Question

Hi Everyone,

Very new on here - so sorry if I've commited some terrible faux pas and posted in the wrong place!

I'm looking for my great-grandad's record (without his service number). From a picture I have of him (and my very limited military knowledge), he had an arm patch on the arm of his uniform of an anchor with RA either side of it. I understand this to be the Royal Artillery but placed on merchant ships (please correct me if I'm wrong). He has the 39-45 star, pacific star, atlantic star and also the Italy star. Not really sure why he'd have the latter unless he served for more than 6 months on land (in Italy) too.

His name was George Arthur Robinson (although some family members swear it should be 'Arthur George'). He lived near to Weaverham, Cheshire or Crowton, Cheshire.

If anyone can give me any pointers of how to look him up without his service number, I'd be very grateful..

Thanks in advance,
Mike.

 

Here you go!
This should get you started
http://www.ww2f.com/military-servic...arch/36895-requesting-uk-service-records.html


I looked my family up from the US so I'm not sure if it is the same or not, but I didn't have a service # for one and didn't have any trouble getting all the info sent to me. Good luck

 

You will need his Death Certificate in order to obtain his Service Record.

This should also clear up any misunderstanding about his name but it sounds like Catch 22 since you do need his name and date of death (and place of death preferably) in order to get the death Certificate (cost £9).

From his name and date of death they should be able to trace him but the problem is what service was he in - Army or Navy? If it is Army you stand a good chance of getting some useful information but the wait is long for the records -Many months

If the Navy then probably about a fortnight but the results are usually very poor (in my experience).

BTW he does not need to have served on land to get the Italian Star but merely to have spent one day in that theatre of war (hence the reason why Navy guys have a chestful of medals while the footsloggers are practically nude).