RAPC Regimental Association News

RAPC Memorial

In 2023 the Association, with generous donations from members, erected a permanent monument to the RAPC at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas. The beautiful NMA site was the obvious location for a monument shown below, and we were fortunate to secure this elevated location within it for our use. There will be an annual service held at the monument not just for those who served in the Corps but also for their families and friends.

The monument itself shows a lion standing proudly above a bag of coin. It represents the RAPC as the Army’s guardian of the public purse, ensuring that monies are properly disbursed and correctly accounted for. The stonemason has done a superb job, in Forest of Dean sandstone, portraying two of the regulation sets we all remember; the Regulations for Army Allowances and Charges – the rules - and the Manual of Army Pay Duties - the ‘Haynes manual’ of how to do every form of pay transaction.

The plinth, which is made of Cumbrian Sandstone, was cut entirely by hand by the stonemason and shows the four cap badges that make up our antecedence.

This monument celebrates the service given by everyone who wore the RAPC or any antecedent cap badge, no matter what type of service, or for how long, or in what circumstances. The primrose and blue regimental colours bind us together as all of one company – Fide et Fiducia. 

The Bank of Normandy Memorial

In 2022, in conjunction with the local French authorities, the Association erected a permanent monument to the RAPC at the "Musee Franco Allemande du Radar" Station Radar which served as the temporary bank vault for all of the currency which had been landed along with the troops on the Normandy beaches.

BBC's Bargain Hunt - The "Monahan Box"

Several eagle-eyed ex-members of the RAPC who were watching the Tuesday 14 ^th February 2023 edition of Bargain Hunt on the BBC spotted the item shown below. The box was inscribed with the letters “C. J. Monahan R.A.P.C.”. A search of the RAPC Association records on the day turned up a blank for the name and initials. However, that evening the Association was contacted by Kevin Monahan, son of Christopher Joseph Monahan. 

Kevin had also been watching Bargain Hunt and couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw his dad’s old box on the screen. He called the Bazaar Vintage and Antique Warehouse in Narberth where the programme was filmed to see if they still had the box, unfortunately, the box had been sold and the shop did not have the details of who had purchased it.

Kevin has passed on lots of information about his dad’s service with Army Pay Services which started in 1914 and ended in 1958. You can read about it here.

Kevin would love to find out what has happened to “The Monahan Box”. If anyone reading this knows of its whereabouts, can you please get in touch with the RAPC Association Webmaster at this email address: webmaster@rapc-association.org.uk.  

Requesting Service Records

This site aims to be of service not only to RAPC Association members, but also the wider RAPC family. We know that at least 40,000 men were called up for National Service with the RAPC while many thousands more served, fought and often died everywhere the British Army has had a unit from 1878 until 1992.

If you served in the Army, you can find out how to apply for your own record here. This process is free.

If you are interested in your family history with the Royal Army Pay Corps, you can find out how to apply for a deceased family member’s service record here. This costs £30 and takes a while as all paper records are stored at an underground location.

Here is a guide to Army records. While you are waiting for service records, you might consider getting in touch with the curator of the Adjutant General’s Corps Museum – our successor Corps – who may be able to help you add some detail to the picture of your family members’ service life. The museum website can be accessed here and the curator can be contacted on 01962 877 826.