Army deserters and the like

[ash33au]

Has anyone got any history of ancestors etc going AWOL from the army?

There was always a family legend about my Dad's grandfather deserting for a period of time during WW1 in France and how we went off to meet with a local lady. We always laughed about it and said it was something one of our lot would do. When his complete military record became available to view recently, sure enough there it was in black and white.

My Dad's other grandfather also went AWOL for a while whilst in Egypt and was duly sent home and discharged permanently. His brother also had a pretty serious record... in fact if you've ever watched MASH, he was Australia's version of Klinger lol. He tried to injure himself a number of times, fabricated symptons of illnesses and disappeared on 4 seperate occasions. Ironically he hadn't even been sent overseas to fight by that stage. Eventually he was caught after swapping his military trousers for a pair of strides with an unknown civilian who dobbed him in.

[ChristineR]

There is a fellow in our lines that went AWOL in Egypt for about six weeks before the MPs tracked him down in Cairo. At his Court Martial he used the excuse that he heard that his brother had arrived from Australia, and then he was upset to hear that his father had died and he wanted to spend some time with his brother. It was probably true, his brother had just arrived from Australia, and he would have carried the news that their father had died just weeks before he left.

He was sentenced to two years with hard labour, but then they decided to send him to France instead.

Christine :)

[zumblie]

Found the military service record of my great uncle Henry John Everett on Ancestry
He joined the West Riding Regiment in October 1904. His service record shows that he spent most of his time in the army either AWOL or in the slammer for nicking army equipment before he is recorded as having deserted in May 1905!

[Sandra Parker]

Family lore on my husband's side, has an Uncle purporting to use his older brother's (my husband's Dad) birth certificate to enrol in WW1.
Once in, he decided that it wasn't the life he'd imagined and he left. The army had other ideas and he presumably, ended up in Mt Joy prison in Ireland. Home was Manchester area.
I've searched for any records for my father in law, William Parker (who didn't enlist, born 1900), and the errant uncle, John, but known as Jack, born 1902, but no sign of them so far.

Sandra