territorial army

[deanC]

good afternoon all ,

i have information that my grandfather Ernest Coles (b1893) served in the
TA attatched to the warwickshire regiment during ww2 ,
does anyone know of were to look to confirm this ?
if he would have had a serial number like the regular army ?
and would he have been paid ?

thanks

dean

[keith9351]

My understanding was that in 1939 the Territorial Army was embodied, so no longer a distinction between Regular or Territorial forces.

My father was T.A. in 1939 and when I applied for his service record they showed both T.A. prior to embodiment and ww2 service.

Keith

[AndyinWilts]

Assuming he was in a TA Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, he would have had an Army number in the block 5094001 to 5172000. There was'nt a different numbers system for the TA, so soldiers were not identifiable by their number as TA, Regular or Supplementary Reserve(SR).
If he was attached as a member of the Royal Army Service Corps or similar, his number would come from that Corps or regiments block of numbers.
He would have been paid presumably at the same rate as his equivalent rank in the Regular Army.

Give the regimental museum a call on the link below and see if they have anything on him.
http://www.warwickfusiliers.co.uk/

Hope this helps.
Andy

[deanC]

hi andy

many thanks, we now know he was discharged from the warwicks 29-2-1944 ,
his army number was D/32755 he was in the army service corps with the warwicks .
if you can find any information on the above please let me know .

dean

[AndyinWilts]

Hi Dean,
Your Grandfather has the right service number for the RASC, although I haven't come across the D prefix. The RASC were divided into supply and transport and had the prefixes S and T added to their service numbers to denote which branch they were in (this prefix was removed if they transferred to another Corps). The RASC service number block was 1 - 294000, although I think that allocating blocks of numbers to different Regiments/Corps changed in about 1944 when the General Service Corps became responsible for recruit training. Its worth remembering that when soldiers were transferred or posted to a different Corps or Unit, they kept their original service number.
I hope this is of some help to you.

[deanC]

morning andy
thanks for the information, family rumour has it ,that he was a batman at some point ,would this be the connection with the letter D in his number ?

i am waiting for copy of the original document from the warwickshire reg. museum but apparently the number D/32755 is his transfer/discharge number .

as a point of interest he would have been 50 that year ,would this explain why he finished in 1944 .?

dean

[AndyinWilts]

Hi Dean,
I'm fairly sure that a batman would'nt have any prefix added to his number. Batmen were usually just a soldier tasked with looking after an officer, usually from the officers own men. For more info on batmen click the link -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(military)

I don't know if being 50 would be reason for his discharge. It would probably be worthwhile applying for his service record. The records of WW2 servicemen are still held by the MOD. If you click this link it will take you to Veterans Agency page for applying for Army service records.
http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/army.html

Good luck
Andy

[deanC]

morning andy
thanks for the input ,i will progress with the web sites you mentioned , i have received a document from the Warwickshires this weekend ,next to his name and the number it has :
discharged para 390 (xvi) crossed out is (xviii) (a)
29/2/44
this is handwritten .
any idea's what this all means ?

dean

[AndyinWilts]

Para 390 of Kings Regulations (1940) covers the various reasons for discharge from the Army. I believe that (xvi) means No longer physically fit for service. I'm not sure what (xviii) (a) means, but I'm sure someone on here will. Try posing the question in the Militatry section. Good luck.
Andy