Unknown 2nd Welsh Regt "3349420"

[corisande]

Strange tale this. A body was found near Dublin in March 1921. I was not in uniform but was wearing among other things "he also wore woollen drawers with the marks 2nd Welsh Regiment and the number 3349420 printed on them". Note also the service number has been removed from the shirt.

I have contacted Royal Welsh Museum and as they correctly say they :-

have been able to ascertain that the number 3349420 was not allocated to a soldier of the WELCH Regiment. I appreciate that the clothing he was wearing was indeed military but if he was from 2 WELCH then there would have been a record of him being listed as “missing in action” or “AWOL” but I can find no such record of any WELSH Regiment soldier missing in 1921. There is a possibility that he could have been ROYAL WELCH FUSILIERS but I cannot verify that

It is not altogether a universal truth that "there would be a record", but they cannot help further

The block allocations from LLT are

3299001 to 3377000 allocated to Highland Light Infantry

3947001 to 4025000 allocated to Welch Regiment

4178001 to 4256000 allocated to Royal Welch Fusiliers

My logic is that there is more scope for mistranscription with the number than with the regiment, so "2nd Welsh Regiment" is probably were he did originate, and his number was probably something like 3949420 rather than 3349420 Can anyone with the knowledge check on CWGC to see if he could have a war grave interrogating for "Welsh Regiment" and/or "1921" and/or "3949420"

One would have thought that the army could have named him at the time, but I can never be sure!