Peter Cooper; Royal Army Service Corps

[Grandy]

We are trying to find the military records for my wife’s father, Peter Cooper. Originally, he was one of the Winter War Volunteers who went to Finland in 1940 to help when they were invaded by Russia. The volunteers became trapped in Finland and then Sweden before finally being repatriated in around 1942. This part of the story we know but we are trying to find what happened afterwards. We have a couple of Royal Army Service Corps badges, a badge with a cockerel (or grouse?) on it which has ‘take courage’ on the back (this may be unconnected) and a badge in the shape of a miniature set of bagpipes (again, this may be unconnected)which were all with his Finland medals. We’ve looked on Forces War Records but can’t find anything about him. The only other information that we have is that he may have been referred to as ‘Trooper Cooper’ and that he spent some time in the glasshouse for going AWOL. I did see a medal card which might have been his which mentioned a dishonourable discharge and not being eligible for any medals but I have been unable to find this again.
Is anyone out there able to help shed more light on this puzzle?

[christanel]

Hi Grandy
You won't find any UK WW11 military records online as they are still held by the MoD. You can apply for them at a cost of 30 pounds but you will need your father-in-law's date of birth, copy of his death certifcate and lots of patience waiting for their delivery. You do not need a service number.
This is the where you can download the application forms.
Christina