I have another question for the NAA Record Search. I had previously not managed to create a query, so I’m catching up now!
My first cousin once removed was William Mitchell Woods. William’s middle name and my own last name are a match because of the Scottish practice of using the mother’s maiden name as one of their child’s first names. I believe he didn’t use his middle name when enlisting.
He served with the 11th Battalion AIF and then the 48th Battalion AIF during the First World War as 391 William Woods. He enlisted in the Australian Army Reserve, Army Service Corps in WA, pre-WW2, promoted to Lieutenant in 1934 (from the 5MD Staff List). The staff lists for WW2 confirm William’s service with the AASC in Western Australia.
William was wounded several times at Gallipoli and in France, and family would also like to know if he had a Repatriation file.
While William’s WW1 service file is digitised, I’ve had no success in locating his interwar or WW2 service files. My question is: Is there an address I can write to in the army records where someone might be able to assist, please? (My cousin, William’s grandson, had his online application to the Army rejected due to insufficient relationship to the deceased member.)
I would be most grateful for any advice Forum members can provide: many thanks, Peter Mitchell, Perth, Western Australia.
It sounds like William might have been serving with the permanent forces. These records are not yet all available online. It’s also possible that he kept serving after the war, which would mean that his records would still be held by the Department of Defence.
If you’ve searched RecordSearch and haven’t been able to find his records, I suggest you contact the National Archives’ Reference Service.
We hold Repatriation Department records for First World War service personnel and service records for permanent forces. Not all of these records are listed online.
We are able to provide public access to records more than 20 years old under the Archives Act, if the records do not contain material of ongoing sensitivity. We’re also able to request records still held by Defence. If records haven’t previously been released before, they will need to be access examined to check for material of ongoing sensitivity, which may take up to 90 business days.
Please submit a general inquiry and let us know that you’re looking for service records for the inter-war and World War Two period and repatriation records. Our staff will be able to search for any relevant records and let you know the next steps.
Please provide as much information as you can about his service, including anything from the staff lists that may give a service number or unit.
Thank you for your most helpful response to my post. I could not even obtain advice from the Department of Defence as to whether they held a file for William, and if so, a timeframe for its digitisation.
My next step will be to submit a general inquiry as per your suggestion.
A massive Thank You to Jessie for her suggestion to lodge a General Inquiry with the National Archives regarding my relative Captain William Woods’ MM’s service with the AASC during WW2.
I submitted the inquiry to NAA yesterday and will wait for the outcome of the search.
