Genealogy Forum UK

Have recently acquired some WW2 letters from my wife's late grandfather to his brother, which has led me want to know more about his military history. i just don't know where to start...

The letters (dated from Feb 1943 onwards) are addressed in his own hand as follows:

384 Bty 117 Lt A.A. Regt R.A.
B.N.A.F.

I know that Regt is short for Regiment, R.A. is Royal Artillery and that BNAF is British North Africa Force. Other than that I have no idea what the rest means.

Some of his letters are written on headed notepaper endorsed "Royal Ulster Rifles", but other than that reference I can find no other mention of the RUR.

I have subscribed to http://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/ and can find only one reference to a soldier called Eric Johnson in the Royal Artillery, but his serial number is different, and I can't find any matching Eric in the RUR.

If anybody has any idea as to how my research should begin, I would be very grateful. I am ultimately hoping to find his medal card if one exists

poss 384 battery & 117 light anti aircraft regiment ?

Hi,

peterd wrote:poss 384 battery & 117 light anti aircraft regiment ?

I agree with Peter above but the best option maybe to apply for his service records.

You can obtain these records but they are only available to the next of kin or the actual person and the procedure to obtain these records are strict due to the Data protection laws of the UK.

This link below will explain the procedure you need to complete to obtain records but just a word of warning make sure you have sent all the information requested or they will be returned and you'll have to start the procedure all over again.

This website will give you all the procedures, information and a downloadable application form (just click on the Service Records, Medals & Badges link on the right hand screen)

There is a fee payable depending on who applys but this is covered in the link given.

http://www.veterans-uk.info

Good luck

Regards
Adrian

Thank you both for your replies. That certainly seems to be a very likely interpretation. I will have a look at the site and see if I can gain any more information that way.

Thanks again!!

incidentally, he mentions being involved in action in a place called "Karouan" (which I believe is in Tunisia) around April 1943. In his words: "Yes, my grandchildren, I was there", so it was obviously something quite significant. Where can I find out about what happened there?

You could try googling kairouan 1943 april as I did, amongst other stuff it threw up this.

Wiki might be useful too.

Yes! That might have been a good idea!! Thank you!