WW2 75 – 18 April 1945 – Death of a ‘Tankie’ in Italy: Serjeant Francis Edward Steward (1918-45) 8th Battalion, Royal Tank Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps
Continued from LIEUTENANT HUMPHREY RICHARD HICKSON MARRIOTT (1920-45) , 14 April 1945: The PoW killed by ‘friendly fire’ https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2023/12/ww2-75-14-april-1945-pow-killed-by.html The project of writing profiles of all the WW2 casualties associated with Budleigh Salterton, as recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, is drawing to a close. Throughout research for the project it has been frustrating to find so little information about some of the individuals concerned. Equally frustrating is my lack of access to service records. Nearly 80 years after the end of WW2 you would think that the National Archives would be the place to look. Not so, they say. ‘Though we hold some records relating to soldiers’ service after 1920, many for the Second World War period are still held by the Ministry of Defence,’ I learn from the website. ‘However, over 9 million of these records, covering service in the Br...