other rank records
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Does anyone know where the names and details of those ubiquitous "O.R." men would have been kept? I assume someone wrote down their names for troop movements, casualties, etc., but in these diaries only the officers are ever named.
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simonedi
moderator
the IWM should hold records
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David_Underdown
moderator
Do you mean personal records? In which case what survived Second World War bombing is held by The National Archives (and available digitally in partnership with Ancestry), or more along the lines of the diaries? Originally the diaries would have had "Part II" orders along with them, which would have contained more detailed information on postings etc. Unfortunately the Official Historian of the war opted to discard them (You can see examples online in the Canadian war diaries, digitised by Library and Archives Canada)
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HeatherC
moderator
Sarah - if you have a diary for a smaller unit (I am doing an RE Field Squadron) then they do indeed mention the names of lots of ORs. I'd only ever looked at Infantry Battalion Diaries before starting this project and so had not realised how many soldiers' names are mentioned in such a Unit diary.
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I meant more along the lines of the diaries -- presumably, for example, the families of casualties would be notified somehow, which means someone was keeping track of who "3 O.R.s killed" and whatnot actually consisted of. That's sad that the Part IIs aren't around anymore!
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