Chaplains' burial responsibilities

[doogal]

Whilst I may have asked similar questions in the past, I still can't help but think that tracing information on unit chaplains and also the paperwork they filled out is a very difficult subject to pin down.

I have struggled to establish who a chaplian may have been for a particular unit - the Chaplains' Museum can't help, and as far as i can tell, neither can the regimental museum. Is there a roll of chaplains who served - beyond their actual service records?

In the second instance, there appears to be a clear route for the paperwork they filled out with reference to soldiers buried in the field - AF 3314 would be filled out, and the Chaplain would then send this to DADGR&E and one to the DAGGHQ 3rd Echelon. However, I would like to know what happened to these - do any remain?

AWere they lost in the Second World War? From what I have read, at least two copies of this documentation were made. Is there a dusty forgotten corner at the NA with a reference code known only to a select few...?

Between these two questions remains a subject area that seems to have just dropped out of sight as a coherent body of knowledge. Do the pals number an expert on Chaplains' amongst its members?

any help on this would be appreciated, and from recollection, I'm sure I'm not the only member with this question or similar.

regards

doogal

[andigger]

doogal.... whereas I have absolutely no information that could help you out, I pray that you find an answer to this query!

Sorry... Andy

[Paul Reed]

Personally I have never seen any Chaplain's burial reports outside of private collections, and have never seen any reference to them in any TNA index. I know the maps used by burial details and GRUs post war were thrown out by CWGC in France when they closed their local offices in Albert and Arras in the 1960s; perhaps much of this detail was also lost about this time?

[Paul Johnson]

Doogal,

These may be of help;

WO32/9323

WO141/39

Of course, they could also be of no use at all.

I hope you find what you are looking for.

Regards

PAUL JOHNSON

[jhill]

Assuming the Canadian side of things used the same forms and procedures as the Imperials (i.e. British), we have the following possibilities:

There are 12.0 metres of textual material from the Canadian Chaplain Service, which is described here .

There are also 32.0 metres of War Graves Registers which are described here . Perhaps copies of chaplains records ended up there.

Unfortunately I have never seen any of these, and we would have to have someone in darkest Ottawa go and have a peek.

The chaplain service kept a war diary, which is on-line. Unfortunately, it provides no insight at all into such things. The Canadian Section of 3rd Echelon at GHQ also have their diary on-line. Unfortunately, I have not yet seen mention in it of any reports from chaplains. However, I have not gone through them all.

I am afraid this may not help with the original question. However, if chaplains' reports exist in Ottawa, this might at least indicate that similar reports existed at one time elsewhere.

[doogal]

I know the maps used by burial details and GRUs post war were thrown out by CWGC in France when they closed their local offices in Albert and Arras in the 1960s; perhaps much of this detail was also lost about this time?

This would explain the noticeable absence if these records definitely went to the CWGC, and it makes sense that they did and should - though I suppose nothing can be kept forever.

I thought the CWGC still had an office in Arras? - presumably a new location and building.

The references to the Canadian examples are interesting, and do appear to be the equivalent of what I was hoping to turn up.

I shall check up on the TNA files - thanks for these Paul.

It is a shame that both the Chaplains' records and associated historical detail appears to have gone by the wayside when the MoD has kept so much other material over the years.

thanks to all for the responses

regards

doogal