I've Found Me Some Entertainment
Written at 11:25 a.m. on 2006-09-15
I�ve found me some entertainment!!
Finally I have found a productive (well, I guess that depends on which way you look at things) way of occupying myself when things are slow and dull at work. We were watching a programme on the TV the other night in which an actor went off to find out his family and what they did, who they were etc and mum and I decided that might be an interesting thing to do with our family. So that�s what I�ve been doing this morning (with any luck my internet usage isn�t monitored or I�m going to get fired).
It�s not actually that easy if the person you are interested in is military and served after 1922. These records are held by the MOD who are slightly more secretive than the CIA and have an unhealthy obsession with the Data Protection Act. Why my Grandma�s first husband Jack would care if his data is protected since he was shot down over Holland in 1941 is beyond me. I did discover that he is buried in Hook of Holland Cemetary in Row 50 though, and that he was a sergeant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserves. I am currently trying to prise the records that we found in grandma�s loft, things like photos of Jack and his flight crew and the telegram she received on his death (which is not exactly a warmly phrased thing) from whichever member of our family has them so I can look through it. My family can be very odd about holding on to papers, I suspect my uncle Peter has taken Jack�s them. He doesn�t give a tiny rat�s arse about Jack or his flight crew but as far as he is concerned knowledge is power and possession is nine tenths of the law. Some of my family are very odd indeed.
Finding info on my paternal grandfather is even more challenging because his records are held by the Army rather than the Air Force and the Army need fourteen reams of paperwork to justify any request for information. You also need his rank, regiment and preferably service number, none of which I have because he got demobbed after the war, came home, told one person what happened to him out there and then never ever mentioned it again. All I know is that he is from a military family, was brought up in India, joined the Army, was taken prisoner by the Japanese pretty near the beginning of the war and was put to work on the Burma railway. When the war finished he didn�t want to leave the army but due to the treatment he received in the POW camp he had chest problems and was declared unfit for service. That�s it. And he is not exactly the most reliable of historians these days as he has dementia. Even if he didn�t he wouldn�t tell you anything if you asked.
So if anyone knows of any way to find out an ex serviceman�s service number or anything else can you let me know. I�m off now to try and find out how to get info if your great great grandfather was an Irish gypsy. Oh that�s one thing I�ve found out, I�m descended from Irish gypsies on one side and English landed gentry with country estates on the other. Unusual. I would definitely recommend anyone tries this, it�s really interesting and you can find out some really unexpected stuff!
