Capt. Angus Bowdridge
 

Can anyone supply a link where I can look up the WWII service record of my wife's grandfather, Capt. Angus Bowdridge? He was the skipper of the HMCS Riverton which was responsible for opening and closing the anti-submarine nets to the entrance of Halifax harbour during WWII. Any info greatly appreciated

Chimo! Derek.

Further to this post: A Google.Ca search found that Angus Bowdridge was awarded the UK First World War Mercantile Marine Medal and the British War Medal. He was born in Burgeo NFLD in April of 1900 and went to sea at the age of 12. We have a couple of pics of him, one as a Lieutenant(N) at the helm of the Riverton another later pic of him in his Captain's uniform. We also have a letter from the Queen's secretary thanking him for escorting the HMS Brittania on the Queen's inaugural visit to Canada. Does the DoD have a searchable database for war records?

Derek.

To the best of my knowledge, currently neither the British or Canadian WW2 Service Records are presently public. I do not believe they are old enough.

As a Relative, however, you can write directly to either government and request the service records. Applications should be on line and there might be a small fee. It helps if you have his service number, if not, give them all the information you have about him.

Good luck,

David

Thanks David. I guess we'll be calling Ottawa soon.

Hi Derek

For WW2 Cdn service records, you only need to request them. There are two ways to do that:

1) Prove you are the eldest surviving NOK, or
2) Prove he's been dead 20+years but sometimes LAC knows this through VAC and you're golden.

If you are not 1), a letter signed by that person requesting his file sent to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) should get a result.

If you are using 2), a photo of the headstone or copy of the obituary or Death certificate will do and you request that through LAC as well. Without those, you'll get a file redacted for pers info....lottsa black lines!!

All is at this link under "How to Send an Inquiry Concerning Your Own or Another Individual’s Records":

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discove...ice-files.aspx


Navy ain't my thing but I checked"Service Files of the Royal Canadian Navy, 1910-1941" but there is nothing on a Bowdridge. There is the British Mercantile Marine records available for a cost through the UK National Archives:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/r...nafter1917.htm

Good luck. Shouldn't be too difficult but I haven't time to Cloth Model it out for a Sapper!! :p

regards
Darrell