Thought an example of what you get (for free) from the Australian War Memorial/MoD when you request a serviceman's records may be of interest. After clicking the link, go to bottom of the page and select RECORDSEARCH. On following page click SEARCH. Subsequent page to that, put VX25474 Harris into the top line of the search box (and nothing else.) Then press return/click mouse on search on bottom left of screen. You should then - it may take a moment - you should see a page listing 1 document to one VX25474 Harris from Victoria, Australia. Click on DISPLAY DIGITAL IMAGE, and you will see a series of digitally copied service papers totalling 20 sides, which you can print or enlarge as necessary. Well, here you go: http://www.naa.gov.au/the_collection/recordsearch.html Interesting guy: continuously AWOL, absent from parade and losing his possessions; in the '60s he changed his name by Deed Poll. Also, despite serving in Middle East 1941-42 he did not qualify for Africa Star. He did, however, qualify for the Defence Medal during this period (it being 1 yrs' service in an overseas, threatened area) since he could not have otherwise earned it. Any problems or if you wish to discuss this please leave a link. Richard
Richard thats fantastic!!!! Some peope on the forum may remember my mystery 5 x ww2 maps, well I found out they were for the seige of Tobruk, on one of the maps it had written drawn by I. Wylie Cpl 2/15 Aust. A.F.D Coy. R.A.E. With Richards link I typed in my information and came up with the following and also 1 to 15 pages of digital photographed service records, with pictures of him(which now makes my research kind of personal)and how he got awarded his Military Medal and more!!!!!! please feel free to have a look at this chaps service record while your there. WYLIE IVAN WILLIAM LEHMAN : Service Number - NX34287 : Date of birth - 22 May 1912 : Place of birth - STOCKTON NSW : Place of enlistment - PADDINGTON NSW : Next of Kin - WYLIE GERTRUDE Series number B883 Control symbol NX34287 Contents date range 1939 - 1948 Access status Open Location Canberra Barcode no 4929775 Thanks again Richard that's a great link and a great help to anyone wanting information on Australian service records. its a shame that British services records weren't as easy to access. regards Kieron
Cheers, Kieron, glad it was of such obvious use to you. I will look at Wylie's papers. There should be reference to every Australian serviceman from the World Wars, but not all have yet had their papers digitally copied. I think the intention is to do so with all of them - save for when the individual concerned formally objects - but you can jump the queue by emailing them with a specific request. It took a few months to come on-line, but I cannot fault the service I received. Does rather put the UK to shame... Richard
Hi all, Could someone do me a favour, if you've seen my previous posts of today you'll see that I have come across over 200 photos belonging to an Officer who served with the A.I.F. Well on the back of one of these photos is a name which looks like Gorge, Gange of something like that and a service number: NX27514. I have been trying all day to gain access to the Australian Archives but have had no luck and I am starting to think is it my computer, so to put my mind at rest I'd be greatful if someone else could have a go and let me know what happens. The link to this site can be found on Richards original thread. Thanks in advance Regards Kieron
Originally posted by kieron hill@Apr 16 2005, 09:43 PM Hi all, Could someone do me a favour, if you've seen my previous posts of today you'll see that I have come across over 200 photos belonging to an Officer who served with the A.I.F. Well on the back of one of these photos is a name which looks like Gorge, Gange of something like that and a service number: NX27514. I have been trying all day to gain access to the Australian Archives but have had no luck and I am starting to think is it my computer, so to put my mind at rest I'd be greatful if someone else could have a go and let me know what happens. The link to this site can be found on Richards original thread. Thanks in advance Regards Kieron [post=33245]Quoted post[/post] just tried the website - it seems to be frozen!
I have been trying to get access to copies of my wife's great-uncles RAAF service records, and have had trouble with their website from the start. They have been ditigitally copied but are not yet ready to be viewed, but I have not yet been able to access them. It has been quite frustrating. Sooner or later, I'll get to em'.
The site is rather capricious; sometimes can go for days without a connection, so best to save/print copies when you get the chance. BrianP - if you give his details we can all try at different times and see what happens. You can of course also order hardcopies: I believe they are very cheap to buy (in GBP about £5 with postage). Richard
Originally posted by sokka@Apr 17 2005, 08:24 AM Genge John I hope this helps [post=33262]Quoted post[/post] unfortunately, that link goes to a login page.
Argh, I hate cookies. Well you can speed up the search considerably by just searching canberra records with the service number. (Location of records: Canberra)
Cheers everyone for giving it ago at least I now know its not my computer. The name John Genge now jumps out of the squiggle. I'll just have to keep trying. The pictures that the writting is on the back of, are photos of original German captured photos, which are of Greece maybe mainland or Crete I am not sure. There are pictures of troops getting into a Iron lady(JU52), a massive parachute drop, an airfield packed with JU52's amoung olive groves and men being spoke to by someone important, don't recognize the face. If I can find the regiment that this person belonged to I might be able to find out the movements of his unit. thanks all for trying. Kieron
Thats odd, it takes me about 5 seconds to get his record. Are you sure you are waiting long enough? Here is the basic information of the record: GENGE JOHN : Service Number - NX27514 : Date of birth - 31 May 1910 Place of birth - WEST MAITLAND NSW Place of enlistment - SYDNEY NSW Next of Kin - GENGE MARION Item barcode 4892375 Series number B883 Series accession number 2002/04608374 Control symbol NX27514 Contents date range 1939 - 1948 Location Canberra Access status Open Date of decision 4 Mar 2005 Disposal status Enduring Unfortunately I don't have time to browse trough his records more closely, but he served in 2nd Echelon in A.I.F, embarked to greece in 5-3-41 (Disembark about 2 months later), his rank at the end was L/SGT (or atleast that what I can make out of it). I think he got sick and was discharged from service as unfit in 9th of March 1944.
Thank you everone for your offer of help. Just search by "Harold Eddison" and he will be the only one listed. Ironically, with all of the talk of having troubles with the website, I logged in four times today without any trouble. I looked at the examples of records listed in the above posts. However, the one I want to see isn't available to view yet. I did get an e-mail last week stating it would be a couple of weeks before it was available. In case no one has seen this, the Australian War Memorial has a nominal role database for World War II at http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/doc/overview.asp. You can search by name or service number. That is how I found Harold Eddison's details in the first place. Also, I think they are working on creating an online role for World War I as well. If it is one thing I learned as a government records clerk while living in New South Wales, the Australians like to keep their official records safe and orderly, using a strict records act.
Well, there are now copies of my wife's great uncle's RAAF records online. If anyone wants to see, go to http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/ResearcherScreen.asp and search for Harold Eddison. There will only be one record displayed. The records scanned were in total 99 pages.
