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2/5 Queen's Royal West Surrey + 56 London Division

LinFi

Swinger
I'm reading The Black Cats At War by David Williams and comparing it with my Dad's army history. Unless I've got something wrong, it looks like his regiment was on a ship, on the way to Iraq at a time when my Dad was actually already in Iraq according to his army records - see photo. The book mentions hearing about the victory at El Alamein while on the boat. Apart from his records, I know for certain my Dad was in Baghdad on 4th November 1942 because I have his leave pass giving him permission to go there on that day. That pass is a mystery too. My Dad was inordinately proud of it and kept it all his life but when asked why he went to Baghdad, he would only ever say, 'To see a man about a dog'. Can anyone throw any light on this please?
b2484d01-b200-44a2-a622-5efe13d60829 (1).jpg
 
Others will be better placed to advise, but this is a record of posting, pay and awards during those years - TOS means 'taken on strength' (i.e. transferred in) and SOS means 'struck off strength' (i.e. no longer counted as part of that unit). I can see two hospital admissions, you may have his other documents which detail what that was for (can be for reasons you'd rather not have known about). Most of the pencilled notes do not match the abbreviations as recorded. 'To see a man about a dog' is an old fashioned way of saying you were off to do something you'd rather not discuss or explain. Good luck with the rest of it.
 
Others will be better placed to advise, but this is a record of posting, pay and awards during those years - TOS means 'taken on strength' (i.e. transferred in) and SOS means 'struck off strength' (i.e. no longer counted as part of that unit). I can see two hospital admissions, you may have his other documents which detail what that was for (can be for reasons you'd rather not have known about). Most of the pencilled notes do not match the abbreviations as recorded. 'To see a man about a dog' is an old fashioned way of saying you were off to do something you'd rather not discuss or explain. Good luck with the rest of it.
Thanks. I didn't know what TOS and SOS meant. The hospitalisation wasn't for anything a bit dubious. I do know that! I am also aware what 'To see a man about a dog' means but in my Dad's case it seemed to be linked to some secret thing he was doing as part of his job, there are family rumours that he did some kind of undercover work.
 
Dad may have seconded to
That is very interesting. There is talk in the family of him working undercover in some way. Despite only being a Pte it appears he was on very good terms with Monty and spent time with him. He was a very intelligent man and was considered to be university material at a young age but family finances meant he couldn't take up his offer of a grammar school place and he left his small village school aged 14 to go to work. However, during the war, without making any effort to actually learn the language he quickly became fluent in Arabic whilst posted in Cairo and he then became fluent in Italian soon after being posted there. His Italian resulted in him being kept on after the war to help with the repatriation of Italians. He was also proficient in morse code. Any ide how I could find out if he was part of the security/intelligence thing?
 
Others will be better placed to advise, but this is a record of posting, pay and awards during those years - TOS means 'taken on strength' (i.e. transferred in) and SOS means 'struck off strength' (i.e. no longer counted as part of that unit). I can see two hospital admissions, you may have his other documents which detail what that was for (can be for reasons you'd rather not have known about). Most of the pencilled notes do not match the abbreviations as recorded. 'To see a man about a dog' is an old fashioned way of saying you were off to do something you'd rather not discuss or explain. Good luck with the rest of it.

It may have been something 'hush hush' - in which case ... Basenji !
 
@LinFi Have you tried contacting the Regimental Museum? Their website says they're transcribing their War Diaries. Second World War 1939-1945 although 2nd/5th Bn isn't available on-line yet. It's possible that they might be interested in seeing documents you have (pass etc), or they may not have been uncommon, either way they should be able to offer more specific suggestions than we're likely to on here.. The IWM have some items donated from 2nd/5th men too (says another post in a different forum) , although the IWM tend to prefer larger collections of items.
 
@LinFi Have you tried contacting the Regimental Museum? Their website says they're transcribing their War Diaries. Second World War 1939-1945 although 2nd/5th Bn isn't available on-line yet. It's possible that they might be interested in seeing documents you have (pass etc), or they may not have been uncommon, either way they should be able to offer more specific suggestions than we're likely to on here.. The IWM have some items donated from 2nd/5th men too (says another post in a different forum) , although the IWM tend to prefer larger collections of items.
Thanks for that suggestion. I'll definitely do that.
 
From what dad told me and a book I have, think it’s called “fulfilment of a mission,”it’s an even more forgotten part of the war, if such a thing is possible after the forgotten 14th. Wavell was In charge of Middle East command at the time and had his hands full with Vichy French Government there and protection the Iraqi oil fields. I think the RAF base was Habbaniya, ( please correct if wrong). But later thinking was that if Adolf had managed to get past the Black and Caspian seas and Rommel could get through Egypt then Iraq was a target.
 
From what dad told me and a book I have, think it’s called “fulfilment of a mission,”it’s an even more forgotten part of the war, if such a thing is possible after the forgotten 14th. Wavell was In charge of Middle East command at the time and had his hands full with Vichy French Government there and protection the Iraqi oil fields. I think the RAF base was Habbaniya, ( please correct if wrong). But later thinking was that if Adolf had managed to get past the Black and Caspian seas and Rommel could get through Egypt then Iraq was a target.
Thanks.
 

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