finding the battalion my father was in, Royal Scots Fusiliers 1945-47

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by Dawn Gingell, Aug 1, 2015.

  1. Dawn Gingell

    Dawn Gingell Member

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    Hello all,
    I hope somebody can help me. My father, John Travis, service number 14295543 served with the Royal Scots Fusiliers towards the end of WW2 and I am trying to piece together the scant comments he rarely uttered and some war time documents found in a wardrobe last week.
    I am trying to discover what part he played the last few months of the war.
    He was transferred from the R.A. 59th, 4th W Lancs med Regiment on the 23rd of March 1945 to the Royal Scotts Fusiliers.I believe at that time the Royal Artillery were involved with the battle of the Rhine, and also at the same time so were the 6th battalion on the RSFs.
    My big question is which battalion did my Dad join, could it have been the 6th?

    He always said he went over to France on the 2nd wave of the d'day landings and mentioned Sword Beach. He bought postcards from Dendermonde, He had his photograph taken next to a board with 'B' company written on it.

    My mother, now a frail 85 year old who keeps poor health would take great interest, comfort and pride in finding more about Johns campaigns as would my brothers and I.
    Many thanks for your time and interest, I hope this throws up something.
    Dawn.
     
  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  3. amberdog45

    amberdog45 Senior Member

    Hi Dawn, welcome to the site. Best thing to do is get a hold of your Dads service record from Glasgow. Somebody will likely come along and give you the link. There is a fee of £30, but I can't remember if its free for spouses.

    It will give you all the details of his service. You sometimes could wait up to a year for it to arrive, but I've been seeing posts where it has arrived a lot sooner.

    I'm sure the veteran Joe Brown would have had some answers for you but sadly Joe passed away not that long ago and is sorely missed.

    Best of luck to you with your research. Cheers Maria
     
  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Doubt it as Joe was Royal Scots , totally different regiment to the Royal Scots Fusiliers .
     
  5. Dawn Gingell

    Dawn Gingell Member

    Thank you.
    I have already downloaded the forms from the M.O.D. ready to get Mum to sign when I next see her. I am interested though that someone mentioned the Glasow office. I suspect I shall go the the M.O.D. in London. I am not so happy with it taking up to a year, my, that seems a long time to wait.
    Just how detailed are they? I have his service book and discharged papers. I'm sure we would get more information from them and to be honest, if they havn't got it, it probally doesn't exist anymore.
    thanks, we'll give it a whirl.
     
  6. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Dawn

    You can depend on the Service Records held in Glasgow are fairly detailed and will give you most of his actions and particularly his Battalion- so forget London - next step is the battalion War

    Diary for any particular period you want to know more about - a phone call to the Glasgow superior with details of Mothers health etc tends to speed up things so don't be put off with along wait

    - it's worth it- from his number it would appear he joined in the middle of 1942

    Cheers
     
  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    All the Army service records covering WW2 apart from the Guards are held in Glasgow.

    Service records have been arriving within 4-6 weeks of late according to some forum members so I suspect you shouldn't wait anything like a year.

    His records should list all the units he served with and the dates he was with those units, dates of going overseras, medical records, courses attended - They are just like any civilian company today that holds HR files on their employees.
     
    4jonboy likes this.
  8. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Hi Dawn
    I'm afraid you don't have an option. Historical Disclosures based at Kentigern House, Glasgow, is the only MOD department which can deal with your application. Although some applications have taken a lot less time to process lately, in the recent past others have been advised that it could take up to a year. This is because the department prioritises applications by personnel who served recently and their families, whose need you would agree is more pressing due to death, injury, pension enquiries etc.

    There are many examples of service records in this category of the forum, have a look through the threads to see what others have discovered from them. Battalion info should be on your father's record, dates he trained, was promoted, embarked etc.
    http://ww2talk.com/forums/forum/116-service-records/

    Please try and post / upload here copies of any documents, or photos, which you do have. There might be something in them which others can recognise as relevant.
     
  9. Lotus7

    Lotus7 Well-Known Member

    Hi and welcome to the forum Dawn good luck with your research. I hope you get the records ASAP, please keep us posted if you do not mind.

    David
     
  10. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    These took about a month to arrive once posted forms to GLASGOW.
    Sent off 17th June 2015 , they arrived in post on 14th July 2015.

    [sharedmedia=gallery:albums:879]

    Please scan them & post them here for us to see, we might spot something that you missed.
     
  11. 4jonboy

    4jonboy Daughter of a 56 Recce

    Welcome to the forum Dawn. All good advice from the forum members.
    Look forward to seeing some photos and documents

    Lesley
     
  12. Dawn Gingell

    Dawn Gingell Member

    Do I post photos in the gallery or, is there a way of attatching them to this thread? Sorry, not very clued up.
     
  13. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Either Click the ''More Reply Options'' button bottom right of reply box & then click the ''Attach Files'' button or you can make an album in the Gallery & then use the MY MEDIA button at top of reply box to add a link to it as I did in my earlier post to the Attley album.
     
  14. Lotus7

    Lotus7 Well-Known Member

    Ideally post them on this thread if you can

    David
     
  15. amberdog45

    amberdog45 Senior Member

    Owen, surely you know by now my memory is in tatters ha ha. Still miss him though.
     
  16. Dawn Gingell

    Dawn Gingell Member

    Thank you for your sound advice, here is what I have from Dads R.A. days 3/3/43-23/3/45
     

    Attached Files:

    Drew5233, 4jonboy and Owen like this.
  17. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  18. Dawn Gingell

    Dawn Gingell Member

    These are from the Service/pay book. The quality is shocking and can't expect you to spend too much time studying them.
     

    Attached Files:

    stolpi likes this.
  19. Dawn Gingell

    Dawn Gingell Member

    End of service papers here. The photos are from Dads Royal Scots Fusilier days. They were mosty prints not much bjgger than a large postage stamp. One was taken I think on a beach, one by the Company B board I mentioned earlier and another with Dad and fellows, he was wearing an apron for some reason. My son has also told me he mentioned to him that the tanks were very uncomfortable.
    Again, shocking quality but who knows........
     

    Attached Files:

    stolpi likes this.
  20. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I wish that photo with the B Company board was clearer. :(
    Looks like some other insignia on there but cant make it out.
     

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