The Salvation Army is committed to preventing, identifying and responding to the abuse of children and adults. In all probability this number would not be unique and could be repeated in many battalions and regiments throughout the British Army. The medal rolls are divided by regiment/corps. Many soldiers took a generous bounty in 1919 rather than be demobilized and remained in the army. They can tell you where they were dispatched to, what battles they fought in, awards … You can customise your search by regiment, unit, cemetery, date of death, country they are commemorated in etc. When a soldier got married during the war, had a child or their wife died, information relating to their military service was often recorded on the certificate. Safeguarding. However, they are only useful if the soldier in question joined the Royal Artillery prior to April 1942 (when the General Service Corps was formed) or one of the regiments which made up the Royal Tank Corps between 1919 and 1934. Often, an army number won’t be recorded on the card. Pre 1920's, soldiers had regimental numbers … Not all regiments/corps published a journal but most did and these often contain sections recording births, marriages and deaths where you can find army numbers. I’ve never seen an army number appear on a 1914 or 1914/15 Star Medal Roll, though that’s not to say none exist on these documents. Choosing to join the Army is one of the biggest decisions that you'll make, but once you've … The casualty lists are most useful for those who were wounded or went missing. The Devonshire Regiment was allocated numbers 5,608,001-5,662,000. However, if you have a soldier’s army number, then they should be able to find them quickly in their database. This form usually appears once a unit was abroad and it is “Part C Description of other ranks whose return to the unit is particularly requested” which will contain army numbers if it has been filled in correctly. For most armies, this is the basic infantry fighting unit, a formation of eight to 14 soldiers led by a corporal or sergeant and comprising two 'fire teams' each built around one support weapon or light machine gun. For example, if the soldier you’re researching served in the Northamptonshire Regiment and you know they served on Madagascar. Each year, a shortlist of books is considered by ten judges, Regular and Reserve. Instead, from 1942, recruits were allocated true Army (as opposed to regimental) ‘service numbers’, and thus, one cannot identify a soldier’s cap badge using their number, only that they had joined from 1942 onwards. This database contains a listing of World War II British prisoners of war. I have found this collection to be very hit or miss. However, if the soldier you’re researching served in an infantry regiment and you know they served in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Egypt or Sicily etc., then you can often identify the war diaries you need to check relatively quickly. An army number was always recorded, described as a service number on the website which will enable you to order their service record. If a soldier died in service, you don’t need a death certificate or permission of the next of kin to order their file. Commissioned officers did not have service numbers until 1920. HOW TO JOIN. If you’re trying to find a soldier who served in the Royal Artillery or Royal Army Service Corps and that’s all you know, then there’s very little chance of success. The army has a single command structure based at Andover and known as "Army Headquarters". Includes army numbers from 558,471 to 558,761, allotted to personnel enlisted for the … Email: [email protected]. Army numbers often appear on both the envelopes and letters sent by and to the soldier. Information listed about the soldiers includes: name, rank, branch of the armed forces, regiment, POW number, and camp information. All Army Numbers were scrapped from March 1950 and replaced by the new Service Numbers, which are allocated sequentially, starting at 2000000. These books list the army number of those who were tried for a variety of crimes/offences e.g. The army’s 2020 strategy, published in 2015, aimed to have 82,000 army … 1950 onwards: Soldiers in the British Army are currently given an eight-digit Service Number. Army Book of the Year 2020. It can be difficult to tell which is an army number and which is a regimental number. If the soldier you’d like to research died between 3 September 1939 and 31 December 1947, then you can search for them on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) website. In 1920, the way the army issued numbers changed. During the Second World War, the British Army published casualty lists recording officers and other ranks who had lost their lives, were wounded, went missing or were confirmed as prisoners of war. This is a fee-paying website that offers a free trial period and you’ll be taken to the site if you click on the banner below. The British Army Military Book of the Year (#BAMBY) is the Army's own annual literary prize. In the worst-case scenario, it will simply record “soldier”. Unfortunately, a lot of them have been left blank. If you have concerns relating to past or present incidents please do not hesitate to contact the Safeguarding Unit. These have been indexed on Ancestry and can be searched in Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949 (General Series). First, look at my page on army numbers and see if the number on the Medal Index Card matches the number block of the regiment or corps. However, soldiers were often transferred between regiments so you have to be careful. Not every soldier appears who should, the dates of birth are sometimes wrong and only initials are used. You’ll also find army numbers appearing on a variety of other documents in the appendices. Unfortunately, journals are quite difficult to find. This page will show you the steps you can take to try and uncover a soldier’s army number. Despite these problems, it is still a very useful database. Also, you will need an uncommon surname as only initials were recorded. The Life Guards 294001 - 304000. then there will often be multiple men with the same name and date of birth which can cause problems for the Ministry of Defence when they try to find the correct file. For example, they will usually provide at least the regiment or corps and often the rank, e.g. U.S. Army Enlisted Records & Evaluation Center ATTN: Locator 8899 East 56th Street Fort Benjamin Harrison, IN 46249-5301. Take for example Private Reginald Panton, who was killed in action on 12 February 1942 and buried in Pembroke Military Cemetery in Malta. There will be a paragraph recording which despatch the men were mentioned in. However, you will need to know some information already if you’re searching for a common name. The downside is that you’re going to have to know that the soldier in question got into trouble during their service, had a Field General Court-Martial and then spend a lot of time looking through the books. From the later Middle Ages until the English Civil War, when a foreign expeditionary force was needed, such as the one that Henry V of England took to France and that fought at the Battle of Agincourt(1415), the army, a professional one, was raised for the duration of t… The British army is on course to miss its targets for the number of recruits it should have by 2020. Royal Army Medical Corps: 7539001: 7574000: Channel Islands Militia: 7574001: 7657000: Royal Army Ordnance Corps: 7657001: 7681000: Royal Army Pay Corps: 7681001: 7717000: Corps of Military Police: 7717001: 7718800: Military Provost Staff Corps: 7718801: 7720400: Small Arms School: 7720401: 7732400: Army Educational Corps: 7732401: 7733000: Band of the Royal Military College: … If a soldier was taken prisoner of war in Europe and you have multiple possibilities, search their army number in the National Archives’ catalogue. This section is useful if you’re researching a soldier who became ill and was sent away for medical treatment, as they don’t appear in casualty lists. In addition, if your soldier has a common surname, Smith, Jones, Taylor etc. Even for common surnames like Smith and Jones, you can often find the correct soldier providing you know some information about their service. However, they can be very helpful if a soldier continued to serve in the 1920s. If you’re researching a soldier who died during the war and trying to find their army number, use the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website instead. What makes the CWGC’s website such a key record set for finding a soldier’s army number is that it contains both military and biographical information which can be used to identify the correct soldier. This article is more than 3 months old. HOW TO START YOUR CAREER IN THE ARMY. It is this number that you need when applying for a post 1920 Service Record. Equivalent military ranks in the UK Navy, Army, Air Force and US Army, edited by Dr Duncan Anderson of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. While the Ministry of Defence will search for a soldier if you know their date of birth, many recruits gave a false one. Army numbers often appear on both envelopes and letters sent by and to the soldier. Regimental/corps’ museums often have a set, the Imperial War Museum has a reasonable collection but your best bet is to visit the British Library in London. To find out if a regiment/corps published a journal, look up its entry in the May 1939 Army List available to view for free on the National Library of Scotland’s website. Unfortunately, these are few and far between. The British Army is made up of the Regular Army and the Army Reserve. “Corporal Grenadier Guards”. The regimental orders below is from the war diary of the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters) which has a complete set for the first year of the war. Many of the records can only be found with any certainty if you know the number, unless the man had an uncommon name. I have seen plenty of army numbers on certificates so it’s by no means rare. To talk to an Army recruiter, simply select one of the methods of communication below and someone will get you the answers you are looking for. There may also be a section in journals recording promotions, postings, enlistments and discharges. The medal records are part of the WO 100 series which contains the names of well over a hundred thousand soldiers with their army numbers for the inter-war and post-war period. An army number is also important if you don’t want to order a soldier’s service record, or while you wait for it to arrive as you can: There are a number of avenues you can pursue to try and find a soldier’s army number, however, in many cases, you will not be able to find it. A surviving document which is often found within the family is an Army Book 64 Soldier’s Service and Pay Book and an example is shown below. Army numbers are usually recorded on official documents issued during a soldier’s service. A recruit’s information was entered when they joined the corps. For other ranks this was originally a seven digit number and then increased to eight. When searching for a soldier by their name bear in mind that some first names are recorded as initials only. 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