Hello! Tracing my grandad Sam Hall

[Brendon99]

Hello everyone. My first foray into military history. I'm looking into my grandads time in Burma as a gunner in the Royal Artillery.

Where do you even start! The first step etc, etc...

Cheers

Brendon

[deanC]

hi Brendon
do you have his military number ? that will help you with more detail , you can then 'google' for more information about were his particular part of the RA was during that campaign .
did he enlist for the war or was he already serving ?
Dean

[Brendon99]

Hi Dean, thanks for your reply. Yes, found his number in some old paperwork. I've sent in a help request on the find my war records site as I searched myself and drew a blank. He enlisted and was sent straight to the RA as far as I can tell. Toying with a MOD search but it's £30 and as he only passed away twelve years ago there's only limited info they can give me, none of the juicy stuff like location of his unit. Maybe they think I'm going to feed all this information on to the Japanese!!

[Lesley Robertson]

Brendon, I think that Dean was rather hoping that you'd tell us his number - it's much easier to help when you know who you are looking for...
I spent the 30 quid and death certificate for my Father's records and got all of his postings (places and dates) from the day he signed up to the day he retired. There were a few surprises.
If you just want information about what they were doing in Burma, you need to know his unit information, and you will be able to find out about battles, etc. The lower ranks are rarely singled out for special mention unless they did something spectacular.
What about the Burma Star association?

[Brendon99]

Hi Lesley, sorry I didn't quote the number as I didn't realise this was an 'asking for help' forum section! My bad. For what it's worth I've already had a message back from find my war records saying 'see the MOD', so that's the next mission. This is all a bit like being an amateur detective, isn't it?

Brendon, I think that Dean was rather hoping that you'd tell us his number - it's much easier to help when you know who you are looking for...
I spent the 30 quid and death certificate for my Father's records and got all of his postings (places and dates) from the day he signed up to the day he retired. There were a few surprises.
If you just want information about what they were doing in Burma, you need to know his unit information, and you will be able to find out about battles, etc. The lower ranks are rarely singled out for special mention unless they did something spectacular.
What about the Burma Star association?

[Peter Goodey]

Findmypast has the register of Royal Artillery attestations 1883-1942.

[Lesley Robertson]

It isn't really a help requests page, but if the research gets too long, it's easy enough to move a thread!

[Brendon99]

Findmypast has the register of Royal Artillery attestations 1883-1942.

Thanks Peter, i'm onto there now.

[christanel]

Hi
Is there a son/daughter of your grandfather still alive? if so the MoD application forms states that.
"Within the 25 year period, where the consent of the immediate next of kin has been given, the additional information above will be released to a third party applicant."
Then on the application form, Here, you are asked to choose from a list the name of the person who is the immediate next of kin.
So who is your grandfather's closest living relative and if not you will they give permission for you to apply for his full service record?
Christina