Information about British soldiers stationed in Asia during WW2

[Tangtasic]

I am very specifically looking for more information about a relative who was stationed in Asia during the second world war, specific location unknown but after the war he lived in Malaysia for many years so it's likely he was stationed in Malaysia. I have name and date of birth but no details of his regiment or role. Does anyone know how I would go about finding out more about what he was doing out there or even if the information is likely to be public all available.

In general I am also looking to find out more about the British regiments in Asia during the second world war to get an ideo of what life and conditions were like. If anyone can pint me in the direction of any reliable resources.
Also interested to hear of any good resources on the Indian National Army.

Thank you

I don’t know about records, sorry, but your post caught my eye as I have a relative who was stationed in Malaya (as it was called then) after the war - possibly the RAF but I’d need to ask around family. Feel free to PM if you want.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Army

I imagine you must have tried this, but I found a lot of information on a relative in WW2 by googling his name. Admittedly fairly unusual first and last names, but I was surprised at how much Google threw up.

You might find records are locked. My sister went to Kew when the records were there re our grandfather who we knew had been in Burma. What they had didn't match the medal citations we had, and she was told it was under a 100 year lockdown. Maybe we can wander in as doddery old ladies, but she had no luck twenty years ago. He never told my dad, and my granny never said, if she knew, we never met him as he died before I was born. I can only imagine he was involved in something horrific. It still bothers us occasionally.

A lot of military records have very recently been transferred from the MoD to the National Archives (not sure if the process is complete yet). So that's where I'd try first.

WW2 is still difficult to research. As others have said it's within the 100 year mark and as such many of the records are still closed access.

They are starting to put some POW records online but it's still very limited (the ones I'm after have not yet appeared). This is a project expected to take some years to digitise.

You can apply to access closed records but it's a difficult and lengthy process. It's not something I've done myself as a result. The waiting list is huge (into years), you need to provide documentation to prove you are next of kin and death certificate of the relevant party. And there's a fee. You have to know service number etc too.

I'm afraid for the most part it's still a waiting game until the records are released.

I contacted the MoD Personnel Records at the beginning of 2023, to ask for my late father’s service record. His record was amongst those passed on to the National Archives at Kew but they were able to find his service number. By then, my father had been dead for 25 years, which is the minimum before they would release details (otherwise it’s 100 years from a person’s birth).

The information I gave them was his full name, date and place of birth, and a pdf of his death certificate. I was also able to give the branch of the army in which he served, which was the REME, rather than knowing if there was any particular regiment he was part of. That was enough information for the National Archives to search for his service record and release it.

Interestingly, they released the record under the Freedom of Information Act, but that meant it was released to the public at large, rather than to me as next of kin, so the final version had some redactions. That eventually came through after about 8 months.

It might be worth contacting the MOD Personnel Records in the first instance, with as much information as you can give them, in the hope that they can find his service number. Alternatively, you could read through the thread on the (unofficial!) Army Rumour Service forum on tracing ancestors – I haven’t read it, so I don’t know if it would be help – at https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/tracing-ancestors-a-users-guide.173827/

You could also look through their book reviews section: https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/forums/book-reviews.252/ to see if there’s anything there that might be of interest.

I’m hitting a similar wall with my grandad, who we believe was a POW in Burma. He never talked about it, but my grandma always said he returned a different man, after a long period with no contact, when she presumed he was dead, and was “skeletal” when he got back plus the dates match up. Recently reconnected with his brother on Ancestry and he says my grandad once said something whilst very drunk, shortly after returning from the war, which made him believe he’d been held there, but my grandad then got very angry and cut his brother off, never speaking to him again. I’d love to find out more but it’s proving very difficult!

I'd second @hoteltango in recommending a look/ask on the relevant section of the army rumour forum.

When it comes to mil history, records and tracing in that part of that forum there are some very very competent SMEs.

Thank you for the input everyone. I am very much a novice at this but will follow the suggestions and hope I can find something.
I think I remember hearing when I was a kid that the relative was a pilot during the war so he could well have been part of an RAf contingent stationed in Malaya.

I did try googling but unfortunately the results threw up a politician, a scientist and a local business man so I need to narrow down my search I think.

I will be waiting a while I I have to wait until 25 years after his death to access records, I don't recall the date of death but it was definitely less than 10 years ago. I would also not be considered next of kin.

Now I am thinking about this I will probably also try to research my grandad who was too young to serve in WW2 but was stationed to Asia shortly after as part of military service. Grandma says he never spoke about his time in the military so all we know is that he was in Asia. I think my grandma is also not too clear on the exact area. Grandad has an unusual middle name so might have more success searching for him.