No Military History

[RustyH]

Good Day to All,

I am trying to find some military service histroy for my Grandad who served in WW2, I understand he served the full 1939 to 1945.

His names is James Thomas Harrison, I believe his Fusilier number was 1680404, but I cant seem to find any records on this.

He served in various places including Italy - Naples, South Africa, and was on the anti air tank guns during the Coventry Blitz. I believe he was stationed in Scotland at somepoint.

He is from the Aston area of Birmimgham, Born 6th JUL 1920, and Died in 1998.

Can anyone find anything on his at all from his military service?

Huge Thanks in Advance

Russ

[Lesley Robertson]

The MOD has not yet released military records from WW2 and beyond for open publishing on the web. That's why you can't find them.
If you look HERE you will find a post explaining how family members can buy a copy.
You will need his full name, birth date, a photocopy of his death certificate and 30 pounds. There's quite a long waiting list at the moment, I'm told.

In the mean time, welcome to the British Genealogy Forum. If you want to research other aspects of your ancestry, we can probably help.

Do you know his battalion and full regiment's name?

[RustyH]

That explains it then, thank you.

I dont know that information, but I will see if I can find out.

Thank you again

[Lesley Robertson]

It's not essential, just makes it easier to pick him out from the crowd.

Were his parents, by any chance, called Harold & Adelaide? If so, I have found him in the 1939 Register. If it is him, he and his father were involved in the metal industry - James was a tube drawer (heavy worker), and Harold was an extruded brass cutter off testing machine.

[RustyH]

You are spot on

I wonder if Harold served in WW1 actually. Is there a site to find WW1 service history?

[RustyH]

Not sure weather to apply for my grandads data now as its only 2 years away before I can get the additional information of his service location etc, which would be really nice to know.

The only person alive I could get consent from is his son (my unncle), but does that not count by the MOD?

[Lesley Robertson]

There are commercial genealogy databases that include military information. One problem is that unless the name is very rare, it's often hard to work out which one you want.

I checked the medals roll (it's the most complete) and there are 4 Harold J Harrisons. However, your Harold was born 22 Sept 1900 according to the Register and one of them joined in 1914, so that eliminates him (King's Liverpool Regt and Essex Regt). Another is Harold John, so that eliminates him (Royal Garrison Artillery).
The other 2 (Machine Gun Corps and Royal Engineers) are not in the Commonwealth War Graves database, so must have survived the war, but I can't find their records (only about 1 third of the records survived WW2's fires). There's no indication of their families.
To be honest, I think that he was just that little bit too young - he'd only just be getting old enough as the War ended. If he had older brothers, they probably did.

PS Adelaide's maiden name was Hall.
PPS They should accept you as his grandson.

[RustyH]

Thank you Lesley, really appreciate that.

I will get an application in and see how it goes, thank you again

Ive managed to trace one of my family lines back to 1704 as the earliest person so far. What methods can you use to try and go back even further than that, as I am struggling a bit from there

[RustyH]

Actually, there is a family member, One of my Grandad sisters sons I believe who died in WW2.

4037695 Private Harry T Robbins
of The Kings Shropshire Light Infantry
Died in action on 26th Feb 1945 aged 29

Is there any informaiton on his service etc?

[Pam Downes]

Thank you Lesley, really appreciate that.

I will get an application in and see how it goes, thank you again

Ive managed to trace one of my family lines back to 1704 as the earliest person so far. What methods can you use to try and go back even further than that, as I am struggling a bit from there

If it's any consolation, most of us do. I've got back to a William Sharp and a Mary Wright both born c1795 and I think I might have to draw a line there because they're such common names. William died before the 1851 census, and Mary before the 1861, so that's not much help.

It's at these times that you bless the fact that your middle name of Obadiah follows family tradition from the year dot.

I rely heavily on transcriptions from the local Family History Societies. Some publish stuff on a per-parish basis, but Lincolnshire do it on a deanery so you get between about ten and sixty-five parishes at a time, though the period coverage is less. e.g. per parish will be the entire registers(baptisms, marriages, and burials, as deposited in the county archives) so could be 1538-1905. Deanery coverage tends to be specific to each event (baptisms, or marriages, or burials) and cover probably 1754-1812, or 1813-1900.
A lot of the transcriptions are now available on either FMP or Ancestry. You do need to check which site has which. You can often access the 'library version' of FMP and/or Ancestry at home for free via your local library.

Pam