Dear Sirs, I am interested to find out more about Roy Perrett, dob 3.11.1923, in Amport, Andover. Enlisted: Salisbury as Pte : 21.10.1942. Army number: 14.409.079. Service towards engagement: 8 yes, 4 days. Discharged: 5.12.1950. He served in the Hampshire Regiment, and was transferred to the RAOC. If possible, it would be really nice to find more about when he was posted to fighting at Monte Cassino, in Italy. He told his sons that Vesuvius was erupting at the time, and this drowned out the noise of the guns. We have some photos, and will post of him in uniform, and that of writing his wife's name Dorothy on his army truck. We like this one. He returned home, and loved listening to opera music, and we think it was due to his time in Italy. We do not know if he received any medals ? We have his army papers, and do not understand the short hand codes. Any help, will be appreciated. Thank you Linda
Hi Linda As with your other relative the best and really only place to start is with his service record Request records of deceased service personnel - GOV.UK - if you already have them I would suggest you scan and upload them here for others to read them in context TD
Dear Sirs, Please see below, Roy's army papers, we received. I have also attached a few photographs of his time in Italy. I have trouble with some of the army shorthand. We know that Roy progressed to Colour Sargeant, and once lost his stripe due to being absent on leave, (he absconded to see his wife for a few days). Before Roy died he told his sons that he once was drilling his men in the fog. They marched off, and he had to shout about turn, to see where they were, and get them to come back. Thank you, Linda
Hi Linda, We do have some well informed lady members as well Roy appears to have been called up (conscripted) in October 1942 and deffered his joining until December. He was transferred to Hampshire Regiment whilst undergoing his initial training at 6 Primary Training Wing in January 1943 and elected to enlist into the Hampshire Regiment as a Regular Soldier in March 1943. He would appear to have been posted to 14 Infantry Training Centre in May 1943 to continue his training but remained there as L/Cpl (permanent staff) until he was posted to 16 Infantry Training Centre in Jan 1944. He was compulsorily transferred to Royal Fusiliers in late April 1944 presumably in anticipation of going overseas to Italy in early May 1944. He appears to have transferred to Royal Army Ordnance Corps in Italy in September 1945 and served there until Nov 1947 when he returned to UK on posting to 15 Battalion RAOC reaching Sgt rank in 1949 shortly before he was posted to the Army Reserve. He appears to have been recalled from the Reserve in 1950 due to Korean War but only served 107 days before being discharged on fitness grounds. Did MOD send you any copies of form B103? They usually contain more details of postings and are used to update the forms you have posted. The particular Royal Fusiliers Battalion he served with would be recorded on a form B103 and without Battalion detail it will be hard to give full details of where he served May 1944/ Sept 1945 - other than an educated guess by a Royal Fusiliers expert. Wikipedia says - Alongside the 1st, 8th and 9th battalions, the 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers also saw active service in the Italian Campaign. Steve
Hi Linda It looks as though he made it to the rank of Sgt but never higher than that - W/S Sgt is the fully paid and confirmed rank. Seems to have spent his time either at Home (UK) or Italy TD
---- - - - - - - Thank you for your insight. It is my way of being polite, when I address the posting as "Sirs".... (thank you) I will look again to see if there is more to the form B103 ? Again, much appreciated for your views / comments. Kind regards Linda
Dear all, Thank you for asking me, I have spotted the B103 form, as I was going to add in those above, but then missed when posting the other files. !! (please see below) If you have time, I would be grateful for your thoughts. We are sadly, no longer able to speak to Roy himself, and welcome your comments, about his service, where may have been, and what he was doing. As often is the case, many people didn't want to speak much about the war, or had very little opportunity to do so, as they were out at work most of the time trying to earn a crust. Sadly, Roy died quite young, and this didn't help us to capture his story from him. Kind regards, Linda
- - - Thank you, we were told he was a Colour Sargeant, it is handed down knowledge in the family. Linda
Hi Linda, Thanks for posting the B103’s. There should be more of the RWP 12 style B103 forms covering the whole of his active service. Either MOD Glasgow haven’t sent you them or they have been lost over the years. You could try to email them quoting the reference on the covering letter that usually accompanies the service papers and ask them to recheck the file. It has been known for missing papers to be found in these circumstances. Good Luck Steve
As mentioned previously on another thread - family knowledge is not always correct. After the film Dunkirk cam out we had a flood of people saying their Dad was there, but his unit was nowhere near. We also have from time to time 'My Dad was in the SAS'............................................ TD
Hello, I was looking through my records, and came across some more information re. Service History. I wonder if you could please give me your thoughts, views, as to what he did, and where he went please ? I would welcome your insight / and comments will be appreciated. Kind regards, Linda
Hi Linda, These are 4 Army form B102 - a central Registry Index Card - the rear of which contains abbreviated detail of much (not all) of the information that would be recorded on the currently missing Form B103. It will take much deciphering but from your RWF 2 it is clear that his wartime active service in Italy was with 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers. He joined them 24th June 1944 and left them sick or more likely wounded/injured 7th August 1944 and passed through 18 Casualty Clearing Station, 103 British General Hospital thence to 7 Convalescent Depot and then fully recovered he was posted to B Transit Camp and quickly to 1 Reinforcement Training Depot from there to Corps Reinforcement Unit before rejoining 1st Royal Fusiliers 30th September 1944. He appears to have served with 1st Royal Fusiliers until February 1945 when he was transferred (reason not shown) and had several attachments to other units until he transferred to RAOC Sept 1945. If you want to discover what he got up to with 1st Royal Fusiliers - specifically what they were doing in early August 1944 - you need to have sight of the Battalion War Diary. I’ll try and return to the documents later today. The final document is his testimonial/reference on completing his 7 years colour service in December 1947. Steve Y FROM WARTIME MEMORIES PROJECT - 1st Battalion the Royal Fusiliers. (City of London) Movements during WW2 years. 1937 Jhansi 5 Ind Inf Bde, 4 Ind Div. May 1937 converted to MG battalion. 23rd Sep. 1939 at sea (embarked at Bombay). 3rd Oct. 1939 Egypt 5 Ind Inf Bde, 4 Ind Div. 21st Dec. 1940 Abyssinia: Sudan 5 Ind Inf Bde, 4 Ind Div. 13th Apr 1941 Egypt 5 Ind Inf Bde, 4 Ind Div. 8th Jun. 1941 Syria 5 Ind Inf Bde, 4 Ind Div. 16th Jun. 1941 captured by Vichy French in Syria. 23rd Jun. 1941 re-formed in Palestine. June 1941 Palestine 5 Ind Inf Bde, 4 Ind Div. 15th Dec. 1941 Palestine 17 Ind Inf Bde. 29th May. 1942 Iraq 17 Ind Inf Bde. 28th Apr. 1943 Palestine 17 Ind Inf Bde. 31st Jul. 1943 Syria 17 Ind Inf Bde. 24th Sep. 1943 Italy 17 Ind Inf Bde. 18th Jun. 1945 at sea. July 1945 UK. 1947 converted back to infantry.
Hi, Just looking at your RWF 1 - at the top on the right hand side are a list of military trade roles he performed in 1945/46 - all are Storeman posts but different grades. Looking at his medical category - towards the bottom right hand side of the form - it notes he was classified B1 (possible B7?) for 6 months from 7th Jan 1945 which would explain his posting away from 1st Royal Fusiliers. Steve Y
Hi, Looking at your RWF 2. The first few entries on the left hand side column concern his 1943 movements around Infantry Training centres. On 7th March 1944 he is permanently attached to the 7th Battalion Queen’s Own Royal West Kent’s - a home defence unit - which was formally disbanded 2nd May 1944 and was redesignated as the 2nd Battalion, to replace the original 2nd lost in the Dodecanese Campaign. I’d hazard an educated guess that he was part of a draft intended for 2nd RWK when he was posted to Italy 2nd May 1944 but having spent a month at a Base Depot after arrival in mid May he was posted to 1st Royal Fusiliers - a Machine Gun Battalion. I covered his movements with 1st RF in my posting last night. The last entry on the left hand column is a posting from 1st RF to an “allocation centre” 18th Jan 1945 presumably in light of his medical downgrading mentioned above - a holding unit where he was held pending further posting to a unit suitable for his medical category. Steve Y
1 Royal Fusiliers weren't a MG Bn , 5/5th Royal Mahratta Light Infantry was MG Bn for 8th Indian Division. As you said before 1 RF were in 17 Indian Infantry Brigade. 8th Indian Division. Order of battle here . The Tiger Triumphs. The Story of Three Great Divisions in Italy. 1946.Chapters 1-3. edit; contact Drew5233 as he posted some pages from their war diary for Nov '43 a couple of years ago & he may have more in his files. post #7 here > 1st Bn, Royal Fusiliers, 17th Indian Infantry Brigade
Thanks for the correction Owen. I was interpreting the Wikipedia entry I posted last night which said they were converted to a MG Battalion in India in 1937. Steve
