Just found this - is this what they meant about his army record?
- Every soldier had a service record, although only some 30% or so now exist.
- A service record consists of a number of different army forms used to record information about a soldier during his military career. The numbers and types of forms in a man’s record vary greatly from soldier to soldier, as does the quality and legibility of the information they contain. Service records often also contain private correspondence: for example if a man was enquiring with regard to his medals or if a widow was enquiring about a pension.
- The records were thinned out before going into storage in the 1930s, by disposal of many documents.
- An army service record is the only source likely to give family, age, birthplace and trade information.
AN