RECORDS

[jamesbow]

hi all,

i have my fathers origianal service record but a lot of it sadly is unreadable,due to water,ink fading etc. as a child i remember seeing on it his score for rifle shooting 60/100 or something similar .also his marriage and next of kin and his tattoos his arms were covered.i downloaded his record from NA but they were not much better and less info on them.what i am wondering is; as he left in 1928 his last being in the R.F.R. would there be another service record anywhere.

many thanks jamesbow

[horatio2]

What you almost certainly have in the family is your father's original Service Certificate (SC) which was given to him on leaving the Service. It is original and (usually) unique. However, all (or most of) the detail on his SC will also be found on his Record of Service, which is held at the NA and is available on-line. His original attestation on joing the Service is held at the Fleet Air Arm Museum and you should contact them for a copy.

[jamesbow]

horatio,

many thanks i will do.will let you know how i get onjamesbow

[per ardua per mare per terram]

"he left in 1928 his last being in the R.F.R."

in 1928 he joined the Royal Fleet Reserve so it is possible that he was recalled for WW2. Those records are still closed to the general public, but direct next of kin can apply to the Ministry of Defence and get a summery, the fees are high though!

The service registers available from the NA are summery documents and are second generation copies from poor microfilms; those microfilms can be easier to read and if you still can't make something out you can view the originals.