Robert James 'Glyn' Hatcher #3964609 No.12 Commando?

Trying to find information about my Grandad, the records office has lost the details due to fire or some such.

He was in the Welch Reg't and was part of the NWEF for a month in 1940

I strongly suspect he was a commando but have no evidence. Can anyone help?

Hello Scratcher,
Welcome to the CVA.
Well you haven't given us much to go on I'm afraid and, at the moment, I can find nothing to link your GF with the Commandos.
That doesn't mean to say that he wasn't in The Commandos and we'll do our best to try and find out.

Scratcher wrote:Trying to find information about my Grandad, the records office has lost the details due to fire or some such.

He was in the Welch Reg't and was part of the NWEF for a month in 1940

I strongly suspect he was a commando but have no evidence. Can anyone help?

You say that you 'strongly suspect' your GF was a commando but have no evidence - can you give us any idea why you think he was a commando?

If you have applied to the MoD for his records I'm sure that they'd have been a little more specific as to why they can't find the records rather than "...due to fire or some such."

If you can provide us with any information - no matter how irrelevant it may seem to you - and/or some photos and documents we may be able to come up with something.
I'm presuming that your GF is no longer with us?
Is your grandmother still alive - is she able to tell you anything?
Other family members?

Nick

Hi, My father applied to see the records, but they seem to be missing.

We know from what my grandma said that grandad went to Norway more than once, but his service book only reads one trip, and that he did volunteer for 'more dangerous duty's'

He enlisted in Hereford on 18-Oct-39
Discharged on a medical 2-June-44
NWEF dates are 10-May-40 to 10-June-40

His training dates for NCO (Q1), Weapon training (Q1), Gas (Q1),PT and battle school were in 1942

And had 4 service awards on 18-Oct-43

The dates seem to me to be a bit muddled, but these are the details from his Service book.

I appreciate there isn't a lot, I was just hoping really if anyone knew his name.

Thank you for your help

Hi,
I'm sorry to be so persistent on something you have already answered but when did your father apply to see the records? Was it sometime ago?
The reason I ask is that in my experience the department involved was not as efficient with regards searching for records as it seems today. Also, the depth of the search and the quality of the information received has, in the past, depended on the individual at 'the other end'.
I remember when I first applied for my father's records I was told that there were no records matching the details supplied - I applied again (using the same details naturally) and was pleased to receive a very comprehensive set of records.
It may be worth getting in contact with the said office again and explaining that there is a mystery concerning the 'disappearance' of the records.
Bear in mind, however, the office is a very busy dept and deals in all matter of things including applications for Army families welfare etc.

Scratcher wrote:I appreciate there isn't a lot, I was just hoping really if anyone knew his name.

If only it was that easy!

As I'm sure you'll appreciate, there were many hundreds of young men in the Commandos and when in 1946 the Army Council decided that the Army Commandos were to be disbanded, no provision was allowed or made for any depository or office which would have at least contained a complete Roster of Names of the men who served in the various Commando Units.
We, as an association, are doing our best to address this and there are a number of us constantly searching for names of commandos - sadly there will always be some that we miss.
We Will Remember Them.

We are also proud to boast a good number of Commando Veterans as members of our Association but, alas, those numbers are diminishing each year, and those that remain with us are unable to remember the names of all those in their Troop - let alone the men in their Commando -
especially as colleagues fell or got injured and were replaced by 'new' faces.

Keep looking and don't forget to add any little snippets of info you find - it just may be the key to further info

Nick

I shall keep looking, and trying with the service records, many thanks for your help.