Father's vague WW2 record ...

[hillis]

This is probably a long shot as I have no regiment or army number to help identify my father's record. His name was William Henry Holden, DOB 30/01/1914 and, acoording to family history, was on the beaches at Dunkirk and then wounded in the arm on Crete. His wound was so bad and the allies retreating situation so confused that his mates left him for the German / Italian doctors to find and treat. But local villagers found him and by-passed the army traffic to get him to the port and safety. I think he was in either a Lancashire or more probably a Warwickshire regiment but can't find the places to see which regiments were at both Dunkirk and Crete. And of course he may have been transferred. He never spoke to me about the war, all my information is from my Mother and .. some other aspects of his life are also worryingly vague BUT ... he did have a big hole in his left arm! Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks Bill

[christanel]

Welcome to the British-Genealogy forums.
If you came to us from Forces War Records this will explain our connection.
The MoD hold all service records form 1921 onwards but you can apply for them and you do not need a service number or regiment. What you do need to provide are his date of birth and a copy of his death certificate. Unfortunately at the moment the wait time has blown out to up to 18 months before delivery.
This is the 'sticky' which explains it all and goves the link where you can download the application forms.
Christina

[keith9351]

The only one I can see is the The York & Lancaster Regiment although different Battalions.
1st Battalion 1939.10.06 France & Belgium 15 Bde, 5 Inf Div, BEF
2nd Battalion 1941 Crete Creforce (14 Inf Bde)

Keith

[wimsey]

there are several entries for "W H Holden" in two datasets on Findmypast (FMP)

"World War 2 Allies Collection" and "British Army Casualties List 1939-45"

but I'm not guaranteeing these have any relevance

[hillis]

Thank you so much, Keith. That is brilliant. I shall use those battalion details to search further. Bill

[hillis]

Thanks win sey. Will follow up on FMP and British Army Casualties. The problem I had was knowing where to start so this helps me tremendously. Bill