The best way to find first world war records is to start with the medal records. These are relatively complete and are available on line. With this you should be able to establish the service number and in what part of the war the person served. With this information, you then have to shift your research effort to a visit to the national archives in Kew or the local military museum / archives of what ever force your ancestor served in. Don't forget that many of the first world war records were hit by a bomb in the 2nd world war and therefore lost. As a result of this, so that the War Office could continue paying the pensions, they reconstructed the pension records, and these also provide a relatively complete record of those who served. And as noted above, the medal records survived complete. As a starting point, I suggest that you try this link: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/medals.asp Wishing you every success in your researches Giles Colchester, Researching COLCHESTER family, any spelling, any time, any place And PACKARD in Suffolk Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 11:44:01 +0100 From: "David Watkins" <davewatkins@rockhouse186.fsnet.co.uk> Subject: [GLS] 1st World War Service records To: <GLOUCESTER-L@rootsweb.com> A couple of months ago a web site was posted here which showed where the service records of soldiers who served in the First World war could be accessed. Does anyone remember the address please? Carol