I hope this is the right place to come for help with this. My Grandad, soon to be 102, fought in the second world war and recently told me about something I found really interesting but I have no idea where to begin searching to find out more.
He was part of REME as an engineer and was also assigned to the 79th armoured division. He has told me for years about his work with the tanks which I find really interesting; however, recently he has told me he is also a Bren gunner and was a top marksman. These didn't quite add up to me but I doubt he would have made that up.
It's also worth mentioning that when we tried looking up his 'army number' with The Soldiers and Sailers Families Association, it came up with nothing.
Anyway, a family friend mentioned that during WW2 some soldiers were given additional responsibilities or skills and these were kept a secret (also spanning to intelligence work). He said that it would also make sense if his number didn't return any searches.
Basically, how likely or true is any of this? And if there is some truth to it, how would I go about finding out more?
I see nothing wrong with the concept of being a REME, assigned to 79th Armored, and being a Bren Gunner. The 79th was a specialty engineering unit, for front-line roles. It was commanded by Percy Hobart, and was the unit known as "Hobart's Funnies", they were the various derivative vehicles varying from bridgelayers to flamethrower tanks. As a front line unit, it would be expected that they would have at least some proficiency with Bren guns, and they would have been on some level of issue. Heck, I'm a tanker, and I've qualified top rating with a bipod M240 machinegun.
The "secret serial number" thing seems a bit off. More likely he's mis-remembered it, or the supporting paperwork has gone missing in the past seven decades.
Hello there! As your question is related to looking for identification/information regarding military personnel, our Guide on Military Identification may be of use to you. It provides a number of different resources, including how to request service records from a number of national agencies around the world, as well as graphical aids to assist in deciphering rank, unit, and other forms of badges or insignia. While the users here may still be able to lend you more assistance, hopefully this will provide a good place to start!