Week 21 - Military - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 21 has the theme of Military, and I have a number of military records from my family.  My father, several uncles, great uncles, cousins once and twice removed, and other various family members served in the two World Wars, and we were incredibly lucky to have the majority of them return.  In fact, with the exception a second cousin once removed, all those who fought in the war,  on both my mother's and father's sides of the family, returned home.  Our only immediate loss was my mother's middle brother, James Pummeroy, who died in 1947 in Argentina, while serving in the Merchant Navy.  Clearly in our family, you were safer on the front lines!

James Pummeroy, last photo taken before his death.

James Pummeroy was born 6th July 1927 and was killed in Argentina 5th October 1947, technically after the war was over, when he fell between his ship and the wharf and was drowned.  The ship was in Argentina to pick up a load of horses to transport to Poland as part of the rebuilding of Europe. 

While my grandmother would very rarely talk about his loss, my mother, who was only 5 years old when her brother died, could remember the arrival of the telegram informing the family of his death.  Although the family had very little money, my grandparents spent several years sending money overseas to pay for the grave plot where he was buried, although I do not know if the grave still survives.  Although all the family were Anglican, James was buried in a Catholic cemetery, and the Argentinian priest who officiated sent the family a set of black and white photographs of the funeral, complete with black hearse drawn by four black horses with large feathered plumes.

Week 11 - Lucky - 32 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Russell Nicholas Clark

The prompt for Week 11 of #52ancestors is "Lucky", and I have been reflecting on just how lucky my maternal grandmother's family was during the Second World War.

My maternal grandmother, Gladys Daisy Clark, was born 30 June 1906, the 5th child (and 5th daughter) of James Nicholas Clark and Pricilla Veronica (nee Mulholland).  Eventually she would be one of 12 children, plus another 2 half siblings from James' first marriage to Eliza Hawley.  Unusually for the time, all the children survived to adulthood.

Leonard Rupert Clark

Gladys had 5 brothers in total, and 4 of them would see active service in World War 2.  Her 5th brother, Norman William Clark, was tragically killed at the age of 20 in a shark attack (see my next #52ancestors post 'Unlucky').

For a family with 4 brothers serving in the war, they were extremely lucky to see all 4 come home safely.  Mostly they saw active service in the Middle East, with 3 surviving the siege of Tobruk - brothers David, Leonard and Russel.  Gladys' eldest son, my uncle David Pummeroy, also served in World War 2, a pilot in the Air Force.  He would also return home uninjured.
Lucky indeed.

Tracing POWs

Were any of your relatives prisoners of war of the Japanese during World War 2?  They may have filled out a Prisoner of War Card, many of which are available online.  A number of these are available through subscription website Find My Past, and for Australian POWs the cards are available free through the National Archives of Australia.

Australian POW card from the NAA

A new find for me is a wonderful Dutch website which translates many of the Japanese symbols used on the cards, helping you trace where your relative was imprisoned.

Free Access to US Military Records

Do you have family members who fought in the United States military in World War 2?
The Ancestry website Fold3 (which specializes in US military records) is offering free access to their 113 million World War II records for the entire month of December 2016.
Included in this collection are 35 million WWII draft registration cards. Also included in the free search for the month are World War II navy muster rolls, missing air crew reports and European army records.
Other records include :

• Submarine Patrol Reports
• Missing Air Crew Reports
• WWII "Old Man's Draft" Registration Cards
• Draft Registration Cards
• Pearl Harbor Muster Rolls
• Naval Press Clippings
• Army JAG Files
• Navy JAG Files
• Holocaust Collection
• Hesse Crown Jewels Court-Martial
• Japanese Air Target Analyses
• WWII Allied Military Conferences
• WWII War Diaries, 1942–1945
• WWII Foreign Military Studies, 1945–54

The Second Air Division Digital Archive

The Second Air Division Digital Archive gathers together more than 30,000 historic photographs, letters, diaries and memoirs relating to members of the Second Air Division of the United States Air Force.
One of three divisions of the Eighth United States Army Air Force (USAAF), at its full strength the organisation controlled 14 heavy bomber airfields in Norfolk and north-east Suffolk, along with five fighter airfields. Sadly, nearly 7,000 of its personnel lost their lives in the line of duty between 1942 and 1945.
Split into sections such as ‘Aircraft and Equipment’, ‘Places’ and ‘War and Remembrance’, notable documents found by browsing the site include a mission diary kept by Richard Vincent of the 445th Bomb Group (Tibenham), plus letters of condolence received following a fatal training session crash that killed nine crew.
However, the resource also provides access to more lighthearted records, showing the close links between the airmen and local communities. An entire sub-section is devoted to war brides and weddings, while an extensive photo gallery reveals how airmen held a rodeo event at Norwich City FC’s Carrow Road ground.
The digitization of these records has been made possible through a generous donation from the legacy of Bernard Newmark, a veteran of the 458th Bomb Group (Horsham St Faith) made through the Second Air Division Memorial Trust.