typed my grandfathers service number into a search engine and this come up "Royal Army Ordnance Corps (Block 2)" now i know he was in north africa before transfering to italy? can anyone shed some light on it? Sargeant George Ferguson Rankine serial number 10552400
My grandad was with 19 Port Wksp, but can't seem to find out much about the unit...any ideas? Sorry not 19....2 Port Wksp
hey auzz77 right here goes, this is all the war diaries for them and there national archive numbers so you can go check them 1941 - WO 169/2358 1942 - WO 169/6170 1943 - WO 169/12568 1944 - WO 169/17232 1945 - WO 169/20825 from what i can make out he would have served in the middle east. north africa/italy maybe someone can post details more. you have any information on him? name? rank? serial number??
Hi there, I've done a bit of research to date 7590123 Craftsman Thomas Henry Bell Joined in 1938 and mobilised with the onset of war in RAOC which later became REME (01 Oct 1942). I know he was at dunkirk evac, and also your right in saying he was in Africa for a time, not Italy though as he hasn't got that gong! I have waited 10 months for his service records to arrive which has been slightly disapointing in that I knew alot of the stuff in there. What I have gained from them is what units he was at and when: 1941-2 BOW - RAOC 1941-"B" AOW - RAOC 1942-4 BOW - RAOC 1942-2 Port Wksp - REME 1943-539 W/S Coy - REME 1943-2 Port Wksp - REME I cant really make the rest out, so from this want to extent my research out to these units specifically if possible. I know he was in Eqypt as I have photos, I also have photos of war cemetry which he has writen some info on the back about one of his Platoon Commanders who was shot. I have confirmed this from the CWGC grave ref number and its a Lt A. Don. Any assisstance you can provide would be fantastic thanks. I'll start by looking up those references for the war diaries you quoted. Cheers auzz
Hi hutchie - Do you think the "Block 2" is a unit name? As an alternative idea, perhaps it is related to the regimental number he was issued with. This is from RAOC with regimental number - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum : There were 3 old numbering systems in use prior to 1950. First, prior to 1920 each regiment had its own system of regimental numbers (each starting at 1). If a soldier transferred to another regiment he got a new number. The second system was introduced in 1920 under Army Order 388 with each regiment allocated its own block of numbers: Under this 2nd block of 7 & low 8 digit numbers the RAOC were allocated: 7574001 - 7657000 and 10530001 - 10600000. The third system was introduced during WW2...
