This is the Message Centre for Mark E
Return to sender
Mark E Started conversation Mar 3, 2004
Well, I've had a bit of a break from the research, mostly sunning myself on the beaches of SE Asia and A/NZ. It can be a real hard knock life sometimes 
So what's happened? Well, whilst I was away, I received a lovely letter from the MoD, explaining that unfortunately they don't have my dad's service record and, um, that's it. At least they returned my cheque for 25 quid.
BUT - some progress has been made. My brother's wife stumbled across some papers (not literally stumbled, obviously. It's only paper after all). Some papers written by my dad. And according to my brother, some papers written by my dad about what he did during the war. Not comprehensively, but certainly more than we knew previously, and seemingly confirming the odd hunch we had (like where he got injured).
I won't spoil it now by revealing what it says* as I haven't seen the photocopied papers yet, but hopefully tonight I will be able to have a look at some good news the Postie was able to bring me.
Fingers crossed, anyway.
I've also discovered that the Imperial War Museum** has an online index of their catalogue, and a couple of quick searches reveal that they hold a manuscript from someone who was aboard the Venus around the time my dad was, and a couple who fought with Coastal Forces. So if I can book myself some time in the IWM reading room, they might give me a flavour of what dad's service history was like.
*I know a huge number of people read this journal. The numbers must run into the high 'one's and that includes me.
** http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk
Key: Complain about this post
Return to sender
More Conversations for Mark E
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."