12th Battalion Devonshire Regiment

It is with sad regrets that i have been informed of the death of L/Sgt Charlie Sparey of the 12th Devons (Airborne) at the age of 98, Charlie attended our photo shoot at the Cobbaton tank Museum last year, which he throughly enjoyed and has been attending the reunions every year until the last one, SEMPER FIDELIS. RIP Charlie.

 

Any info on Leonard T Yarde..Glider 133 would be appreciated. Many thanks.

 

This is a picture of my great-uncle Leonard or Harold Ware from Dawlish. I believe he was a member of the 12th Devonshire Regiment by the badge on the picture. He is wearing some service ribbons, but I have no idea which campaigns he served in. Could anyone help me out here?

 

Hi Carlos and welcome,

A very nice picture of your great-uncle. The Normandy nominal roll for 12th Devons has the following two men with last name Ware:

Pte Ware C., 5620411, Wounded
Cpl Ware L., 5627565

Hopefully reddevons has him on the nominal roll for Op Varsity. Someone with sharp eyes may be able to interpret his medals from the sepia photo. I'll kick around and see if I can find him in any of the accounts.

Regards ...

 

The 2 ribbons that can be seen I believe represent (from - Medals: campaigns, descriptions and eligibility - GOV.UK)

39 - 45 Star


France & Germany Star


Any others are difficult to determine

TD

 

Many thanks for your information !

 

My apologies for not replying but I have laptop problems, so new laptop and i'm back. As Cee suggested I have had a look at my nominal roll for Operation Varsity (the Rhine crossing) and I only have 5627565 Cpl.L.Ware on the list. Could I copy the picture to add to my list?.

 

Someone notified me of the medals of Lt. J. Pengelly for sale on Ebay, accompanied with Officers' group photo 1943. He is listed on the nominal roll for Normandy:

WS/Lieutenant J. Pengelly, 249190, Evacuated - Battle Exhaustion

The medals are now sold. Scroll down to see images.

RARE WW2 PARA 12TH AIRBORNE DEVONSHIRE REGIMENT LIEUTENANT J PENGELLY MEDALS



Regards ...

 

That's a couple of very nice photos. Centre front row is Lt.Col R.F.B.Hill, 2nd from right is Captain Carroll, left of Hill is possibly Paul Gleadell and right of Hill is possibly G.R.Stevens but would like someone to verify please.

 

Major Walley Barrow 4th from right front row. Can anyone else put names to faces?

 

Red,

Noticed over on the 2nd Devons Reenactors Facebook site they have the following Officers from D Coy identified left to right:

Lt. N.P. Turner, Lt. G.G. Reakes, Capt. J.H.W. Pengelly, Major J.A.F.W. Bampfylde, ?, ?, CSM. Mashford



So perhaps the Officer with the prominent moustache behind Lt-Col. Hill's left shoulder is Capt. Pengelly. He has uniquely shaped breast pocket flaps as well. Could it be Major Bampfylde seated next to the Officer you believe is Lt-Col G.R. Stevens. Paul Gleadell has one of those faces that looks a little different in every picture.

Regards ...

 

I'm glad you have been looking at that page, I had forgot I put that info on there.

 

Oh shoot I should have realized that ... Anyway here's a crop of Major Rogers and Lt-Col Gleadell together from the awards photo in Germany.



Regards ...

 

Hello everybody. My grandfather, William Stevens, was a sergeant in the 12th Devons. I am posting the photos that I have of him and the Devons in the hope that they may be useful to other people. If anybody has any information on him, of course I would love to hear it. In this photo he is front row, fourth from the right. I have higher res scans of these photos if anybody would like them.

 

Another one. This photo is undated. My grandfather is front row, fourth from the left.

 

This photo is dated on the back: "Llanberis, North Wales, July 1945". My grandfather is back row, third from the right.

 

My grandfather, William Stevens.

 

My grandfather is lying on the ground, I don't know who the machine gunner is. My grandfather looks younger in this one so I presume it was taken during training.

 

I found this in my grandfather's documents. It is in his handwriting. It details the route the Devons took between March and May 1945. Some intense treks!

 

Hi Tim and welcome,

Great pics, thanks for posting! Hopefully 12 Devon kin will recognize other men in the group photos.

Regards ...