King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

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Sergeant William Edward Chafer

Sergeant William Edward Chafer, number 14187564, who served with the General Service Corps, Black Watch, Lancashire Fusiliers, and the 1st Battalion and Regimental Depot of the King’s Own Royal Regiment between February 1946 and April 1953.

Bill Chafer told his daughter, that he was ‘just a boy’ when he had joined up, and out in India he was surprised to find that he did not need a shave. However one night he woke up to find an Indian chap bending over him with a huge knife and grinning – apparently, he had been given a shave every night and had no idea at all! He would say some of the boys would say their names were ‘Peter Pan’ or ‘Donald Duck’ or some such silliness to try to avoid paying up, but the Indians were far too clever for those juvenile tricks and on pay day knew just which soldier owed what.

In the Sudan, dad said that he and the other ‘boys’ would have run up one sand dune and down the other for days chasing the local ‘boys’. Dad said because everybody was so young it seemed almost like a game.

In Austria, Dad can remember sitting cross legged on a troop train holding a rifle as it travelled across country. He thought it was fun be I retrospect that it could have been quite a dangerous undertaking, repatriating Germans.

Army Form B108 Certificate of Service to William Edward Chafer, number 14187564, who served with the General Service Corps, Black Watch, Lancashire Fusiliers, and the King’s Own.
Enlisted on 5 Feb 1946 discharged 8 Apr 1953.
Accession Number: KO3097/01

Army Book 64 Soldiers Service Book to William Edward Chafer, number 14187564, General Service Corps, Black Watch, Lancashire Fusiliers, and the King’s Own.
Enlisted on 5 Feb 1946 released from military service 9 May 1953
Accession Number: KO3097/02

Permanent Pass, 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, Corporal W Chafer, 1950
Accession Number: KO3097/03

Army Form B271A Regular Army Certified Copy of Attestation to William Edward Chafer, General Service Corps and Black Watch, dated 5 Feb 1946
Accession Number: KO3097/04

Appendix C to Recruiting Instruction No 279 dated 29 Jan 1945, for William Edward Chafer, to select arms of service and regiments which the soldier wishes to serve with.
Accession Number: KO3097/05

Army Form W5258 Record of Service card of Corporal William Edward Chafer, number 14187564, General Service Corps, Lancashire Fusiliers, King’s Own Royal Regiment
Accession Number: KO3097/06

International Certificate of Vaccination against Smallpox, for W Chafer, dated 20 Sep 1948 at Khartoum
Accession Number: KO3097/07

International Certificate of inoculation against yellow fever, for Private W Chafer, dated 22 Jan 1948 at Khartoum.
Accession Number: KO3097/08

International Certificate of inoculation against yellow fever, for Private W Chafer, dated 23 Jan 1948
Accession Number: KO3097/09

International Certificate of vaccination against smallpox for Private W Chafer, dated 9 Oct 1947
Accession Number: KO3097/10

Army Form W3045 Army Reservists Notification of Change of Address, for Sergeant W Chafer, number 14187564, King’s Own Royal Regiment.
Accession Number: KO3097/11

Army Form D401 Notice to be given to a man completing service in the regular, reserve or auxiliary forces who will become a man of the army reserve under section 1 of the Navy, Army and Air Force Reserves Act, 1954. Corporal William Edward Chafer, number 14187564, King’s Own Royal Regiment, dated Feb 1958.
Accession Number: KO3097/12

Computer punch card with details of W E Chafer, including service number and National Insurance number.
Accession Number: KO3097/13

Guide to the Navy, Army and Air Force Reserves Act, 1954
Accession Number: KO3097/14

Regimental Depot, King’s Own Royal Regiment, Dec 1951.
Rear row, left to right: Private D Earnshaw, Private W Ellison, Private T E Gough, Private D Parkinson, Private J Pearson, Private K Leigh, Private T Roscoe, Private F A Todd, Private J Thompson, Private L Fawcett, Private G Getty, Private J Kersey, Private W Broomofield, Private J Mills, Drummer K Greenwood, Private E A Fox.
Centre row, left to right: Private G Southward (Army Catering Corps); Private D R Curran, Lance corporal K Clarkson, Lance corporal W Waite, Corporal L Martin, Corporal A Christie, Corporal P J Morris, Corporal D Nelson, Corporal R Moulton, Corporal D Philipson, Corporal N Waters, Corporal P Heaton, Corporal W Chafer, Corporal J Beresford, Corporal W Drury, Lance corporal A Calcuni, Lance corporal J Norris, Private L Jackson (Army Catering Corps).
Front row, left to right: Corporal W Hearne (Army Catering Corps), Sergeant G Campbell, Sergeant C Halsall, Sergeant V Mitchell, Senior Staff Instructor T Thompson (Army Physical Training Corps), Lieutenant J D Thorn (Training Officer), WO1 F Revington (Regimental Sergeant Major), Captain D J Martin (Adjutant), Major J B Underwood (Commanding Officer), Major (QM) M Darkes MBE (Quartermaster), Colour Sergeant R A Crane, Lieutenant K G Cain (Platoon Officer), Sergeant E Hearsey (Orderly Room Sergeant), Sergeant E Edwards, Sergeant J Brooks, Corporal G F Hallwood, Corporal H Brennand.
Accession Number: KO3097/15

Regimental Depot, King’s Own Royal Regiment, 1951, recruit group.
‘x’ marks Corporal William Edward Chafer.
Accession Number: KO3097/16

Regimental Depot, King’s Own Royal Regiment, 1952, recruit group.
‘x’ marks Corporal William Edward Chafer.
Accession Number: KO3097/17

Regimental Depot, King’s Own Royal Regiment, Jan 1953, recruit group.
‘x’ marks Sergeant William Edward Chafer
Accession Number: KO3097/18

Private William Edward Chafer, 2nd Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, at Asmara, Eritrea, 1948
Accession Number: KO3097/19

Private William Edward Chafer, 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, Trieste, Italy, 1949
Accession Number: KO3097/20

Private William Edward Chafer, 2nd Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, at Asmara, Eritrea, 1948
Accession Number: KO3097/21

King’s Own Royal Regiment Cap Badge of Sergeant William Edward Chafer, King’s Own Royal Regiment.
Accession Number: KO3097/25

Cigarette case and lighter, combined, with inscription on the inside: “To Sergeant Chaefer from His Warriors, KORR Apr 1953.”
Accession Number: KO3097/26

Letter to Sergeant Chafer, dated 24 Apr 1953, sent with the cigarette case and apologising for the error made by the jeweller for the mis-spelling of Chafer’s name on the interior.
Accession Number: KO3097/27
 

© Images are copyright, Trustees of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum.
 You must seek permission prior to publication of any of our images.