Unlocking Your Family's Service In World War 2

Famous Piper Bill Millin 's
D Day landing at
Sword Beach, Normandy

With the D Day commemorations this weekend, it brings into focus the part played in World War 2 by many people's families.  

How do you find out about the part your family played in the World War 2? 

Well, it is a straightforward process to obtain your own service record or the records of your family who served in World War 2 as members of the UK armed forces.  

The process differs, depending on whether you are requesting your own records, if you are the next of kin of a deceased service person or if you simply have a general interest in an individual. 

The general rules surrounding all service records are that there is no fee for providing a copy of your own service record.  If the member of the armed services is deceased, again there is generally no fee to anyone who was the spouse or civil partner at the time of the service person's death.  This also applies to their parents if there is no spouse or civil partner.  Other people applying for a record will normally be charged a fee. At the time of publishing , the fee is £30.

There may be some other costs as you may need to provide a death certificate or perhaps proof of your own relationship to the deceased person and if you do not have these certificates then you will need to purchase them.

Applications go to the relevant service body and can take some time to be found as they are increasingly being asked for records for family history reasons. However, they will respond and in our experience, they are also good at providing information about the meaning of all the various abbreviations and terms. 

You need to give them as much information as possible to track down the correct person - especially if it is a common name. That's why it is important to know what information is important and Kin Tree can help you with this as we are experienced in helping with applications.

Under the scheme, and in recognition of the duty of care owed to the family of the deceased subject, for a period of 25 years following the date of death of the subject and without the consent of the next of kin, the MOD will disclose only:

• surname
• forename
• rank
• service number
• regiment/corps
• place of birth
• age
• date of birth
• date of death where this occurred in service
• the date an individual joined the service
• the date of leaving
• good conduct medals (for example, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (LS&GCM)), any orders of chivalry and gallantry medals (decorations of valour) awarded, some of which may have been announced in the London Gazette

After this period, and if it is held, in addition the MOD will disclose without the requirement for next of kin consent:

• the units in which he/she served
• the dates of this service and the locations of those units
• the ranks in which the service was carried out and details of campaign medals awarded

If you have obtained the permission of the next of kin then the 25 year rule does not apply.

For more information on applying or if you want to learn more about the other records available on service personnel contact us at kintree@ymail.com.

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