REME - Grandfather's Service Record

Discussion in 'REME/RAOC' started by RosyRedd, Sep 8, 2010.

  1. Oldman

    Oldman Very Senior Member

    Tom
    Thanks for putting Rosy on the right track.

    Jeffbubble
    MEF is Middle East Force
    BNAF is British North Africa(n) Force
    CMF Is Central Med Force
     
  2. RosyRedd

    RosyRedd Senior Member

    A bit more info, from the REME PAST & Present site.

    TOS is taken on strength
    SOS is struck off strength
    MELF Middle East Land Forces
    FARELF Far East Land Forces
    Embark means he got on a ship and Disembark means he got off a ship, the dates will show how long the voyage was and he was between postings.
    Capt (QM) means he held the rank of Captain and was employed in quartermaster duties ie. supplies, food clothing equipment etc.
    He was commissioned 8 August 1943 and posted to MEF ???, BNAF CMF ?? between '43 and '45 don't know what they are before my time but it seems he was in Italy towards the end of 1944 and came back to the UK 31 August 45 and I am not sure what he was doing up to 1947, seems he was in some sort of "holding" position or reserves but he was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain about 25 Feb 47 although there is no date or authority shown.
    Then he got on a ship on 17 March for the Middle East and arrived after 2 weeks. He was in various REME workshops for about 20 months in the Middle East, I have no idea whereabouts in the Middle East! Cyprus? Aden? Egypt? thats not shown.

    Then on 20 Dec 1948 he set sail for the Far East arriving in Singapore on the 8 Jan 1949.
    "permitted to defer PYTHON" ( A three year stint of duty) in march 1950, seems he volunteered for an extra 6 months in Hong Kong. Then back to Depot REME England 24 October 1950.

    Cheers for that Jeff. So a Quarter Master takes on the logistical side of things?

    From what I know so far he went to Egypt on the 17th March but I don't know which ship yet and the No2 WKSP Coy 2 Base was Tel-El-Kebir.

    He was on Empire Orwell when he went to Singapore - disembarked at Singapore Harbour, and was at a base (Alexandra?) and at some point was at Pasir Panjang.

    I don't know why he volunteered to stay longer in Hong Kong but there are stories about my auntie being ill (she was just a toddler at the time).

    Hopefully I can find more about the RAOC side of things too. I have found a book 'History of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, 1920 - 1945' by Fernyhough and Harris. Can you recommend any others?

    Thanks again,

    Jules.
     
  3. jeffbubble

    jeffbubble Senior Member

    CORPS OF ROYAL ELECTRICAL AND
    MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.
    REGULAR ARMY.
    Short Serv. Commn.
    Capt. (Qr.^Mr.) W. WALKER (301532) to be Maj.
    (•Qr.-Mr.), 5th Dec. 1954.

    Thanks to Mick H
     
  4. RosyRedd

    RosyRedd Senior Member

    CORPS OF ROYAL ELECTRICAL AND
    MECHANICAL ENGINEERS.
    REGULAR ARMY.
    Short Serv. Commn.
    Capt. (Qr.^Mr.) W. WALKER (301532) to be Maj.
    (•Qr.-Mr.), 5th Dec. 1954.

    Thanks to Mick H

    That's the one! :) Thanks to Mick H as well (who is he?!)

    I've now got my Grandfather's Officer's Record of Service (A blue/green book which I can scan a copy of if anybody is interested to see it) and he has also written where he was posted. It's quite interesting as it adds a bit more information to the service record.

    8th August '43 - 7 September '43 he was with 20 Wksp Coy - and according to his notes it was at 533 B.W. MEF. Does anyone know where 533 Base Workshop was at that time please?

    It also states in his records that it was an emergency Commission. "Discharged under para 390...." and it is at this point his service number changes from 7584393 to 301532 which I guess must be the explanation for the (Off) REME/ME in the right hand column. Were emergency commissions quite a common thing?

    When he embarked in March '47 for MELF it was from Glasgow. (Still don't know which ship just yet) and he disembarked in Port Said.

    Jules.
     
  5. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Jules post them on we will be interested
    thank you
     
  6. jeffbubble

    jeffbubble Senior Member

    533 Base Wksp was formed to absorb the RASC Heavy Repair Wksp and share with2 Base wksp ay Tel-el-Kebir.

    From Craftsmen of the Army.
     
  7. RosyRedd

    RosyRedd Senior Member

    Thanks CL1 & Jeff :)

    I scanned the record - without thinking about the size of the files and have just got around to doing a couple of pages again now.

    Anyway, the reason for the 6 months stay in Hong Kong seems to be to do with length of service - there were some scribbles on the inside back cover with a couple of different options that he must have been thinking about.

    I also checked the passenger lists for when my wee Granny and my dad went out to Egypt and it turns out that they were on SS Cameronia. They were on Empire Windrush for the trip from Egypt to Singapore. All post war stuff, but I am still waiting for books!

    Jules.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. RosyRedd

    RosyRedd Senior Member

    My cousin sent these and I quite liked them so thought I would share ;)
     

    Attached Files:

  9. RosyRedd

    RosyRedd Senior Member

    I haven't found anything yet to pin my grandfather at (or not at) the Sicily landings - I have to find out whether 533 base workshop moved about from the Cairo area, but finding out the movements of No 1 Advanced Base workshop has shown that he went across to Salerno from Tripoli when he joined it on 7 September '43.

    Below are the movements of the workshop up to Naples and onwards until August '45.

    Started as 1 Advance Ordnance Workshop RAOC (Royal Army Ordnance Corps) based in the Sudan.
    Beginning of 1942 - moved to Tel el Kebir, Egypt.
    July '42 - 11 December '42 - moved to Kiryat Motzkin.

    (1 October '42 - 1 Advanced Base Workshop REME).

    11 December '42 - Moved to Masaiyib
    (Approx May '43) - moved to Tel el Kebir, Egypt.

    26 August '43 - moved into the Western Desert. Passed through Mersa Matru, Bardia, Tobruk and Annunzio arrived in Tripoli on 9 September 1943.

    Unit embarked for Naples, via Salerno.

    10 October 1943 - arrived Naples - Workshop remained mobile until November '43 when it moved to Artillery Barracks, Naples.

    July 1944 - Rome - located at Innocenti Workshops until the roof collapsed (caused 40 casualties, including 4 dead) - moved to Breda Works Rome until August 1945.

    August 1945 - Thorndorf, Graz, Austria.
     
  10. Ped61

    Ped61 Closed Account

    My Grandfather was at the Innocento Workshops he was one of the 40 injured then he went on to the Breda workshop and was in charge of running the Workshop. Workshop Rome.jpg
     
    RosyRedd and dbf like this.
  11. hutchie

    hutchie Dont tell him Pike!!

    My grandfather was in Algeria in bone at the same time. He was with 19 port workshop reme at tabacoop in bone, algeria
     

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