Medical records

Discussion in 'North Africa & the Med' started by Schonerhirt, Apr 19, 2013.

  1. Schonerhirt

    Schonerhirt Member

    My father-in-law served in Middle East from 1 Oct 1941 to 11 Dec 1943, firstly with 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, later transferring to 8th Hussars. His service record shows he was admitted into hospital in ME (Middle East) on 2 June 1942 and was not discharged until 23 October the same year. I have read the war diary of the regiment that indicates on 1 June 1942 there were 2 casualties (dead) and 1 injured (did this refer to him, or another soldier). He returned to active duty in November 1942 and was hospitalised again (twice) in January and February of 1943 before returning to unit and posted to holding unit (8th Hussars) in March 1943.
    I would like to find the medical records for him - what hospital he was admitted to and due to the length of time in hospital, the extent of his injuries. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find these records.
     
  2. Tullybrone

    Tullybrone Senior Member

    Hi,

    I don't know if you will find the medical records but I have looked in Royal Artillery War Diaries in National Archives at Kew and found the "Weekly Field Return" forms very helpful in relation to identifying wounded soldiers and the location of their hospitals until their return to their original unit.

    Steve Y
     
  3. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Schonerhirt

    Don't know if you will ever find his medical records as the medics treat them like they are officially on the secret list - the dates however indicate the start of the Gazala Gallop and he was probably taken back to Cairo for hospital
    and released when the main battle of El Alamein started as everyone wanted to be in that show- the war diaries might be your best chance to find hospitals etc - or Sue Lights thread on hospitals - but finding his name on a list might be tricky as wounded OR's were seldom named..
    Cheers
     
  4. Alanst500

    Alanst500 Senior Member

    Hi, does it not show on his service records which Hospital he was admitted to, on my Dads it says "admitted to Shaftesbury Hospital then shows the date".
    If you check again or post them on here we could probably help you more.
    Alan.
     
  5. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Alanst500

    Shaftesbury as I recall was in the fairly civilized UK at the time - probably still is but less civilized perhaps - and many company record clerks had typewriters and stuff - what we have to remember here are the dates ....

    this was during a very bad retreat by 8th Army from Gazala to El Alamein - and clerks were lucky to still have pencil and piece of paper and very few phones to call around for a hospital number...no buses either....

    Cheers
     
  6. Schonerhirt

    Schonerhirt Member

    Thank you all for your responses. Some good advice in there. Was hoping for an easy answer, when I didn't expect one!! I'll keep looking, it is so fascinating and sad that my FIL died before we could really talk to him about these things.
     
  7. Jacktar1956

    Jacktar1956 Member

    Hi Schonerhirt,
    Not sure if you will come back to this topic but you might be able to access Army Service Medical records by writing to this address:

    Army Personnel Centre
    Support Division,
    Disclosures 3
    Mail Point 525,
    Kentigern House,
    65 Brown Street
    Glasgow
    G2 8EX

    Access to a deceased soldier's medical records is covered by the Access to Health Records Act 1990.
    There is no automatic right of access. However I wrote to them early this year and after considering the request they agreed to release a copy.

    Mac
     
  8. R.Inglefield

    R.Inglefield Member

    Hello Mac,
    You mentioned writing to the Army Personnel Centre - would this apply to WW2 soldiers who died outside the UK? We believe my grandfather was injured in Germany, transferred to a local field hospital, possibly transferred to a hospital in Nijmegen. Do you think they may have his medical records at this address?
    Many thanks
    Rachel
     
  9. Tullybrone

    Tullybrone Senior Member

    Hi Rachel,

    Mac hasn’t been on the forum since the above post.

    Glasgow hold the service files for all UK Army personnel and the files ought to contain some medical information whether the person died in U.K. or elsewhere.

    Your first step ought to be to apply through normal channels for his service papers via this link -

    Get a copy of military service records

    Once you have the file you could then make a freedom of information request for the medical papers you are interested in obtaining.

    ‘Good Luck

    Steve
     
  10. R.Inglefield

    R.Inglefield Member

    Thank you very much Steve, very much appreciated.
    Rachel
     

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