I'm pursuing my research into my father's (Bernard Thomas Palmer) military career with the Buffs (1934-1956). With the help of his service records from MOD I've put together a lot of the pieces and am going to the National Archives in a couple of weeks to get more info. However I'm stuck on the early days, and particularly his posting to India with the 1st Battalion from 23/1/37 to 9/10/38. Military records for the India Office for this period are held by the British Library and are much less easily accessible than those in the National Archives.
His service record shows that he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 20/7/37 under authority of 'HQ 6th Inf. Bde'. From information relating to the outbreak of WWII it would appear that 6th Infantry Brigade was then part of the 2nd Infantry Division which was itself attached to Southern Command (India) based in Pune. However, I can find nothing showing that 1 Battalion the Buffs formed part of that Brigade. Can anybody point me in the right direction so that I can try to find out where he was stationed for this period and what he might have been involved in please.
One other small question. His service record shows his promotion authorities as VICE and a name (Whaley, Punnett, Tolhurst) i.e. "Promoted VICE. Tolhurst". Can anybody please enlighten me what the VICE. signifies. I've hunted high and low on the net and can't seem to find anything relevant.
Thanks for this Mick. Of course, I should have looked in a dictionary for vice - never come across this usage before.
I think I've found the answer on India too. I've 'discovered' The Dragon on line on the Regiment's web site - a veritable mine of information. It seems that the 1st Battalion were stationed in Lucknow at the time my father was in India, and I've come across a L/Cpl 'Pedlar' Palmer in N°6 Platoon "B" Company who helped the platoon do well in an Athletics Competition. No idea about the 'Pedlar', but might have been dad, although I guess there could have been more than one L/Cpl Palmer out of the more than 100 or so in the Battalion.
In any case I'll be reading the issues of Dragon which have been scanned before asking any more silly questions.
Thanks again for your help and keep up the good work.
