RAF ground crew (Italian campaign) service record help

Hi,

I’m new to this, picking up my grandfathers service history from my mother who drew a blank.

He was a Clerk General Duties and deployed at various places in the UK and then seems to have travelled to Italy (and possibly elsewhere overseas) in 1945.
I can see MAAF (u) HQ (in Caserta?), 5BPO (“Base Personnel Office”? Might have been near Naples?) and 1REC (“Release Embarkation Centre”) but not clear exactly where those were based or even if my interpretation is correct.

There’s a PWR in the middle but I don’t think this is prisoner of war as there’s no family story of this and it doesn’t really fit the record.

And he was hospitalised in August 1945 in 108 SA hospital (which others have suggested may be a mixed Allied or South African hospital) but I’m struggling to track it down.

I did contact a SA historian but he suggested RAF medical records would be held in UK not S Africa.

Any help at all that anyone can give with these later parts (or even earlier ones) would be really amazing.

 

RL3,

Welcome aboard.

Could you (if known) please add his full name, Date of Birth and Service Number? It will help others to help you.

The document have posted appears to be a very rough account. Is this an official RAF document? Is there anything else?

What is the South African connection? I am aware South African units when deployed came under RAF command. Unsure about individuals.

The two reference sites for abbreviations I use regularly are: WW2 Abbreviations and Acronyms | Researching the Lives and Records of WW2 Soldiers and a 2025 edition see: Updated WW2 abbreviations & acronyms

MAAF is Mediterranean Allied Air Forces

5 BPO is listed, though with a (S) and I think it could be a Base Postal Office

! REC could be simply Recovery, of vehicles?

108 South African Hospital several online hits and a suggestion it was a South African manned hospital, but used a British name and number:

From: Hospitals WW2 - Scarlet Finders This does not tie in with your information.

Then under a slightly different name (though standard for UK military hospitals) hence my bold:

:
From: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kent-6228

Add in:

From: South African Military History Society - Journal - Canadian Nurses in the South African Military Nursing Service: Some Reminiscences Forty Years Later

I see via Facebook entry you have asked for Dewald Nel; two of us have used him for help with the SA Archives.

 

Thank you - some extremely helpful leads there. This is all my mother was sent when she received his Service Records. There is a separate sheet outlining his ranks.

He was Sergeant Charles Edward “Teddy” LARGE, born 01/07/1918, service number 701281.

We know from his own photograph notes that we was in Italy managing a team of mostly Italian women. He may be in some kind of recuperation centre after being in Hospital looking at his photos.

He has photos from an Officers mess (not sure of location) - maybe Milan? - and he also mentions being at the YMCA.

He was also clearly in and around Como during this later period and it looks to me as though he was in Moltrasio (he mentions a room at the Caramazza, which I’ve tracked down to there)

 

Its from a standard RAF Form 543 Service Record format posted numerous times on this and all other forums. Common to several million RAF OR David.

Why question the correct RAF unit abbreviations for BPO and REC that the op has given and suggest names that were never in RAF service record use?

The abbreviation link has been pointed out to you several times as not appropriate for RAF service records. Possibly why you cannot find BPO and REC.

The pre Italy part of the record are postings to various RAF aerodromes STN and numbered squadrons all within England.

They will mean a bit more when read with the mustering and special qualification sections to the right of the partial image shown.

Ross

 

Thank you.

I’ve deciphered as much as I can from the service and mustering record, and also his own notes on photos he took or had taken. I’ve attached his mustering record and some of my notes deciphering things below so farbelow, if anyone has the time/energy to take a look and correct my handwritten assumptions or add any historic/geographic/RAF context.

thank you.

 

Very well done there.

You have listed the complete movements correctly. I would spend little time on the crossed out entries since they did not happen.

He did have a couple of attached postings listed and these are usually for special training but for a Clerk GD with his performance they will probably be for sorting out a local problem.

Also in the proficiency A relates to his own work, B relates to his supervision skills in trade and C his manpower management skills with other trades.

I see you have also found the TNA references to the units Air 27, Air28 and Air29. Although these will probably not mention him by name they will confirm location for a date and give a flavour of events that he would have been part of.

What is nice to see is that all this was achieved after he was moved from W/T trade training and due to the early part of war he received no formal Clerk trade training establishment input. All on job pick up of the efficient operation of RAF Registry - an almost unique skill rarely found in others. His progression to Temporary Sgt is testament to that ability.

There is little hope of obtaining the medical reason for his hospital period. Unlike Army records, RAF records had the medical pages removed and transferred to the NHS when it was formed so the F543 is the only page to survive as it was intended to answer pension entitlement query.

Ross

 

Thank you for your kind comments! I am pleased that my interpretations look right.

He worked as a “shipping clerk” before the war, though I don’t know if that means shipping goods or moving ships around so I’m guessing the RAF worked out he had some skills in this area.

Sadly, I never met him as he died in 1965 before I was born but it is lovely to “meet” him a bit more in his history.

 

Thanks also Ross for the tip off about medical records. I guess I’ll just have to piece his experience together from the wider context. He sent/kept quite a few annotated pictures home - and these seem to be of day trips/leave as well as recuperation. I guess post VE Day they just got about as much as they could.

There is an intriguing Austrian Xmas card from Dec 45 (he was finally demobbed in March 46) - what I’d still like to find out (may not be possible!) is whether he was in active service and working after his recovery from whatever, and whether he was just waiting around on sick leave/to go home, and being a tourist.

I also see that he might have been in Alexandria, but if I’m correct in my reading of RAF history this isn’t necessarily a posting (?) but it was used as a transit space and also where CMF/MAAF sometimes took leave? If anyone knows any context, please let me know?

 

Finally Ross, your comment about “unique skills in RAF Registry” stands out. I hadn’t quite picked up that detail - could you please say a bit about that? Eg where you see that in his record and what you mean?

Sorry to sound dense but this is all new to me and although I have my very knowledgeable husband to help parse military language, his family are Army not RAF!

 

The reason I am a bit confused about the post-hospital bit is this index record that my mum found. It implies that 5BPO and 1REC were his postings/role, rather than places he was moving through in transit? The family story is that he was hospitalised while being demobbed and we had assumed the later 1REC entries meant HE was waiting for release embarkation, but the document below implies he was working in this unit (?).

if that is correct and given the timings, it does seem as though he was specifically working on demobbing others? And I know this was a bit of a challenge for RAF people at this time.

I must go to Kew I guess and try to work out more of what is happening!

 

Postings on F543a are driven by to which formation establishment the subject was posted to and what role they undertook.

Read in that context a posting entry on F543a usually meant that the subject would physically follow to the unit either immediately, after accrued leave taken or after a period in transit.

There was a quote from Eccles on the Goon Show that "everybody got to be somewhere" and that held true for RAF. Associated with posting to a formation his pay allowance, travelling records, messing, equipping, disciple etc was also transferred to that formation.

The system catered for temporary transfer to other formations by Attachments where the bod was still owned and administered by the parent formation but messing, pay, training, discipline were forwarded as temporary paper arrangements to the new unit. Usually this was for periods over 14 days attachment but no more than 1 or 2 months.

Transfer between theatre of operations was treated as both attachment and posting eg there was a paper ownership transfer to pdc/rec but in fact he remained at original unit as effectively attached. This was the original unit could have someone posted in to replace him on their establishment but still use him for leave/sickness cover. When pdc/rec got round to allocating him to draft then he would procede on leave, then either directly to port or to pdc/rec location for collection and transfer to port as a larger group.

As the procedure was well established it was rarely recorded on F543a as individual steps, for admin brevity just taken as read.

Hope this helps explain REC apparent confusion as it looks like he was used by unit in trade (a tradesman could only be employed by a unit in trade trained) as a god send of a trained man as well as passing through on normal movement channels.

Ross

 

Manual of Administration in the Royal Air Force, Air Publication 837 (War Edition) ran to over 1838 paragraphs on how to carry out specific tasks. A small subset of these were Special Duties SD and related to handling of Confidential and Secret documents.

As a Clerk GD he would have been expected to carry out all except SD items passing through his hands exactly as laid out. Regular inspections were done by Trade auditors to ensure. Any deviation would result in a reduced annual proficiency rating and more importantly an interview without tea and biscuits with the Station Warrant Officer where the SWO did all the talking and you did all the listening.

He excelled in trade, with stellar annual assessment without the 6 months solid trade training that the RAF thought essential that all wartime entrants to Clerk trade needed before being assigned to formations.

Depending on the size and role of formation one of two admin systems was used to "centralise the receipt, identification, classification, circulation, despatch and custody when not in current use, of correspondence, with the maximum economy in time, labour and personnel."

HQ and stations where more than one unit located used the Central Registry system. Outside this the Unit system was used eg he knew and operated the system where he was.

Filing system on both Central and Unit were also different numbering with General Number Method being used at HQ and Branch Number Method at Service units and some smaller HQ.

Not systems that were in regular civilian use so it was his attention to detail and ability to learn that marked him for Clerk trade rather than extensive pre war experience.

Ross

 

Been mulling over the late 1945/1946 period.

Think he was posted and doing Clerk trade at 5BPO, was transferred to 108 hospital for admission. Paper transferred to 1REC after discharge from 108 but on recovery leave. After leave went to 1REC as clerk on establishment processing unit correspondence etc. Shortly after VJ day he was assigned Class A release eg longest service first out. Paper transfer 27/28 Dec and paper transfer to UK Home Establishment. Release docs mostly done at 1REC with only minimal paperwork left to UK unit (not listed). demob 1946.

If the family still has his Form 2520A Service and release book it will aid in fleshing out the final 3 or 4 months.

I have one for Sgt with similar service time that shows release on 20 April 1946 but granting him 71 days leave prior to that. So effectively he returned to Uk went straight on leave then finally popped in for a day to get his book signed and hand in uniform.

Ross

 

Ah that is amazing context, Ross - thank you. Helps explain a lot and it’s so kind of you to point out all his strengths and value to the service.

I will share all this with my mum and wider family. If they give permission, I’ll share some of the family photos which I find fascinating and have lots of other people in them.

 

Hi,

You can work out how much terminal leave he got on a Class A release as it was calculated on a universal 56 days and topped up if appropriate by an additional day for very month or part of) spent overseas between 3/9/39 until wars end (May 45 in Europe & September 45 in Far East & Pacific).

Steve