Hi all, I was wondering if anyone could help me in finding more info about my Great Grandfather and the battalion in which he may have fought with in WW2. His name was Willis Ronald Chambers, born 1908. Service no. 4977974. He was part of the Green Howards Unit and I know for a fact that he saw action in Norway, North Africa and Italy. He survived the war but suffered from what is now known as PTSD. Due to this my Grandfather's accounts and information are very limited from what his father had told him when he returned from the war. I have done extensive searching on WW2 Forces records (the website). Further to any help anyone could offer up, it'd be great if I could be directed elsewhere to find the information! Many thanks, Jason
Hi Jason Oh dear - sorry you have wasted your time Unfortunately the web site you mention is not mentioned on here - service records for WW2 personnel can only be obtained from the MOD, link to forms is - Request records of deceased service personnel they cannot be obtained from any other source whatever that site may imply His records will provide you the factual skeleton onto which you can build the details from the War Diaries of the units he was in and when he was in them - I say that as often they would be moved around to fill holes, so always best to start off on the right foot TD
Army Number to check: The army number: 4977974 indicates that the soldier's original unit or date joined was: "Sherwood Foresters"
Jason. If your Great Grandfather was in the Green Howards in both Norway and Italy then he was in the 1st Battalion. In Italy, they were in 15 Infantry Brigade who were part of 5 Infantry division. The battalion was at the crossing of the Garigliano in Jan 44 and was then moved to Anzio. Both battles were grim. Funnily enough, I am out in Italy next Thu guiding a group to the Garigliano and Anzio. We go into some detail of what 1 GREEN HOWARDS got up to. Regards Frank
Thanks for the replies! I have thought about doing the conventional search through the MOD. It's very interesting that the search has thrown up that he originally joined the Sherwood Foresters, geographically this makes sense - however, I was unsure as to whether conscription meant that a solider could join any units that were nearby? It's great to hear what you're doing Frank, it's super important that this isn't lost in time - especially with mine and younger generations. Thanks for providing the insight into how the battalions work. With regards to: Search Results for Willis Ronald Chambers | Forces War Records would you not recommend I use this? Also, using my Great Grandfathers service number against both the Green Howards and Sherwood Foresters there are no correlating results. Cheers, J
Jason you will not as TD stated find anything on the internet about him apply for his service records via the link provided I post it again for you Get a copy of military service records regards Clive
Jason once you receive them post on here If you are not sure of anything you will get assistance from forum members to decipher them Once you find out which regiment he was in there are members on here who will copy the war diaries from the National Archives at Kew for you at a reasonable rate. regards Clive
To be blunt - we on this forum know what we are talking about and give advise for free. The other site you talk of are only there to make money, and have actually used a descriptive name that some may construe as misleading As previously mentioned the ONLY place that holds WW2 service records is the MOD - no where else in the world does TD
That;s super helpful TD, much appreciated!! When I find more out, i'll be sure to let you guys know. Cheers