Stephen Dalton Posted 3 November , 2019 Share Posted 3 November , 2019 Hi, new to this forum so please accept apologies if I am asking for things incorrectly. I am currently researching a Great Uncle John William Holmes Aire, Service Number DM2/190534, Royal Army Service Corps. By trade he was, i believe, a driver in MT, possibly ambulances. I was lucky enough to locate his service papers in the burnt records. This show he embarked for France in November 1916, joined the 315 Coy and later 593(?) Coy. (There is also a an amusing record of him being absent from duty and being found asleep in the back of an ambulance!) However I am struggling to understand the other annotations on the record. There is a family legend that he picked up one of his brothers (who was killed in France) in his ambulance. We have squashed that one as he arrived in theatre after that brother was killed died. However another brother (Private 52847 Thomas Aire, 1st Battalion, Royal Scottish Fusiliers 8th Brigade, 3rd Division) was wounded in both legs in France in the summer of 1918. So I am wondering if is possible to establish where John was in relation to Thomas in the final months of the war in the unliekly event that there is a kernel of truth to the legend. Any help gratefully received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 3 November , 2019 Share Posted 3 November , 2019 Hi Stephen, Welcome. Your great uncle was transferred to 593 MT Coy ASC on 18/11/1917, arriving from the 402 Coy. I can tell you that neither were an ambulance company. Both were in fact the Siege Park companies. 593 for 8th Corps of the British Army. 402 for 4th (D) Corps or the Canadian Corps. I see he was a Lorry driver by trade which fits with hauling around big guns, ammunition & supplies. As it happens, my grandfather transferred out of 593 MT Coy 3 days earlier on 15/11/1917. I haven't looked in detail at the service record, but I would guess he probably did this for most of the duration, but might be wrong. There are war diaries for these companies available to download from the National Archive: 593 is ref: WO95/829 402 is WO95/1080 Up to 15/11/1917, the Siege Park HQ (593 Coy) was at 47 Rue de Lille , Bailleul. It looks as though the HQ moved to White House Vlamertinghe on 16/11. So I guess that is the area where your great uncle would have been. Even though my GF moved from 593 to 272 Coy at this time, he in fact stayed put in the same depot as it were, and it was taken over by ! ANZAC Corps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 3 November , 2019 Share Posted 3 November , 2019 To add to Dai's post here's my result of a quick scout over the papers 31/7/16 - called up for service 2/8/16 - joined at Grove Park 7/8/16 - transferred to Learners section 18/9/16 - at Osterley Park 10/10/16 - passed Learners Test 12/11/16 - from BMTD (Base Motor Transport Depot to 315th MT Coy 14/11/16 - from 315th MT Coy to 1st BMTD (S) - (south?) 15/10/17 - 25/10/17 - Leave 12/11/17 - to 1st BMTD 22/11/17 - to Canadian Corps Troops Supply Column ?/11/17 - 402nd MT Coy ? ?/12/17 - from 402nd to 593rd MT Coy 28/2/18 - to 1st Heavy Repair Shop 13/3/18 - found asleep in ambulance body AWOL for 35 minutes confined to barracks for 14 days 5/4/18 - to 1st BMTD 6/4/18 - to 3rd Army Corps Reserve? MT Coy 14/4/18 - to 4th Corps Troops MT Coy 24/4/18 - to 41st Division MT Coy 9/8/18 - to 2nd Stationary Repair Shop 12/8/18 to 1st BMTD 17/8/18 - to 1st Reserve Vehicle Park (N) - (north?) 5/10/18 - ? 27/10/18 - 10/11/18 - Leave 6/1/19 - 231st Light Railway Company 9/5/19 - 21/5/19 - Leave 25/7/19 - Verified? serving with 231st Light Railway Company Royal Engineers 29/11/19 - 22nd MT Reserve Park to 17th GHQ 20/1/20 - 17th GHQ Reserve MT Coy - this is the last unit mentioned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 3 November , 2019 Share Posted 3 November , 2019 Thanks jaydubaya, Just a reminder that the date that is on the left hand of the page in the 'Date' column is the date on which the entry is written, not the date on which the event written about actually occurred. The date on which the event occurred is the right hand date, in the "Date of Casualty" column. So, for example, the entry 14 12/17 - from 402nd to 593rd MT Coy 18/11/17 means he was transferred from 402nd to 593rd MT Coy on 18/11/17, and the officer in charge got round to writing it in his record on 14/12/17. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Dalton Posted 16 November , 2019 Author Share Posted 16 November , 2019 Thanks both very much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Posted 16 November , 2019 Share Posted 16 November , 2019 (edited) I was reminded only yesterday on another thread, that the diary for 402 MT Coy ASC, is available to download, free of charge from the Canadian Archives: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/lac-bac/search/arch_adv (But I'm blowed if I can find them at the moment...) Edit: - Here they are! 402 MT Coy ASC Have a look through it at the dates when he moved in and out of 402 (plus or minus a couple of days), and you might see reference to the movement in and out of one or more RGA brigades and siege batteries into the Canadian Corps. That might give a small clue that he was attached to the same battery for some time. Try looking for war diaries for other companies mentioned, you might see the same siege battery turn up repeatedly. Edited 16 November , 2019 by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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