Troops

[peter monahan]

Gordon

I believe that Graham has the right of it: in the days before the "chip" records were handwritten or typed and kept all over the place, so re-uniting an old soldier with his records or number when he "re-upped" would be tough. He could prove previous service with a discharge certificate but his original number would be very unlikely to fit into the "block" being used at any given time by his new unit.

it's sometimes hard to remember, too, thatin those days, civilians didn't have numbetrs attached to them, unlike today. (I have a Social Insurance Number for employement, taxes and other federal government business, an Ontario Hospital Insurance Number - self explanatory, a passport, a number on my teaching certifictae... ad naseum.

Ergo, new enlistment = new number.

My tuppence worth.

Peter