British ww2 soldier photo help

[buskin]

hi this is a picture of my grandad he died 20 years ago we recently came across this picture of him and we would love to know any infomation any one might know from the image all we know is he was in the british army between 1939 and 1945 approx. he was from ireland . We dont know what regiment he was in or why he had a photo of him in a heart shape with an englishd flag and a union jack on each side of the photo his name was thomas o keeffe limerick.
does the buttons on his collar mean something?
does anyone else have photos with the heart and the flags on it?
any info no matter how small would be really welcomed.
thanks

number written on back of photo is 452 does anyone know what it might mean?

[leccy]

The Collar Dogs will usually Identify the Regt or Corps he will have served with. The background or surround to the image I can not help you with.

If you wish to find information about his service the best place to start is with http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/army.html and follow the information given in this link from their website http://www.veterans-uk.info/pdfs/service_records/army_pack.pdf, they will be able to give you copies of any information like the service record held on him.

The amount of information you can give them has a direct relation on how quickly they can provide copies to you of his service record.

It took just over a week for me to get my Grandfathers records but I knew his Arm of Service, Number Rank and Name, I also had where he is buried (graveyard, row and plot) as he died while still serving.

[buskin]

thanks for the link i will send of for records and hope i have some luck