiments/battalions there and then looked up the unit's history?
you could also try looking for service medals but my grandfather was moved about and had at least 2 service numbers.
Tho I have to say my grandfather and 3 great uncles' service histories are in the destroyed section.

[Mary from Italy]

The main sites are Ancestry (mostly WW1 military records) and FMP (mostly pre-WW1 military records). There's very little online for WW2 unless you have Australian ancestors.

Try posting a couple of names, and we'll see if we can find anything.

[Mary from Italy]

By the way, the best place to start for WW1 is the medal cards; they don't have a lot of information, but they will give you a service number, and I think they all survived, unlike the service and pension records.

[Moiramary]

It is worth googling their name, I found a missing ancester that way. He came up on a Roll of Honour in Suffolk. It gave me enough info to find out a lot more about him. He wasn't in the Army though he was in the Naval Reserve and their records seem ppretty intact.

[Mary from Italy]

The London Gazette also has records of military promotions:

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/search

[annswabey]

Also documentsonline for the Navy, Royal Marines, RAF (all WW1 period only), although there are some WW2 records on that site too - Squadron Operations Books and Combat Reports for the RAF and Recommendations for Awards for the Army - not the "normal" WW2 medals but "Special" awards, like Mention in Despatches, Military Cross, Military Medal etc

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/

[Christine in Herts]

Someone reminded us - on a similarly themed thread - that a father's service number often appears on the birth certs of his children.

Christine

[grumpy]

If you want any Oz records, they are there lock, stock and barrel from the AWM/ANA. All for free too.

[BristolClark]

Useful links and research guides in our Military and Maritime pages in the reference library - accessed via the tab on the navigation bar at top of page.
http://www.familytreeforum.com/conte...y-and-Maritime

Well I feel silly! Thank you, Elaine.

going off on a tangent a bit - have you found their names on any war memorials where they lived before they joined up? Some areas had whole swathes of men joining about the same time and they were put in the 'Name of Town' Pals then you could try googling the name of the Pals regiment/battalion or whatever it was called and see if your people are in that group.
failing that I take it you have tracked them through the commonwealth war graves commission and tried to find their regiments/battalions there and then looked up the unit's history?
you could also try looking for service medals but my grandfather was moved about and had at least 2 service numbers.
Tho I have to say my grandfather and 3 great uncles' service histories are in the destroyed section.

I'm working with next to no information regarding these relatives, but I do know that they served their time during the WWI and WWII and returned home safely. I have traced the ships log details which occurred during one relatives service span, but other than that I can't find a thing.

The main sites are Ancestry (mostly WW1 military records) and FMP (mostly pre-WW1 military records). There's very little online for WW2 unless you have Australian ancestors.

Try posting a couple of names, and we'll see if we can find anything.

Ancestry didn't seem to have anything (you'll probably look and find it now :D) but the people I am researching for are:

Christopher Sidney Clark. b. 1919 Bedminster, Bristol. He served on the HMS Attacker during roughly 43 to 46.

Eric Stafford. b. 1916 Basford. He was in the RAF flying Spirfires, and served over in India at one point. My Aunty seems to recall him mentioning 117 Squadron, but we know no more than that.

Albert George Clark. b. 1889 Bristol. I have found what I presume to be him enlisted in the Gloucestershire rifles in WWI.

Oscar John Britton. b. 1883 Bedminster, Bristol. I have it heard he may have served in WWI in the Army.

Someone reminded us - on a similarly themed thread - that a father's service number often appears on the birth certs of his children.

Christine

I didn't know that. My aunty was born during the war, so I'll have to get in touch.


Thank you everybody for your input and help.

[polly88]

I didn't think you could access WW2 records. I thought you had to apply for access, and had to show that you were the closest relative. Am I wrong?

I am lucky for WW1 records, as there is a wonderful website called Also Served WW1, with lovely helpful people, and loads of records and photos. But your rellies would have had to live in St Helens, Lancs!!

[Christine in Herts]

There are some WW2 de-briefing records for PoWs and escapers. FMp has the index info for the references, so you know what to ask for at TNA.

Christine

[annswabey]

There's also, as I previously stated in th is thread, the following for WW2

Also documentsonline for the Navy, Royal Marines, RAF (all WW1 period only), although there are some WW2 records on that site too - Squadron Operations Books and Combat Reports for the RAF and Recommendations for Awards for the Army - not the "normal" WW2 medals but "Special" awards, like Mention in Despatches, Military Cross, Military Medal etc

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/

[floss]

I got in touch with a chap called Kevin Asplin (http://britishmedals.us/kevin/aboutkevin.html) and he did some research for me at the NA when I struggled to find some military records, he was very quick and reasonably priced and I felt it was worth it as I'd exhausted all other ways of finding the records myself

[Joy Dean]

I got in touch with a chap called Kevin Asplin (http://britishmedals.us/kevin/aboutkevin.html) and he did some research for me at the NA when I struggled to find some military records, he was very quick and reasonably priced and I felt it was worth it as I'd exhausted all other ways of finding the records myself

I would always ask Ann Swabey first (member of this site).

[Christine in Herts]

Yes - I'd ask Ann first, too, but, if there's a reason to go to someone else, Kevin Asplin has a very high reputation for [a] knowing what he's doing and [b] charging only for the work he does for you, and not dreaming up high fees for nothing - i.e. he has a reputation for integrity.

Christine

[Christine in Herts]

Yes - I'd ask Ann first, too, but, if there's a reason to go to someone else, Kevin Asplin has a very high reputation for [a] knowing what he's doing and [b] charging only for the work he does for you, and not dreaming up high fees for nothing - i.e. he has a reputation for integrity.

Christine

To that, I should add that Ann has helped me - along with swathes of others here on FTF - and was very generous with her time and effort. Although her expertise and integrity go without saying, on this occasion they are something I should have made explicit!

Christine

[floss]

Apologies to Ann:o I'm a relatively new member to the site and didnt realise Ann was able to do look ups for people