Looking for Military Information

[Hillcrest]

I keep hitting a brick wall looking for my Grandfather Thomas Ward who came from Sheffield. He was born in Sheffield in 1909 and died in 1950. We have very little knowledge about his military past. Where would I look if he was an Art teacher from Sheffield. We do know he went to Burma and disappeared for 14 weeks. He  never spoken about anything. What regiment would he have likely gone into being born and bred in Sheffield ?

[Edmund]

Thomas and Phyllis Lilian Cooper were married in Oct/Nov/Dec 1935 in Stoke on Trent. Phyllis was the daughter of Fred (a colliery wages clerk at Parkhouse pit) and Elizabeth, of Woolstanton.

From the Sheffield Daily Telegraph of 17th October 1939:    "WARD - On October 15th, at Sister Needham's Nursing Home, Clarkehouse Road, to Phyllis (nee Cooper), wife of Thomas Ward , of 11 Greystones Drive, a daughter." Daughter Gillian was born on Phyllis' 31st birthday.

If he was in the army (as opposed to the RAF) in South East Asia, the Fourteenth Army was the overarching organisation. Within that, the York and Lancaster Regiment might be the most likely options for a Sheffield lad. The 1st, 2nd, 8th and 9th Battalions were under the Fourteenth Army operating in India and Burma.

There is information on the Y&L here (though details are on a 'paid for' basis: https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/ww2/allied/regiment.php?pid=1458

Also here: http://ww2talk.com/index.php?search/22254928/&q="york+and+Lancaster"+burma&o=relevance

 

[johnm]

It isn't possible to relate a Regiment to where people lived - the system in WW2 didn't work like that . The only way to find about his military service in WW2 is to obtain his service records see 

Get a copy of military records of service: Apply for the records of a deceased serviceperson - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

You will almost certainly need his death certificate . John