Hi, I am trying to find information about my father in laws Merchant navy service record during WW2. I only have his forces prayer book which gives his name and rank as Lieutenant R J W Sullivan and a photograph of him in uniform. My husband said that his father told him he was torpedoed and spent time in life rafts until he was rescued, he was also in Montevideo when the Graf Spey was scuttled. The only reference I can find anywhere is on Ancestry 7/4/1936 on the Highland Monarch incoming passenger ships. I have tried several different sites, Forces, Find my past and every other site under a merchant navy search. Please can anyone advise me as to where I can find his service record or details, he just doesn't seem to exist anywhere in the Merchant Navy during the war years.
I'm guessing he was British but it helps to make sure. If so our sister site ww2 talk may be worth posting on as well as they tend to focus more on Commonwealth issues.
We do have some people on this site who are good at tracking down this soft of thing and like I said ww2 talk specialized in Commonwealth related topics. Wish I could be more helpful but other than the above I can't help much. Hopefully the experts will be along shortly and be able to help. Do let us know if you find out more from elsewhere. It does help to documents how to find such things and we have several threads where people have found others researching the same unit for different people.
Thank you. I have registered on the WW2 talk site but am still trying to work out how to post my question. Wish me luck.
Have you gotten his records from the MOD? If not, go here Get a copy of military service records I think you should just post your original request at ww2talk. It seems pretty clear to me. I wish you luck in your quest.
Would the MOD have copies of records for Merchant Navy Service? (As an aside, what's the proper capitalization for the "Merchant Navy"?)
