Tracing the impossible?

Hello Hazel

It amazes me for the years it has taken for you to track both down the final hurdle is a right pain
Ok for DMS you have death cert and date of birth?
That should be easy

For DCC then you have birth cert confirming date and the marriage annulment

I reckon its worth a go on both counts

I would also send an email giving them the very basic story
Replace the AT with@

apc-sp-disclosures2ATmod.gov.uk

Regards
Clive

 

Hi Clive,

Thanks for the email address. I shall certainly give that a try!

Hazel

 

In Post 116, March 2021 Hazel cited in part stated:

I have looked at a number of US websites and none show USED as a military abbreviation. It has been used in the civilian world as the US Dept Education.

The US Coast Guard has never officially been known as USED and has the used the name Coast Guard since 1915. See: United States Coast Guard - Wikipedia

The US Corps of Engineers is officially known as the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and is a curious civil-military organization, it works on navigation, flood and storm damage protection, and aquatic ecosystem restoration. See: United States Army Corps of Engineers - Wikipedia

 

Hi,

I appreciate the information. Hoever, we have envelopes from the war years that shows USED and also aseveral wartime photographs of Dad in US uniform. These I took to the US Embassy in London where a naval member of staff identified the uniform as that of the US Coast Guard.

Hazel

 

Interlude

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/205582655

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/205582633

 

Thank you! From other sources we have established that there are records of Dad at St Louis - it is on my "to do" list of researching Dad

 

Hazel try to crack on with the UK end and see if you can get the records for him x 2

regards
Clive

 

Persistence pays off!

I have just received an email from the MOD where they state:

• will assume that a person is still alive until they would have reached 116 years of age.

• will accept a formal legal document which states that the individual has been legally declared dead (declared death in absentia or legal presumption of death).

So another avenue opens at last! The downside is that most enquiries atm do not get a result inside 14 months!

 

The photos of your father that you posted in uniform show a U.S. Merchant Marine uniform. The rank of two stripes and propeller is 3rd Engineer.

Aside from that, I have very little to add. I do not see him in my limited resources for USMM. Try here:
Records Request

Robert

 

Have you applied?

 

CL you seem to be fixated on the records from Kentigern House. Yes, I have applied, otherwise how would I know they are suggesting up to a year for results?
Just because I do not have the records does not mean I must cease researching other aspects! As there are indications that RA believe he was missing at Singapore, and clearly, he met and married in the West Indies in January 1943 - how did he get there? The search will continue to fill the gaps in his life as and when I get the chance and whether or not I have received his service record in the meantime!

 

Daisy I am not fixated I simply asked the question of have you applied.
Perhaps you should have clarified that.

I am simply trying to make sure forum members dont go (like many have done) on a wild goose chase.
Adding more dead ends for you.

Do please keep us updated on your search and dont forget we are very interested in the information

 

Bit of a harsh and unnecessary response there to a simple and polite question from someone just trying to help. To be fair, you could have been quoting from the MOD site:

 

Bit harsh maybe, but CL1 has asked me that question on several different threads, and on some of those threads, more than once!

You may not be aware but to find out as much as I have about Dad has taken over 30 years. Dad started in the army, as Dominic Cunningham Casey. He escaped Singapore, changed his name to Dominic Michael Stringer somewhere along the way, before joining USED late in 1942. He disappeared again for something like four months before surfacing in Canada and joining the British Merchant Navy. If I had followed the first research point to its death, I might never have found other, more fruitful lines to follow. When have proved categorically by DNA that the two names used were the same man

As I have said previously, there are still holes in his record to fill. As time goes by it is likely that due to health conditions I will find it harder to research. I cannot afford to waste the time waiting for Kentigern House, when there are other leads to follow!

 

Daisy i ask because as you know we have the very best on here at researching not including me though.

if you have got as far as applying for his records that in itself is a bonus surely this is key.

30 years is along time searching for an end to this tale and a family tale it will be unless you get official documentation.

As suggested to you before you would be better off contacting a local expert or even local media who might see this as a challenge and worth a go

if people during research do not question aspects of their research then you could be down a big dead end

 

Daisy havent seen this before

 

Dad on the right. Taken late 1942 or sometime 1943. for whatever reason the other one will not load! Shame it is a slightly better pic of Dad
.

 

Daisy just to give forum members a view

Dominic Michael Stringer was born on 14/4/1919 or 1922. He may have been born in Eire, but he grew up in Glasgow. He attended St Joseph’s Primary School in Raglan Street and claimed to have gone to St Aloysius College (we have never proved this). Dominic claimed to be one of twins and his mother had died in childbirth when he and the other twin were born. The other twin, a girl, died. We know from Dominic’s marriage certificate in Barbados that his father was called John Patrick. Dominic said he had been “in trouble” in Glasgow and his older brother “Jack” had helped him out of the city. He married in Bridgetown, Barbados on 30/1/1943. My husband was born 29/12/1943. Dominic did not witness our wedding certificate, as by that time he had split from my husband's mother. He died in Tower Hamlets London in November 1986.

Dominic Cunningham Casey was born on 14/4/1922 in Muse Street, Glasgow to John Patrick Casey and Martha Burt. He attended St Joseph’s Primary School in Raglan Street. John and Martha married 21/1/1909 and had a total of 14 children, 9 of which did not survive to adulthood. This included twin girls. The last child that was born to John and Martha was named Michael. Martha died a fortnight after his birth and Michael did not survive to his first birthday. After Martha’s death, it appears that Dominic Cunningham Casey was raised by Martha’s brother James and his wife Margaret Curran. Dominic Cunningham Casey married Elizabeth Smith on 30/12/1940. They had a daughter Elizabeth born 17/9/1941 and the marriage was annulled in 1951, as he did not return to Glasgow after the war.

However, Dominic Michael Stringer returned to Glasgow circa 1955/56. He met with his first wife (that must have been some shock!). He claimed that at that time he was working for the BBC and living in Canada and he would not disturb her life. We do know that about this time Dominic did apply to the BBC for work but did not get the job. We assume the time he spent in Montreal during the war gave him sufficient information to convince his wife Elizabeth that he had emigrated.

 

LOLOL You know almost as much as I do! Just a little more about Dad.
Dominic Michael Stringer escaped Singapore on a water boat called Daisy. Daisy was owned by Hammer & Co. I can track Dad from 13/2/1942 until approx 22/2/1942 when he and a number of escapees arrived at Emmerhaven. Personnel from Hammer ^ Co and at least 2 other companies arrived in Fremantle on board Zaandam on 6/3/1942. I have cross referenced their names on the Australia Archives. It would appear they joined Zaandam at Tilatchap. there is not a record of Dad in the Australian Archives. We think he arrived in Trinidad in late November 1942, but this date is open to question. He worked for USED (army/coastguard) for the bulk of 1943. However, May 1944 finds Dominic in Montreal where he signed on a British Merchant ship. Having crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he spent the remainder of the war on various ships in the Mediterranean. He was shipped home on conveyance orders on board Monarch of Bermuda, arriving at Liverpool 10/7/1945.
Dominic Cunningham Casey's wedding certificate shows he was a Gunner RA "now on war service". It is possible he went to Singapore with 3 Bty 6HAA. A nominal role shows a D. Casey as missing. There were twin girls born to his parents in 1909 but neither survived more than three weeks from memory. We believe that Dominic Cunningham Casey was raised by Martha’s brother James and his wife Margaret Curran as he was very upset to learn of his cousin James' (their son) death on board San Florentino on 2/10/1941 in mid Atlantic. James is commemorated at the Merchant Shipping and Seamen memorial on Tower Hill, London.

 

Panel from my collection San Florentino Tower Hill Memorial