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  1. #11

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    Thanks Lesley,
    Yes I have this information as I am on Ancestry, I have uploaded photo of postcard (with your wonderful help) thankyou, Hopefully someone will know where I can find more information about the camp and when and what my grandad was doing there.

  2. #12

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    Hi Pam, Yes trying to find his service information, if you only need his date of birth how do you know that its the right one as sometimes there is more than one person with the same name, or is the date of birth actual or categorised in quarters as in jan, feb, mar. Also what if someone lied about their age to enlist?
    Not sure how this index works, Ancestry is quartered.
    Karen

  3. #13

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    Yes this is correct, James Henry Costello is my great grandfather. I am really wanting to find service information for my grandad James Costello born 1922 married Vera Clark and died 1956. I have all his birth, marriage and death info. But we don't know much else about him, my dad thought he was in the navy and his sister thinks he may have been a cook at war.
    Thanks Karen

  4. #14

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    Karen, you need his date of birth for the army databases when you apply for his service record, not for the commercial sites. You also need a (photo)copy of his death certificate.
    As I said in message 2, the Ministry of Defence has not released WW2 service records for publication online yet. Luckily family members can but a set, it costs 30 pounds and (at the moment) may take over a year. As I said in message 2, have a look at the post HERE (click on the blue word).

    I don't know what they do about people who lied about their age, but let's meet that problem if it arises. If I remember rightly, they usually check a couple of years either side - no doubt someone will correct me if necessary.
    You could also give them the probable service number.

  5. #15

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    Thankyou Lesley, I will look into applying but I will need to find out which form I need as I do not yet know which service he was in. If I posted a picture of him in uniform, do you think someone will know the answer as to what he served as.
    Karen

  6. #16

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    It's worth a try - it should be possible to tell the difference between army and navy even if badges, etc, are not clear enough.

  7. #17
    Famous for offering help & advice simmo1's Avatar
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    HI

    Thanks
    I would say the number is his service number. I would say he served with the Army, but a picture of him in uniform would confirm.
    So he with the camps staff at that place.
    You need his service records to go further.

    regards

    Robert
    Remembering

    My Father 1819170 Lance Bombardier Robert Simpson 39/14 L.A.A. R.A.

  8. #18

    Default [url=https://postimages.org/][img]https://i.p

    jpeg uploading site



    Hi, Here is a photo of grandad, do you recognise the uniform at all.
    Karen

    Also when I googled the camp all I could find was this

    Musketry Camp, Purfleet

    53.

    Mr. Anthony Greenwood
    asked the Secretary of State for War how many soldiers passed through the Musketry Camp at Purfleet during the last current period of 12 months; how many soldiers are employed on the permanent staff; and how many of these latter are National Service men.

    Mr. J. R. H. Hutchison
    58,650 officers and other ranks of the Regular and Territorial Armies used the rifle ranges at Purfleet during last year. Of these, 270 officers and 3,800 other ranks were accommodated in this camp. The permanent staff comprises 1 officer and 16 other ranks of whom 4 are National Service men.
    This is the minutes of some meeting somewhere.


    And this,
    Purfleet Musketry Camp (S3) (T6) WWII London District Machine-Gun Training School. D-Day Marshalling Area Camp S3 (also another camp called T6 with a capacity of 4,000 personnel 1,000 vehicles).

    Would anyone know of a library or council office I could contact to find out more about the camp?

  9. #19

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    Hi Robert,
    Sorry but I also have a picture of this envelope, have you seen one of these before, if so, would you know what this number is.
    I googled it but only found 493 squadron which is supposedly near suffolk somewhere.
    But I wouldn't think that was it.
    What do you think.
    Karen.

  10. #20

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    That's a soldier in the photo! Therefore he was in the army. The longer number on the postcard should be his service number (which corresponds to the Suffolks #5), and the address "camp staff" says that he was not one of the trainees passing through, but one of the 16 other ranks mentioned in #18, possibly a cook - #10.

    Not bad for a 1-postcard start!

    HOWEVER, only his service record can confirm all of this. As it says in the message about ordering the records, there's a pretty big wait for processing at the moment, so it's up to you whether you want to apply now (and get into the queue) or wait until things have died down a bit...

    In the mean time, you have his civilian life to explore!

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