729th M.T. A.S.C.

[GeedeeEm]

I am trying to find out what my great uncle did during his military service.
On the absent voters lists I have found: DM2 /196239 Pte. 729th M .T., A.S.C.
So according to the long long trail he was in the Army Service Corps, Mechanical Transport
and an Mechanical Transport Learner.
But I can not find a 729th. What was the 729th ?
Thanks in advance.
Gerda

[peter nicholl]

Hi Gerda and welcome to the Forum. If you go here https://www.314th.org/Nafziger-Collec...le/917BKMA.pdf and scroll down you will find them as part of Mesopotamia Expeditionary Corps 18 November 1917, a Ford van Company, apparently (if I read it right) part of the Baghdad Garrison.
Peter

[GeedeeEm]

Thank you so much Peter Nicholl. I have two pics of an grand uncle in his uniform and heard of a grand uncle who was in Mesopotamia. But now this proves he was and it is him on the pic. Thanks again.

[Lesley Robertson]

If he was James F Byrne, he had the Victory & British medals, which indicates that he didn't reach the Front until 1916. He could, of course, have been in training in the UK before that. Sadly, his service record appears to be among the >60% that were destroyed during WW2. He's not in the CWGC database, so must have survived the War.

PS Welcome to the British Genealogy Forum.

[GeedeeEm]

Thank you Lesley for the help and the information. He was indeed James Francis Byrne and survived the war (died in 1979). Such a shame those records are destroyed but well... nothing to be done about that. I ordered the medal card for Jim but on the same page is another card for a James Francis Byrne, R.F.A. Royal Field Artillery - Royal Army Service Corps, driver, Regiment n°554 - number ET/49639; Entry therein 23-11-15. Is it possible this is the same person but has other coördinates? I have two pictures of him from during his service; one in uniform in front of a tipi tent and another one where he looks a bit younger in like a desert uniform in front of an old car. Could both of these medal cards be for the same person?

[Lesley Robertson]

Where more than one regiment is involved, they usually mention them all on the same card, but not always. Does the RFAcard mention the Victory & British medals?
There are a lot of occurrences of more than one man with the same name, sometimes even to the same middle names. For me it emphasizes the enormous numbers of men involved. You could check the 1911 census or FreeBMD and see if they list 2 of them...

I’m afraid that my answer has to be “possibly”.

Are both photos in tropical uniform?

[simmo1]

Hi

Did you get the cards from National Archives?
If so, they copied up to six different peoples card on the one page.
Ancestry has a clearer individual copy on their site (I think they are free to look at)
regards
Robert

[GeedeeEm]

Yes Robert, I did get the cards from N.A. and there are six different cards on the one page (won't do that again so easily); on the page are 6 cards; 3 different names with each two cards it looks to me. Two cards for a Joseph E. Byrne; two cards for a James F. Byrne and two cards for a John F. Byrne. I also had a look (thank you for the suggestion) at Ancestry. I didn't find the cards on Ancestry but I did find more documents with more information ( Roll of individuals) on James Francis Byrne. Under nr 196239 discharged 17/09/18 As a driver nr 49639 re-enlisted in 1919 and again in 1920. Does that make sense; there are two different cards for one the same individual? Kind regards gerda

[GeedeeEm]

Hi Lesley, yes both of the pics are in uniform..... only the one in front of the car is in tropical uniform; the other one is a normal uniform. The RFAcard also mentions the Victory & British medals but also 15 star. I wouldn't mind sharing them but I think I can not send pics in this forum. As I replied to Robert I have found some documents now on Ancestry probably showing he re-enlisted. I am only sure about the first number 196239 because that is mentionned on the absent voters list on his address (1918). There is another absent voters list (1819) on his address where nothing is mentionned next to his name.

[Lesley Robertson]

It was under 196239 that I found him on Ancestry.
If he re-enlisted in 1920, he was probably still in in 1921, which makes you lucky since his records are probably still with the MOD and you can buy a copy.Have a look at the top of the WW2 forum on here, there’s a message about how to do that.