Hi again, Can anyone tell me what the above W/S Rank meant please. British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945 Transcription First name(s) D Last name Hutton Year 1943-44 Service number 243456 Rank - Rank as transcribed W S/Lieut Regiment Royal Artillery Regiment as transcribed Royal Artillery Theatre of war Italy, North Africa Archive reference WO 417/5 Also can anyone tell me what the 83 Field Regt. attd. 50 Bty., 24 Field Regt. Royal Artillery were doing on the 21/09/1943 when he died/ KIA, age 24 years. Many thanks in advance, Kind regards, Mavis Williams
Hi Mavis, W/S stands for War Substantive: a temporarily confirmed rank only held for the duration of that war; though a war substantive rank may be treated as substantive when considering the holder's eligibility for subsequent promotions and appointments after the period of the war.
British Army Officers - help page Column 3 Ranks Ranks are given in sequence from lowest to highest (when known). When known, a date has been added to the rank. This date of promotion is the administrative date and doesn't necessarily indicate an actual date. E.g. someone is promoted Lieutenant on 01.01.1940, but receives a correction on this date somewhere in 1942 (in stead of a promotion), backdating his promotion to 01.01.1939. Such cases, when known, are indicated with "backdated" or "seniority". Between two promotions officers can hold an "acting" rank (indicated with "A/"). For acting & temporary ranks a period is given when known, otherwise a only starting date. Usually an officer held an acting rank, which, after having held for a certain (limited) period of time, was converted into a temporary rank. Having held a temporary rank for some time resulted in a war substantive appointment. So, usually the order of sequence is: A/, T/, WS/. The date of retirement from active service is indicated with "retired" (retd) for permanent commissions (career officers) and "released" (reld) for emergency commissions. Upon retirement an officer was entitled to the highest (war) substantive or temporary rank [not acting rank] he held. In this example Major Aarvold retired with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, as that was his highest temporary rank. The highlighted rank is the highest rank achieved in wartime (between Sept 1939-Aug 1945). WS/ War Substantive [for the duration of wartime service only] TD
Where he was - in Salerno I believe - perhaps someone can pinpoint from the concentration report below TD
Mavis. I will be in Salerno CWGC cemetery with a group in July. I can get you a headstone photo if that helps. Regards Frank
WOW again, I am always amazed! Thank you so much for the information TD and bamboo43, you are both gems! Frank I would very much appreciate the photograph of David's gravestone if at all possible. That too would be great. Kindest regards, Mavis
