Good evening all I am slowly researching and building my family tree to pass down to my son when he is older. I have quite a few people added to my tree and have started to research each in more detail which ultimately led me to this fantastic page. Both my grandfather and his brother served in the army during WW11. His brother sadly died at the age of 23 as a prisoner of war held at the Sandakan camp. He is now buried in Malaysia. My grandfather is proving a lot more difficult to research as I was only 15 when he died. I know he saw some atrocities during his time and would not talk much about his days in the army(understandably) I don't really know much about him (yet) except that he was a soldier with the British troops that helped to liberate Belsen (which i assume may have been the british 11th Armoured Division), He left the army due to a shrapnel injury, My father (who also died when i was 15) also did 2 years national service based in Germany where he was a chef . Researching has really got me interested in military and especially WW11 and inquisitive to find out more.. Initially I would like to find out more relevant to my research such as the liberation of Belsen and about Belsen in general. Also About the Burma railway as I believe my grandfathers brother may have worked there before being captured by the Japanese. I really want to get a feeling of what life would have been like for them during this time. After this I wan to study WW11 in more detail including the Normandy landings etc. I hope to interact with you all soon Best Wishes Donna x
A good place to start would be to apply for their Service Records, as that will tell you where, when and in what units he served. Belsen and other concentration camps were frequently visited by all manner of military units, simply because many could not believe what the Nazis had been capable of and it made a profound impression on most. However, so many stories emerged about this unit or that unit liberating Belsen, Auschwitz etc that an official letter was issued to those units that actually DID liberate these camps. I have one for my uncle for example. Get the records and that'll give you many more reasons to ask relevant questions! Good luck!
Hello and welcome to the forum Donna Link to apply for service records https://www.gov.uk/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records Lesley
