Hi! New Member trying to authenicate family lore about Great Grandmother lost during London Bombings

Hi Everyone! This looks like a great forum and I am really looking forward to participating. I am in Southern California, USA so researching ancestors in Britain is not easy. Especially since very little info has been handed down to me and I have no living family members. All that I have is my grandfathers name, date of birth and a little info about his family. I remember my Grandad telling me about his grandmother (I think) who got tired of leaving her home during air raids and was killed during a raid. A few years ago before my dad died, I asked him if this story was true and he said that it was. Unfortunatley I failed to get more info from my dad and I do not know if this was my grandfathers mother or grandmother and the only name that I have is my grandads mothers first name and married last name. I do not know her maiden name or her mothers name, first or last. I do not know where to turn for more info. I am registered with Ancestry.com but I have come to several dead ends. Can anyone point me in the right direction as far as research? I don't know how to proceed and I really want to solve this mystery. My father was a teenager when the war started and he lied about his age in order to enlist in the Army. I believe that his Great Grandmothers loss due to a bombing raid may have spurred my father into enlisting. Knowing him, I can really see that. That is why I so badly want to know her name and what happened to her. Please Help!

Thank You all!

 

Welcome to the forum, there are some grand people here who can steer you in the right direction!

 

Welcome

If your relative was killed in an air raid in the UK, their name should be shown in the records of civilian war dead on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.

:: CWGC ::

You will need to select "Second World War" and "Civilian" from the appropriate drop down menus.

Some of the records have details of other family members and a home address.

This may provide further leads for you to investigate.

Hope this helps a little.

Regards

Richie
Hope this helps

 

The link for the civilians killed during the bombing raids will be very useful, once you have identified the name for which you need to search. You need to start by doing a basic genealogy search. Somewhere like rootsweb.com (now part of the ancestry.com group) has basic guides RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees No. for recording your family tree. Whenever we teach someone how to trace their family tree we tell them to start with themselves, writing down literally all their own names, and general information about themselves. Then do the same for each member of your family. Their are several free programs available to help with the process. As you write out all the names of your siblings, then your father and his siblings, back each generation it will quite possibly give you possibly names for which to search as more often than not, families carry on family names. If you have information on your father`s enlistment, you may be able to get a copy of his military record - at least a genealogical version if you are lucky - from which it may have names of next of kin. Since you do not have living family members, do you have copies of obituaries or records, such as birth or death, or baptismal records. By having written down everything you recall, you may find that you recall the name of a place for which you could do an obituary search which may list some details to help direct you onto your next level of research. You may even find that by combining this with using the cwgcc list of civilian deaths and narrowing it into the probable age range that you may be able to focus your search. Unfortunately, there is not a lot that we can do to assist you until you get some of the groundwork done in terms of names, etc. You may also want to look into making contact with a local genealogical association who could give you additional suggestions. Oh and do make a point of looking in any old family documents or looking at old family memorabilia as you can be very surprised at what you find - I know I`ve found things in old address books such as names and birthdates.

 

Welcome aboard and keep us posted on your research.

 

Welcome, I hope some of our members will be able to help

 

I would be sceptical about your father's story of having lied about his age in order to enlist. That certainly happened in Britain in WW1, but, partly because of the embarrassing results of official collusion with such activity, the authorities took much greater care with checking personal details before enlistment in WW2. In any case, because conscription was introduced before the declaration of war in 1939, there was neither the enthusiasm for voluntary enlistment as happened in 1914, nor the official encouragement for it. Moreover, even if he did voluntarily enlist, it would have been to the Territorial Army, the part-time volunteer reserve, and after formal enlistment he would have been sent home to await a call-up notice, which could well have been some months later.

 

I know, it would seem far fetched. However, when he died and we were carrying out his wishes to be buried in a military cemetary a discrepancy was noted in his records. When we were finalizing all the paperwork with the Veterans Representative and ordering the marker she asked me why I had written down his date of birth as 1929. All of the veterans records showed his birth date as 1928. His actual birth date was in fact 1929. I realize that means he was in at the tail end, but he was sent to Japan where things took a bit longer to clear up. So we realized that he was telling the truth. Additionally, I recall seeing some of the VA paperwork at that same time and one of the forms showed where he had served and the dates. He also served two terms in Korea.

 

My Dad had also lied about his age and was only 17, and had to get things sorted out when it came time for old age pension, etc. It is not unusual to hear of various cases where the soldiers lied about their ages in WWII. In my Dad's case, it was because he had lied earlier when he enlisted in the Militia before the War.

 

Welcome, kwhieldon

Could we have some names, please, to try and help you a bit more?

Steve W.

 

There is clearly some confusion here. The only 20th century Militia (as distinct from the earlier Militia which became defunct in the 19th century), was that established by the Military Training Act 1939, requiring 6 months full-time military training for all males aged between 20 and 22. The procedure began with a requirement for relevant men to register at their local Employment Exchange on Saturday 3 June 1939. That was followed by a notice to attend a medical examination, and then call-up. There was in fact a call-up of only one age cohort, because the declaration of war caused the Military Training Act to be suspended (and eventually repealed), being superseded by call-up for indefinite military service under the National Service (Armed Forces ) Act 1939.

Apologies: this thread began with the discussion of a British soldier, and I assumed that Michelle was comparing it with her father in a like situation. I have just noticed that her father is described as Canadian. I know nothing of any Canadian Militia.

 

In your original posting you said that your father was "a teenager when the war started". It now appears that on 3 September 1939 he was at most aged ten, and possibly only nine, depending on his actual date of birth. Even by supposedly adding a year to his age, I cannot see how he could possibly have been in the Army "at the tail end" of the war, let alone being "sent to Japan". British troops were not sent to Japan, which was occupied by the Americans.

He woulld have become liable to call-up soon after the war, and if you care to post his actual date of birth, I can tell you the precise date on which he would have been liable for registration prior to that call-up.

 

I think we need some clarification in order to assist further.

I have interpreted the information provided to indicate that your father was in the American army, but his relatives - grandmother, great grandmother were in London. If this is the case then, with a birthdate of 1928 used, in 1945 he would have been 17. He would not be the first to be 17 in the US Army - I believe he would have been allowed to join if he had the signed permission of a parent or guardian.

PS Sorry for the confusion re nationality Coder, I was jsut indicating that in other nation`s armies it was possible to enlist despite being under age.

 

Hello there and welcome to the forum!

 

I agree that clarification is needed. The original posting was at best ambiguous as to nationality, and no mention was made of anyone in the family acquiring US citizenship, which I assume would be necessary before enlisting in the US Army. Even with US nationality, and an assumed birth year of 17, I would still be sceptical as to the soldier actually being sent to the Far East before the end of hostilities in August 1945.