New member, whose father served “A” Squadron , 1st Lothians and Border Yeomanry 1944-46

My father Tom Sloan, served with No.3 Troop of “A” Squadron , 1st Lothians and Border Yeomanry, fighting/travelling with his troop of “Crabs” from Normandy (July 1944) to Hankensbuttel in Kreis Gifhorn, Germany (October 1945).
He wrote a diary of the above period, which covers, among other things, the capture of Boulogne, and the attempt to land on Walcheren. It is handwritten, & runs to 27,000 words. I recently took advantage of an enforced rest after an operation to type up this diary ; not sure whether deciphering my fathers’ writing or the actual typing was the hardest !

Now that it is completed, I'd like to share the end-product with any interested parties. I've already sent a copy to the John Gray Centre in Haddington, and would love to find any descendants of those named in this diary.
Anyone got any bright ideas on this ?

 

Hi Chris

Welcome and congratulaions on what must have been a major task in interpretation and typing. It sounds like a large task to find descendants of those named, my suggestion would be to subscribe to someone such as FindMyPast as they seem to have a good selection of UK databases for family research including the 1939 Register which in my view they have transcribed better than Ancestry so searches are easier and results more relevant.
There are a few members on here who would like to read your fathers diaries, and some unfortunately who are no longer with us.

TD

 

hello Chris would you be able to publish on here or are you thinking of publishing to sell?


regards
Clive

 

Hello Chris and welcome to the forum.

Lesley

 

Hello Chris and welcome.
My father served in B Squadron, 1st L&BY during the same period and I'd love to read your fathers dairy! I know from the War Diaries that he was supposed to take part in the Walcheren landings but have no evidence he ever did nor did he ever mention it.

Would your father have been the Second Lieutenant T B Sloan (302983) that joined the regiment in Dec 43 ? There are several mentions of his name in the war diaries and some action reports written by him.

Cheers
John

 

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John,

Apologies for very slow reply -- blame the lovely weather and family holidays !
Yes, that sounds like him.
I'm new to this website, and not a computer-whizz, so it may not work, but I'll try uploading the diary to this. Don't be surprised if the photos and maps at the end either don't appear, or are "messed up".
I find that transferring this doc. to different formats has that effect. But with any luck at least the main text will show up for you.
I've not got my head round offering the doc. to the whole world yet, but since your Dad was "in close proximity" to mine, I'll make an exception for you.

............(a few minutes later). OK, this website doesn't seem to like any formats appropriate to my doc., so why don't you send me your e-mail address, and I'll try sending it to you that way.

Chris S.

 

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Clive,

Apologies for tardy reply. Blame the lovely weather and a family holiday !
I certainly wouldn't dream of "publishing to sell" ; not only is it not in that "class" of writing, but I have slight misgivings about offering it to a wide audience (e.g. would my dad have wanted that ? what might people do with it ? etc etc). However, if I can find any of those named in 3 Troop, that'll be a different matter.

Chris

 

Chris,

Have sent you a private message

Cheers
John

 

Hi Chris , with help from the forum my grandfather was in A sqn, 3tp. Just wondered if he was mentioned in your father's diary.
My grandfather name was Cpl.P Southern

Martin