Phil Tomaselli - Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians

A s ever, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the many people whove assisted me in the course of writing and researching this book. My old friend and editor Simon Fowler, himself the author of a work on this subject, suggested me to Pen & Sword and offered help and advice; the staff at The National Archives have, as ever, been their friendly, professional and knowledgeable selves; the staff at Swindon Central and North Swindon libraries have excelled themselves in locating obscure material through the inter-library loans system; William Spencer, military expert at The National Archives, has been invaluable, as have Paul Baillie and David List, two veteran private researchers there. Bryan Clough provided very useful information on detainees on the Isle of Man and on the right-wing groups many of them came from. My wife, Francine, has been steadfast in her support and took some of the photographs.

A number of individuals must be mentioned without whom the case studies would scarcely have been possible: Sheila Meaney very kindly gave me access to her research on her late father, much of it initially done without the benefits of recently released material; my own father, Phil Tomaselli, helped me understand the relationship between our family and his cousins the Lamberts; my wifes uncle, Les Bowler, kindly loaned me his RN service record and his memoirs of naval service; Claire Stretton lent me the papers of her relative Charles Halme Rogers; Albert Rock kindly sent me a copy of his RAF service record; Steve Sparkes gave me copies of his grandfathers service record and talked to me about his life and career. Lynda Merrett loaned me her fathers papers including his Ministry of Labour and National Service directive and Certificate of Gratitude.

Various other people, mentioned in the introduction, were unwitting inspirations to me through chats with them in the dim and distant past. Many I know are dead but some may still be around and may even end up reading this! This is to you gents a pleasure to work with (and for) you and Im glad I knew you all.