Arthur Leonard Lawrence Slater

[Marys58]

Hi, I'm trying to find out information about my father, Arthur Leonard Lawrence Slater. I have found him on the site. He was a rifleman in the King's Royal Corps and his unit was the Queen's Westminster Rifles, which he was part of from 1950 to 1954. I know that he won several medals in the Second World War (I believe he was in the Eighth Army and was a 'Desert Rat'.) He died in 1988 and had left the family home many years ago to live in Australia, and he didn't keep in touch with me or my siblings. I am trying to find out what the medals were. I vaguely remember seeing them when I visited him at the age of eight but I don't know what he got them for. He returned to the UK in the eighties. If anyone can give me any help as to how I go about looking, I would be very grateful. So far, I have been unsuccessful.

[christanel]

Welcome to the British-Genealogy forums.
I think you may have come to us fro the Forces War Records site so reading this will explain the connection.

WW11 service records are still held by the MoD but can be applied for. However it will cost you 30 pounds and you will need a copy of his death certificate and provide his birth date. You don't need his service number. This 'sticky' explains and gives the link where you can download the application forms.


I have just found this record on ancestry.com
UK, WWII Royal Artillery Tracer Cards, 1939-1948
Arthur Leonard Lawrence Slater
Enlistment Date - 3 Aug 1950
Discharge Date - Aug 1954
Branch of Service - Army
Regiment - Royal Artillery
Military Unit - Greenjacket Bde
Service Number - 22530262

Christina

[Marys58]

Hi Christanel,

Thank you for your reply. I do already have all the details you have supplied and am in the process of obtaining my father's death certificate. I was just hoping that I could source his medals and service history within this site without having to pay £30 and wait for many months to receive the information I seek (I have read it can take up to a year for research to be completed!)

Kind regards,

Mary

[Pam Downes]

Hi Mary,

I'm not terribly good at 'translating' the records on FWR but I'll have a go.

Working down the record page for Arthur L L Slater

WO102_36 - this is the series at The National Archives at Kew in which the record was found.I know WO is War Office, but that's the limit of my knowledge.

Then is says 'collection'.
Click on the link. Then, first of all, read the whole page. and then click on the link in the first line of the page. which has further information.

Next line on the record says Gallantry Awards and against that says
Territorial Efficiency Medal
We don’t currently have any additional information on this medal.
* Medal entitlement listed above is worked out using the same methodology the MOD used for issuing them

I'm not sure if FWR worked out that he was entitled to that medal, or whether it actually says in the record that he was entitled to it, so I would suggest you contact FWR for clarification.

You need to note that the service number (6897497) for this Arthur L L Slater is different to the one found by Christina in the other record. My understanding is that after WW1 men were given one service number which they kept even if they were moved to different regiments. However, there's been another query on the forum recently which involved someone with two service numbers, one of which was because he was at some time in the Territorials. This might be the case here. I don't know if either a forum member or else FWR could confirm anything from the two numbers you have.

The actual service records I'm afraid are only available through the MoD, so it's send off the forms and money and wait. With luck, it might not be as long as a year. A couple of years ago I had to wait about ten weeks, but since then there's been several war 'anniveraries' which always cause a spike of interest plus Covid-19, so I reckon the wait will be at least six months.

Pam