Subject -
James Fitzpatrick Kellard Stoker I KX526058 (aka as pop)
The Royal Navy Search section was kind enough to furnish me with some records of my grandfathers service and I can't thank them enough as they had to search through Payment & Victual Ledgers to get even the bare bones of his records In everything my grandfather seems to be a bit mysterious and hard to track down but being born in the workhouse and abandoned by his mother I suppose that is only natural.
The first thing that caused me to question what might be missing is the reference -
HMS Duke (Anson Division) 17 May 1943 23 Jun 1943.
I looked this up and HMS Duke appears to be a Stokers Training Shore Establishment in East Anglia.
Surely he did his phase one training before training as a stoker or did ratings forego phase one training and go straight to trade training?
HMS Boscawen (Dockyard Fire Party) 27 June 1943- 30 Sept 1943
I understand this was Portland Naval Base. Then from 01 Oct 1943 until 05 Dec 1943 he is posted as Ships Company to the same establishment.
I always understood that he served in Coastal Forces and when he was alive there were photos of him at sea on MTB's but could a draft to that shore establishments ships company mean a draft to a Coastal Forces Unit based there or were individual craft a draft in its own right?
06 Dec 1943 - 17 Dec 1943 HMS Vernon
I presume this was the old Torpedo School in Portsmouth? How would this fit with his being a Stoker?
19 Dec 1943 - 15 Jul 1944 HMS Boscawen
Stoker Class I. Would he have been there as a shore party, part of the coastal forces base staff or crew on one of the
16 Jul 1944 - 15 Dec 1944 HMS Tadpole
During this period a Casualty Card was raised "Injured/Missing 6 August 1944 Operation Overlord" would this mean whilst serving in Poole or a craft attached to HMS Tadpole? Or could it mean in NW Europe as ships company to one of the Mobile Coastal Forces Bases?
16 Dec 1944 - 19 May 1945 HMS Turtle
A short move from Poole to Hamworthy takes him to the Combined Operations Training Centre, were Coastal Forces Craft attached to that shore establishment?
HMS Ringtail a RNAS in Lancashire and then another RNAS HMS Condor in Scotland
Invalided out of the service on 08 Nov 1945.
The medal card at the end of his service record has not been filled in,
Even if he had never served abroad he would have qualified for the War Medal?
The entry "Service for 1939-45 Star simply has P.P Per 6 R Card" whilst another entry at the top of the page has "S.C. Not Awardable" but I've no idea what that means nor what a 6R Card is?
Thanks in advance for any ideas, thoughts or answers
Author
Topic: I received my grandfathers service record but still have questions (Read 7438 times)