Well it's the first time I've logged into ARRSE for a good few years and despite the many changes I see some familiar names knocking about!
Reason I'm here: I'm helping my gran do some digging on her uncle (my great-great-uncle, I guess), who was a prisoner at Java POW camp and died in the Suez Maru incident. I've looked at the gov.uk information and think I know what I'm doing, but I wanted to check I've got all my facts and plans together regarding my gran's hopes that she can apply for his medals.
Gran believes she's NoK as he had no children and his now-deceased wife remarried (to his best mate) a few years after his death. I've already told her to get confirmation, so that should be underway, but having looked at the application forms it seems that NoK is self-declared with no proof necessary. Is this the case or would we be expected to submit some form of paperwork for that?
NoK details aside, the medal application form seems pretty straightforward but implies you know which medals you're applying for - which we don't. We have a service number, but no service record, so I'm assuming the first step is to pay the £30 and apply for a copy of that. Once we get confirmation of campaign medals from the record, we complete the medal application form and off it goes.
Alternatively we could tap up the CWGC and see if this have his details, but I know gran would appreciate an official copy of his record. Does you actually get anything tangible when you apply for the record in this way, or is it simply an email listing the key details? If the latter, CWGC would be as effective and obviously free.
Have I got everything covered or is there more to it than that? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
BNM
Reason I'm here: I'm helping my gran do some digging on her uncle (my great-great-uncle, I guess), who was a prisoner at Java POW camp and died in the Suez Maru incident. I've looked at the gov.uk information and think I know what I'm doing, but I wanted to check I've got all my facts and plans together regarding my gran's hopes that she can apply for his medals.
Gran believes she's NoK as he had no children and his now-deceased wife remarried (to his best mate) a few years after his death. I've already told her to get confirmation, so that should be underway, but having looked at the application forms it seems that NoK is self-declared with no proof necessary. Is this the case or would we be expected to submit some form of paperwork for that?
NoK details aside, the medal application form seems pretty straightforward but implies you know which medals you're applying for - which we don't. We have a service number, but no service record, so I'm assuming the first step is to pay the £30 and apply for a copy of that. Once we get confirmation of campaign medals from the record, we complete the medal application form and off it goes.
Alternatively we could tap up the CWGC and see if this have his details, but I know gran would appreciate an official copy of his record. Does you actually get anything tangible when you apply for the record in this way, or is it simply an email listing the key details? If the latter, CWGC would be as effective and obviously free.
Have I got everything covered or is there more to it than that? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
BNM