Comments on: Frederick Lamb: A Wartime Incident

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:40:16 +0000

Thank you, Anne. So many of our personnel records from World War I were destroyed in a warehouse fire in St. Louis in 1973. So disastrous much can happen to pieces of paper over the years …

Thanks for looking for him, and for telling me that a Reserve did exist.

By: Anne (U.K)

Anne (U.K) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:36:34 +0000

I’ve been hunting for Fred in the National Archives online, amongst the naval records. Unfortunately, many service records were destroyed by enemy action in WW2, so are far from complete.

The only possible match I found is a Frederick Cyril Lamb born in Birmingham, but the date given (and it is unclear from just the index what the date signifies) is 8 June 1901.

Have checked the records of the Royal Naval Division and the
Royal Naval Reserves.

Grrrrrrrrrr!

By: Maurine

Maurine — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:17:51 +0000

As usual, I really enjoyed your post. It would have fit perfectly in our RS lesson yesterday. Several examples of people living their religion and being examples to others were talked about.

By: Hunter

Hunter — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:21:08 +0000

Wow — what a fortunate reversal! A remarkable story. Thanks.

By: Clark

Clark — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:08:18 +0000

I think it was Pres. Hinckley who said, “the most persuasive gospel tract is a Latter-day Saint life well lived.”

I appreciate stories like this one to remind me that I am “daily sowing countless seeds of good and ill.”

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:56:59 +0000

Great story. Thanks.

So I hedged, hoping someone with greater military experience or familiarity with British wartime conditions would speak up and say, “Oh, I wonder if he was a member of ….”

You aren't the only one who has "hedged" on a subject hoping a reader would speak up with better information. Getting input from others is part of why I blog.

By: Anne (U.K)

Anne (U.K) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:50:40 +0000

am at work, so briefly: my guess would be the Royal Naval Reserve.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Reserve

My Grandad (then aged 46) served in a similar role in WW2 with the RAF: spent his days building mock airfields for the Nazis to bomb. Then went home at weekends to tend his potato patch, but wore a uniform and was subject to all military rules and regulations.

Will look out more later.

By: Alison

Alison — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:37:27 +0000

As ever, I’m amazed at your ability to unearth the great and important stories of ordinary people’s lives, Ardis. Five gold stars!

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:34:38 +0000

Mark, I hedged that way because I do not know exactly what role he filled. He was serving in some capacity that took him to a war zone, kept him away from home against his druthers, made him subject to military discipline, put him under the direction of non-commissioned officers, and accomplished some sort of war work. But I don’t think he was regular Navy, because of his age, and I don’t have any knowledge of what other capacities might fit the criteria of what I know he did do. So I hedged, hoping someone with greater military experience or familiarity with British wartime conditions would speak up and say, “Oh, I wonder if he was a member of ….”

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:19:51 +0000

Let’s see, Ardis:

Bro. Lamb was born in late 1874, which would have made him 39 years old in August 1914 when Great Britain declared war on Germany. And, if he served until the Armistice in November 1918, he would have served until about his 44th birthday (depends on what “late” means). I guess that qualifies as “late 30s and early 40s.”

I’m puzzled by your “in support of the British Navy”–was he a civilian employee of the Royal Navy? He would have been a bit long in the tooth to be called to active duty at the outbreak of the war–unless he had been an officer, but the story suggests that he wasn’t.

That’s all minor nitpicking, though. Another great story of a faithful Latter-day Saint who deserves to be remembered. Thanks!