On a Mission.

Hi all,
I have spoken to Howards daughter and grandson and they told me, Howard had 2 brothers (Geoffrey and Colin) there was no Arthur Frederick Russon in the family.Neither of his brothers served in ww2.
They explained he never talked about the war,and he never told anyone in the family he was a POW. I was quite surprised by this since I thought the Army/dept informed next of kin if a relative was taken into captivity.Howard kept it a secret all his life.
The family are very keen for me to continue searching his war service.I gave them the application forms for his service record and these will be sent for after Christmas,
Howard didn't complete a POW questionnaire.

Graham.

 

OK - Russon born with a mothers maiden name of Heathcock

Howard Russon Jan-Feb-Mar 1921 Stourbridge Worcestershire

Geoffrey Russon Jan-Feb-Mar 1927 Stourbridge Worcestershire

Collin Russon Apr-May-Jun 1934 Stourbridge Worcestershire


It still doesnt explain why someone who may have been in Africa & Italy was then a POW also ended up with a Burma Star marked on HIS list of medals - the timelines just do not fit for me

TD

 

Hi TD,

Yes that's correct,sadly one passed away at a very young age.
I do agree with you ref: the medals, a real mystery all of them.As I understand it he should of been awarded 1939-45 star and the 1939-45 war medal.
You would think the government could of awarded some kind of recognition for their suffering in the POW camps.At the end of the day I suppose it's like everything else,it comes down to money.
I'm hoping his service record will answer the question about his medals,and I don't expect to be privy to that until early Feb 2018.

very best matey,....Graham.

 

It may or may not be significant but this may not be HIS list. The list is not named. All that is known is that the list and medals came out of a box with his name on. As said by others the service records may well enlighten us.
Tim

 

Hi Tim,
Good point,the medals could belong to a mate who might have passed away and was sent to Howard by his surviving family.
Bit of a guessing game at the moment.
It may well turn out Because Howard never told his family about his confinement during ww2, that he never applied for his own medals.
I will get to bottom of it, unless someone on the forum beats me to it.


cheers........Graham.

 

I noted the ICRC was open for applications ref: information on POW's (15/1/2018) went back to their website Mon 16/1/2018 to hopefully fill in a application for Howard Russon and there is a message on their website which reads.

The maximum number of request's that our staff can deal with has been reached. Service will resume on 14/May/2018.

(That was quick) and theres me telling people to get their applications in early???

cheers......Graham.

 

An update to this thread.
It seems we have the wrong chap mentioned in this thread.
I have just received Howard Russon's service record and he was not a POW, also the medals shown in post #1 are indeed his medals. (see record posted below)
This is a good example of the importance of when researching any service person, and to avoid going down blind alleys, apply for his /her record first call.

regards...........Graham.