REME Search

[corbygate]

I am trying to trace my fathers war record. He never spoke of his activities during WW2 but I have found his medals, sergeants stripes and REME shoulder flash.
His name - Harry Samuel Bailey
d.o.b. 23.08.1919 born in the London area
He was an electrical communications engineer. (rumoured to have built radios for the french resistance? may have had something to do with Bletchley Park, but I cannot substansiate any of this)

[christanel]

Welcome to the British-Genealogy forums

You will not find your father's records online as WW11service records are still held by the MOD.
This 'sticky' explains who can apply, what information you will receive and the documents you will need, plus 30 pounds fee. It will be a few months before you receive them as so many are applying at this time.

Christina

[Clarinetguy]

WW11 service records are still held by the MOD.
This 'sticky'

This was just what I was looking for when I logged in today. If WW2 records have not yet been released, what is it that one particular commercial war records site would have given me should I have chosen to subscribe?

[Pam Downes]

This was just what I was looking for when I logged in today. If WW2 records have not yet been released, what is it that one particular commercial war records site would have given me should I have chosen to subscribe?

Any commercial site should have a list of what indexes/records/images they have available. If they are wise, they also have 'help' pages.
For instance, if you go to our sponsor's website https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/ on the left-hand side there's a drop-down list of 'quick links'. If you go to 'Collections' and then click on the name of a particular collection, you are told the background to the collection, the date(s) it covers (if not obvious by the title such as 'Army List 1936') and the sources used - sometimes more than one source is used.
There's also a 'tutorials' section which tells you such things as what information is useful to have before you start searching records (basic stuff that genealogists would perhaps recognise such as full name, date and place of birth, but which other people might not realise the importance of), and it then goes on to say what sort of records are available in general. e.g. it says that the majority of WW1 service records have been destroyed, and that records for army service after 1921 and RAF 1922/24 depending on rank are still held by the MoD.

ADDED: I think most commercial sites also have a 'search' facility in which you can enter a name to see if the name is in their database before you subscribe, though some sites may wish you to register before they let you search. There's a very important difference between 'subscribe' and 'register'.
Any site which insists that you part with money before you can search for a name in its database (before or after registering) should be avoided at all costs.

Pam

[Clarinetguy]

As it turns out, the site I was directed to was the sponsor's site. The link I had clicked in the 'other' well-known site took me straight to the record I would have needed; I was immediately faced with the need to register and PAY! Having visited the site via the link you provided I was able to do a search (I had a lapsed paid membership so I was actually registered).

My question was really this: If WW2 records have not been released is one actually going to get much information from the site? Is it that some is in the public domain (regiment, service number etc) but that the kinds of information one can obtain for WW1 servicemen has not been released by the MOD?

[christanel]

Hi

This research guide at The National Archives may help.

Christina