Spangle
14-05-2008, 12:50 PM
One more question and I'll leave you all in peace for a while.... promise!
My other Grandad served in WW2 (The Buffs) and was a bit of a maverick by all accounts. There was never any bad in him, but he was known to question authority (can't imagine where I get that trait from!), throw bags of spuds on top of the cupboard rather than peel them and think he'd got away with it... until they began to sprout tell-tale bright green shoots... that kind of thing! When he came to receive his papers to leave at the end of the war, he noticed the officer had his file on the desk. Grandad naturally asked if he might read it.
"Certainly not!", came the reply, "Thats confidential information. But if you'd excuse me I must visit the gents...."
Of course he knowingly left the file on the table and of course Grandad took a quick peek. He didn't have much time but what he did read made me laugh and still had him grinning 50-odd years later.
It read something to the effect of
"On no account must this man ever be allowed to join Her Majesty's Armed Forces Again!"
TBH I think it was a relief for Grandad to hear it... he had not long before avoided being landed on the infamous beaches by a cat's whisker, getting to the boats, only to have his unit turned back and sent up North just as they were about to embark.
Anyhow, what I really, really want to know is - is it likely that the WW2 records for my Grandad would contain such information and the comment about his not being permitted to re-enlist or would it be of a far more basic or statistical nature?
Thank you very much, from the Maverick's proud Granddaughter
My other Grandad served in WW2 (The Buffs) and was a bit of a maverick by all accounts. There was never any bad in him, but he was known to question authority (can't imagine where I get that trait from!), throw bags of spuds on top of the cupboard rather than peel them and think he'd got away with it... until they began to sprout tell-tale bright green shoots... that kind of thing! When he came to receive his papers to leave at the end of the war, he noticed the officer had his file on the desk. Grandad naturally asked if he might read it.
"Certainly not!", came the reply, "Thats confidential information. But if you'd excuse me I must visit the gents...."
Of course he knowingly left the file on the table and of course Grandad took a quick peek. He didn't have much time but what he did read made me laugh and still had him grinning 50-odd years later.
It read something to the effect of
"On no account must this man ever be allowed to join Her Majesty's Armed Forces Again!"
TBH I think it was a relief for Grandad to hear it... he had not long before avoided being landed on the infamous beaches by a cat's whisker, getting to the boats, only to have his unit turned back and sent up North just as they were about to embark.
Anyhow, what I really, really want to know is - is it likely that the WW2 records for my Grandad would contain such information and the comment about his not being permitted to re-enlist or would it be of a far more basic or statistical nature?
Thank you very much, from the Maverick's proud Granddaughter