Recently the old girl gave me grandads WW2 journal because she knew I'd be interested. He died long before I was born and neither mum or her brother or sister knew he served until they found all his old journals after he'd passed away.

 

Being ANZAC day I thought it might be interesting to see if I could find out anything about his army history.

 

His journal is dated for every entry made and I'm trying to piece together where he was throughout the war. It's hard to put it all together because his old-school cursive handwriting is pretty faded now and there seem to be alot of entries where he drank too much wine and went swimming (he was 18 at the time so it seems fair). He doesn't go into any great detail in regards to any operations he was involved in and the journal will often go unwritten in for days before he makes a single one line entry like "Went on patrol and it was cold."

 

To make matters worse, finding specific records of Anzac activities in the European campaign seems to be next to impossible. However he does mention alot of different locations he visited when he had time to write. He started in Cairo, went through Greece and Italy and even mentions visiting Monte Cassino after the battle.

 

Anyways, I've tried googling some stuff and have managed to pick up a book about Anzac troops in Greece during WW2 but I was hoping someone could help with his regiment details so I can look into it further.

 

The first page of his journal has the details:

81240 Headquarters Squ

3rd A.I.B

Waiouru

 

I'm guessing the number is his troop number and I know Waiouru is the Army base he would have been trained in but what's A.I.B stand for?

I figured armoured infantry as there were Kiwi armoured divisions in Italy but I can't find the abbreviation anywhere when researching.

 

Can anyone shed some light? It'd be much appreciated as none of my family know anything about this chapter in my grandfathers history apart from the scripts in his journal.

Wow interesting story...i know there were Kiwis in Crete (Greece) when the Germans

invaded...at that time the biggest paratrooper invasion in history.

 

Sounds like he was in that Theater.

the Aust War Memorial has a research centre

 

http://www.awm.gov.au/research/ - maybe the NZ one does too (either online on in-situ).

 

I would think that AIB stands for Aukland Infantry Battallion

 

http://www.army.mil.nz/culture-and-history/personnel-archives/resources/ww1-army-service-records.htm

 

Edit: 81240 could be his service number?

Edited April 24, 200916 yr by Sapper28

yeh i was going to say that noddy , make sure you look after that diary mate .

Another plan of attack to find out more information.

 

Write to the Dept. of Defence (sorry but that's what we call it in Aust - not sure what you guys call it over there) and ask for copies of his service records.

 

I obtained my Grandfathers who served in the RAN in WWII. Very interesting read - particually his medical records. I got a call from a Major before they sent them out asking why I wanted them etc. etc. She warned me there would be some things in there which might upset my mum - and I can remember to this day one thing she said.... 'you have to remember he was away from his family for a very long time and he was a young man'... turns out he contracted gonorrhea. Now not casting judgement but I guess there are lots of ways to get this

If you're in NZ you could call the Waiuru army museum they'd have heaps of info..

 

As far as N. Africa campaigns go El Alamein, Monte Cassino & Tobruk were some major battles I think they had about 20,000 troops there maybe more.

 

El Alamein is prob the most famous one w/ NZ & Aus under either Montgomery or Freyberg, engaged against the Germans under Rommel.

 

 

 

 

To make matters worse, finding specific records of Anzac activities in the European campaign seems to be next to impossible.

We weren't involved in Europe at all. The first & second divisions went to N. Africa.

Edited April 24, 200916 yr by seo iphone

hey Bishos, this is right in my cup of tea. I'll have a dig around for ya.

Military history of New Zealand during World War II

It appears your National Archives doesnt cover ww2 yet. Shame, really, as the Australian one is excellent, and has digitized lots of records. Go here Aussies:

 

http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/recordsearch/index.aspx

 

the search engine would be getting hammered today so it will be slow. But type in your relatives names, rough service dates, service number if possible and away you go.

 

But back to bishos,

 

81240 Headquarters Squ

3rd A.I.B

Waiouru

 

Thats possibly his first unit, possibly training. Very high odds, by the campaigns you listed, that he served with the 2nd New Zealand Division, a very highly respected Allied formation.

 

What you need to do is read the journal closely and take notes. Look for several things - places and dates in chronological order, and unit numbers. If you IM me some results, we can possibly have a good chance, of nailing down his Battalion, and then battles he fought in.

 

Learn to read cursive writing, its a tough challenge!

 

But yeah, read that journal closely bud. hell if its not to big scan it, and ill do it!

Hey Bishos my brother works at the Australian War Memorial here in canberra... i know all the ww1 stuff is all digitised, but not much of the ww2 stuff is.

 

Ill ask him, he might be able to dig some stuff up... he found out alot about my great grandfather with his service in ww1 and ww2. (my great grandfather burned all his journals from ww1 and ww2 so we have nothing, but a uniform, medals, and photos! your lucky u have the journals)

 

 

being on the inside he has more resources to pull from! but i cant guarrantee he can get anything... being a kiwi soldier im not sure how much he will be able to dig up! but its worth a try.

 

 

EDIT Try these links

 

New Zealand Defence Force Personnel Files

 

Gaining access or information

 

Inquries form

 

cenotaph and more

 

 

I can help more if you can give me his full name(s)

 

edit....

 

using the serial number u gave us, guessing that wat it is.

81240

Firstly are u sure that they are all the digits? cause searching those digits didnt bring up everything, the ones it did show had extra digits...

 

have a look at these 3 names HERE , similar serial numbers, but last digit is different. similar to yours but with 1 extra digit on the end.

Edited April 25, 200916 yr by Gypsy8

http://www.nzetc.org/ is a great text & history resource.

 

http://www.nzdf.mil.nz has a bunch of useful stuff around service records.

Edited April 25, 200916 yr by Yamato-2142

Hey my Grandfather was in a NZ armoured division in Italy he was in the tanks. Wouldn't it be something if they were in the same area....

 

Wish I'd been more interested in the war before he died - I think he would've had a good story or 2...

Thanks heaps for the replies guys. Those links have been pretty informative but haven't come up with any direct results as of yet. Did manage to find my great grandfathers WW1 army records though so that was a decent win.

 

My brother borrowed the journals for the weekend but when I get them back I'll see if I can post some dates and locations. Even if we don't come up with anything specific it's still pretty interesting as it seems most people don't know much about the ANZAC's during the Greece and Italy campaigns. It's mostly North Africa and Pacific stuff. The Maori regiments are pretty fascinating in themselves, managed to find dads uncle in that.

 

EDIT: Great story noddy. I reckon I'm also probably going to have to request records to get anything specific. And Pill Monster there's probably a good chance they were in the same area. Granddad was a mechanic in peace time so I have a funny feeling he might have been in a support company. So many lost stories, I can see why so many people love researching family trees. Alot of the stuff you dig up is frothingly ace.

Edited April 25, 200916 yr by Rikidozan