Hello List! This is just a shot in the dark. I have a much older cousin whose parents parted when she was six year's old. She has no information about her father, other than her parent's marriage certificate giving the usual details. This is not proving as easy as it may seem. There is a possibility her father was born in Scotland, and his name JOHN JOHNSTONE is very common. She can remember, however, his conscription in 1939 to what we think would be the EAST SURREY REGIMENT. Does anyone know if it's possible to get copies of conscription papers, or indeed if these papers would give place of birth? He was in fact discharged a few month's later because he was hard of hearing, so there is a possibility of Discharge Papers as well, but I have no idea what information they hold either! Yours hopefully (and very frustatedly) Julie

It appears you are talking about a man who enlisted or was called-up for the British Army (this is, after all, an international list). The situation is that your cousin is almost certainly entitled to obrtain a copy of her father's service record, since she is an immediate next-of-kin (and can presumably satisfy the authorities as to that). The 'Catch 22' is that she cannot obtain it without knowing his army service number (and it seems she has no knowledge of that)! The records of British service personnel of World War II are still closed to public gaze and are likely to remain so for quite some years yet. Only the service man or woman concerned, or immediate n-o-k is the service person is deceased, can obtain copies of the records. I think your cousin will have to pursue the normal 'civilian' family history research paths for the moment, unless some document turns up which has that elusive service number on it. If he had any children while serving, ity is possible that their birth certificate might have the rank, number and regiment. Richard Goring ----- Original Message ----- From: "Julie Blackman" <julie@chatwood.eclipse.co.uk> To: <WORLDWAR2-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 6:36 PM Subject: [WORLD WAR II] CONSCRIPTION RECORDS - JOHN JOHNSTONE BORN 1905 > Hello List! > > This is just a shot in the dark. I have a much older cousin whose parents parted when she was six year's old. She has no information about her father, other than her parent's marriage certificate giving the usual details. This is not proving as easy as it may seem. There is a possibility her father was born in Scotland, and his name JOHN JOHNSTONE is very common. She can remember, however, his conscription in 1939 to what we think would be the EAST SURREY REGIMENT. Does anyone know if it's possible to get copies of conscription papers, or indeed if these papers would give place of birth? He was in fact discharged a few month's later because he was hard of hearing, so there is a possibility of Discharge Papers as well, but I have no idea what information they hold either! > > Yours hopefully (and very frustatedly) > > Julie > > > ==== WORLDWAR2 Mailing List ==== > Please do not send virus warnings to the list. If you have concerns about a virus, contact your list admin or join VIRUS-DISCUSSIONS-L@rootsweb.com subscribe in the subject line. We are an international list. Please remember to tell us what country your ancestor was from and what country you are in now if different. This helps us help you. If you give dates please help us understand the date you are referring to. For example: 4 Nov 1944 or Nov 4, 1944. > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > >

Greetings, Have you tried looking for his service records? Newspapers of the area? Perhaps one needs to go back to the known and proven facts. How do you know that his name is John Johnson? Is this on any sort of birth, marriage, or death certificate? I looked in the British Vital Records Index CD's, but they stop around 1900. (There was one entry for 1905 from Cumberland. There was 5178 listings for John Johnson, less if one takes exact spelling. Regretfully census records are not available to cover 1905 at present. Just possible avenues to look into. Peter Julie Blackman wrote: >Hello List! > >This is just a shot in the dark. I have a much older cousin whose parents parted when she was six year's old. She has no information about her father, other than her parent's marriage certificate giving the usual details. This is not proving as easy as it may seem. There is a possibility her father was born in Scotland, and his name JOHN JOHNSTONE is very common. She can remember, however, his conscription in 1939 to what we think would be the EAST SURREY REGIMENT. Does anyone know if it's possible to get copies of conscription papers, or indeed if these papers would give place of birth? He was in fact discharged a few month's later because he was hard of hearing, so there is a possibility of Discharge Papers as well, but I have no idea what information they hold either! > >Yours hopefully (and very frustatedly) > >Julie > > >==== WORLDWAR2 Mailing List ==== >Please do not send virus warnings to the list. If you have concerns about a virus, contact your list admin or join VIRUS-DISCUSSIONS-L@rootsweb.com subscribe in the subject line. We are an international list. Please remember to tell us what country your ancestor was from and what country you are in now if different. This helps us help you. If you give dates please help us understand the date you are referring to. For example: 4 Nov 1944 or Nov 4, 1944. > >============================== >Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the >last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > > > > >