Deciphering WWII service acronyms
Q
I’m writing on behalf of my friend Peter Lee, whose late father, 3533087 Sergeant Ernest Harry Lee, was unwilling to talk about his WWII Army experience. According to his service record, which Peter obtained from MOD, Historical Disclosures Glasgow, Peter’s father only served in the UK and India, the latter from 1944 in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, with no mention of active service in Burma, yet he was awarded the Burma Star. Previously he was a Sergeant with the Beds & Herts Regiment, but arrived in India reduced to Corporal with no mention of a disciplinary mark against him. Would the answer be in the pages I’ve supplied of his service record during his time in India? Perhaps the clues are in the abbreviations and Army jargon if this could be deciphered please?
A
Looking through 3533087 Sergeant Ernest H. Lee’s WWII service file pages that were provided (not all of which are illustrated) Ernest experienced an above average number of regimental transfers and a variety of different rank structures pertaining in the British Army at that time. Nevertheless he must have enjoyed his postings, notwithstanding it was a period of conflict. There is a saying amongst some WWII veterans that they had ‘a good war’, meaning that fate intervened to keep them safe, whilst others went immediately into action in very dangerous circumstances and were not so fortunate. When Ernest enlisted on 15 December 1939, he was posted for the first six months to the Manchester Regiment’s machine-gun company. His subsequent transfer to the 5th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment in August 1940 would normally have put him in the front line, but after undergoing 14 months of infantry training, a decision was made to convert the
battalion into the 86th Anti-tank Regiment on 1 November 1941, when all 900-plus men swapped infantry attire for the uniform of the Royal Artillery, including artillery insignia and status, even Ernest’s rank of ‘Pte’ (Private) was changed to ‘Gnr’ (Gunner) a completely new experience and the start of even more training for Ernest on the Home Front; in fact Ernest spent four and a half years in training or as an infantry instructor in the UK, which service entitled him to the Defence Medal. Ernest was posted to the 78th Anti-tank Regiment on 28 April 1942 as a ‘W/bdr’ (see explanation below) and qualified as a Regimental Signaller with 37th Signal Training Regiment in August 1942, gaining the crossed flags qualifying badge. He was then transferred again in December 1943, this time to the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment, serving as an NCO Instructor at No.3 Infantry Training Centre based in Bury St Edmonds; ending his UK service in July 1944 with the substantive rank of Corporal.
CONFUSING WWII NCO RANK ACRONYMS
Ernest’s various NCO (Non Commissioned Officer) promotion acronyms can be very confusing, but useful to understand if you had an ancestor who served in the Army during the war. The particular ones found in Ernest’s record are (in ascending order) U/A/L/BDR; P/A/L/BDR; U/A/BDR; P/A/BDR; W/bdr; W/cpl, Cpl, U/A/L/SGT; P/A/L/SGT and L/ Sgt. These are interpreted as follows:
• ‘Bdr’ is Bombardier, the Royal Artillery rank equivalent to Corporal;
• ‘U’ = Unpaid;
• ‘A’ = Acting;
• ‘P’ = Paid;
• ‘W’ = War Substantive (i.e. the rank is guaranteed only until hostilities cease);
• ‘Cpl’ = Corporal;
• ‘L/bdr’ = Lance-bombardier (a Royal Artillery rank equal to a Lance-corporal);
• and ‘L/sgt’ = Lance-sergeant.
The ‘Lance’ prefix in both cases indicates that this is an ‘appointment’ and not an official rank. It was given (and taken away) at the discretion of the soldier’s commanding officer temporarily to fill NCO manning requirements and/ or to see whether the man is suitable for promotion to full Corporal or full Sergeant respectively. When removed, it had no detrimental effect on the soldier’s record.
To answer one of your two specific questions, after Ernest came to the end of his period with the Beds & Herts Regiment as an infantry instructor, his entry for 18 March 1943 states: Relinquishes acting rank of Lance-sergeant and reverts to the substantive rank of Corporal on ceasing to perform the duties of rank WEF (with effect from) 18/3/43. The photograph of Ernest Lee wearing three chevrons in his Royal Artillery ‘blues’ taken on 26 March 1943 (see photo, page 64, sporting three chevrons and his Regimental Signallers badge) was taken when he was ranked as a Lance-sergeant. This explains why he went from three stripes down to two stripes on his posting to India; but, as the record shows, he soon regained his third stripe again when promoted to Lance-sergeant after transfer to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in August 1944. Ernest ended the war as a full-blown (substantive) Sergeant, his last promotion on 9 October 1945. By the way, his qualification for the 1939-45 War Medal (see left) was simply being in uniform
during the war (at home or overseas) for a minimum of 28 days.
ENTITLEMENT TO THE 1939-45 STAR & BURMA STAR
Sergeant Ernest Lee qualified for both of the above campaign medals, as confirmed on the lower part of his Military History Sheet and in the Ministry of Defence Medal Office letter dated 6 December 2012 (illustrated, bottom of page 64). The basic criteria was as follows:
• 1939-45 Star (Far East Theatre): service in an operational command of at least 180 days between 3/9/39 and 2/9/45. Note that service in India did not qualify for this medal.
• Burma Star: service in an operational command in the Burma Theatre of at least one day between 11/12/41 and 2/9/45. The Burma Star was conditional upon the 1939-45 Star being earned first.
In Ernest’s case, this is where you have to ‘read between the lines’, because I agree that looking at his Statement of Services and Military History Sheet (both illustrated, page 65) there is no mention of service in Burma, in fact it clearly states: Home from 15/12/39 to 21/8/44, followed by, India from 22/8/44 to 28/2/46, and then Home from 4/3/46 to 16/5/46.
The clue lies at the bottom of his Statement of Service sheet where you will read: O2E/ALF/SEA/1 RWR/4/45 dated 18 Dec 44. This transcribes as: Second Echelon, Allied Land Forces South East Asia 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment 18/12/44. We know from a separate photograph in Peter Lee’s possession that Ernest was in the 1st RWR [Royal Warwickshire Regiment] HQ Company as a Platoon Sergeant. The history of the 1st RWR on Wikipedia states:
Throughout the Second World War the 1st Battalion remained mainly on garrison duties and internal security operations, despite many times being promised a chance to fight in the war. In late 1944, it began training for jungle warfare. The battalion only very briefly fought in the final stages of the Burma Campaign as part of the British Fourteenth Army and took part in Operation Dracula, the capture of Rangoon, as part of the 26th Indian Infantry Division in April 1945, but except for ‘A’ Company, saw little contact with the enemy. On 20 May, the battalion received orders to prepare to return to India and departed Rangoon on the 20th May 1945.
This I trust explains how Ernest saw active service in Burma for well over the minimum of 180 days and thus qualified for both Stars. GC