14535812 L/Cpl Frederick Edgar CHAPMAN, 1022 Port Operating Coy, RE

I am trying to find out information about the unit my Father served in during WW2. He was not enlisted until 1943 at age 35 because he was a Crane Driver and thus exempt. He deliberately took promotion to Foreman to make himself eligible for call up. I will try and upload copy of a postcard he sent home for New Year 1944/45

 

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

A search on the phrase “Port Operating Company” via the forum search engine turns up a number of hits but 1022 POC doesn’t appear to get a mention.

https://ww2talk.com/index.php?search/60389016/&q=Port+operating+company&o=relevance

A scroll through the topics may give you an insight into the role & duties of a POC.

Steve

 

Thanks Steve. Only just starting to look for things. I know Dad had something to do with Bailey Bridges, I also know he joined because they said they were short of crane drivers but that he never drove a crane for the Army, instead they trained him in explosives. I did have some of his notebooks but they seem to have got lost.

 

Hi,

Google search turns up mention of 1022 POC in this lengthy post by Trux about Gold Beach 6/6/44 -

“Headquarters 6 Port Operating Group RE. 1022, 1026, 1036 and 1045 Port Operating……”

GOLD BEACH.


Steve

PS

It may help if you type your fathers details from the back of the postcard into a forum post as it will make them searchable on the internet.

 

Thank you Steve, I will certainly do that.

 

An online search with: "Port Operating Company 1022" site:ww2talk.com returns several threads here, at a glance mainly for D-Day and the last few not idea why they appear.

If you drop "1022" you will get many more here, some will explain what their role was.

A more general online search with: "Port Operating" + "royal engineers" + "1022" found quite a few, many seem to be memorials to unit members, but will give you some context.

For obscure reasons articles on WW2 RE in their journal are best found via New Zealand sappers website; their contents are not indexed online.

Finally we always recommend applying for an individual's Service Record (details on PM next).

 

14535812 L/Cpl Frederick Edgar Chapman. Port Operating Company 1022

 

Thank you, I have been trying to get records for almost 6 years. Originally applied to the Army and after almost three years of delays due to pressure, Covid etc I then got a note that all the records were transferred to National Archive so I followed the instruction to start an enquiry there. That was almost 3 years ago, after a series of errors on their part, which included them starting a duplicate enquiry and asking me to pay twice I still had no records so made formal complaint. They adjudged that my complaint be upheld as they had not dealt with my enquiry as they should have. However the apology did not include them sending the records and I am still waiting. I am assured my enquiry is still open and they usually deal with them in 10/12 months (I have waited 34) and that my complaint has been reopened to include the lack of documents but they still cannot give me a timescale. I am starting to wonder whether my Dad was on such secret work they are having to edit his records.

 

Graham,

I expect incompetence in the face of a deluge of records is a better explanation. Yes, a few Service Records (not my focus) appear with gaps or strange abbreviations. If it was truly secret I doubt it would appear on a soldier's record.

 

I am seeking any information to do with my Father and what his unit in the Royal Engineers were involved in. His service number was 14535812 Frederick Edgar Chapman (d.o.b.14/3/08) , he was with Port Operating Company 1022 Royal Engineers, he joined in 1943 because he was a crane driver and the Army said they were short of them so he took promotion to Foreman to make himself eligible for call up. He did say that he then never drove a crane for the Army, although I have seen his Paybook describing him as a Stevedore. However he did many years ago show me some of his training notes in explosives, and he did refer to an occasion when he had to blow up a bridge.

I did see the notes and they did look a bit more in depth than just a cursory briefing. He never wanted to talk much about his service but as kids we did once meet somebody that he had served with, his name was Jack Byford and he was from Middlesbrough but that is all we knew. I attach a picture of Dad a few weeks after conscription with five others but have no idea of their names as I only saw this photo for the first time very recently. He is the third from the left, quite chubby.

I am interested in literally any information, been trying to get his Service Records for 6 years now without success (long story - written apologies but still no records). He spoke of Mulberry Harbours and Bailey Bridges but never in any great detail.

 

Thanks - that was me being cynical. It is total incompetence, they have confirmed they have located his records, they have twice asked for payment although latterly refunded the first one which means they count their timing from the date of the second payment as the refund effectively closed that case.

 

GrahamChap

It’s not best practice on the forum to start multiple topics in various sub forums on the one man. It can confuse members and leads to duplication of effort as members go over old ground.

I’ll ask a Moderator to merge this topic with your original topic and amend the topic title to include your father’s details - 14535812 L/Cpl Frederick Edgar Chapman. Port Operating Company 1022 .

Royal Engineers Port Operating Company 1022

Steve

 

Hi Graham

Sorry to hear you have had so much trouble getting your dad's service records, esp since you have his number & access to his paybook etc. It is not showing on the TNA catalogue search.

There are though War Diaries Jul 1943 to Oct 1945 for a 1022 Company Royal Engineers at TNA.
Search results: 1022 company royal engineers | The National Archives

His service number does not show on the casualty lists which usually means that he was not captured, missing or badly wounded. His service number is one issued by the General Service Corps. This is the corps where from July 1942 almost all army recruits did their basic training before posting to a corps or regiment.

Findmypast has some records of the RE (Tracer cards & journals).

CWGC shows five soldiers from 1022 were killed in action 16th Dec 1944. A newspaper cutting in the first link says that 1022 landed in Normandy 6th June 1944 & also that in late 1944 the CO of 1022 was Major L S BECK.
http://www.allhallowsgedling.co.uk/uploads/1/7/6/1/17613239/lane__frederick_arthur_.pdf
Roll of Honour - Derbyshire - Langwith Bassett or Upper Langwith

As these five soldiers died on the same day & their original cemetery was & still is Schoonselhof cemetery near Antwerp, a port that was vital to the allies supply lines it raises the possibility that they were based in Antwerp & killed in the same incident. From autumn 1944 Antwerp was subject to many attacks by V1 &V2 weapons.
Search Results | CWGC

Travers

EDIT: I now see that 296 Allied servicemen were killed on 16th December when the Cinema Rex, Antwerp was hit by a V2 rocket.
Cinema Rex bombing - Wikipedia

 

Thanks Steve, I am a new boy at all this

 

Thank you, that gives useful information I will follow up on those links. I know that he was not wounded, for some reason our family was lucky in WW2, Dad had 8 siblings and Mum was one of 13. The only casualty of any sort was Dad's youngest brother who was an Observer on Lamcasters and was shot down in France. Other than that the only casualty was houses as at the end of the war we had three families living in our house in Shooters Hill.

 

At long last I have actually received my Dad's service records from National Archive. It will take some time to look through and understand/interpret, but one immediate question comes up. His records show that he was part of 1022 Port Operating Company and that he embarked on 3rd June 1944, and that he disembarked in NW Europe on 9th June 1944. Where would he have been for those 6 days, why did they not land until 3 days after D-Day? On the face of it he seems not to have returned to UK until December 1945.

 

I have recently received my Dad's Service Records after years of trying. Linking his records to some personal correspondence (basically letters he sent to Mum) gives me a few thoughts. I am by no means an expert on WW2 or D-Day in particular, but it seems pretty obvious from letters that the imminence of D-Day was common knowledge.

Letters around late May early June were making things quite clear. He would say things like it will be hard to see the time signal because of the fog (they lived in Greenwich where there ia a ball on the Royal Observatory that lowers at precisely 13:00 hours every day). This is his way of saying he will not be in the UK. One of his letters dated 1st June 1944 says that they are all confined to barracks with guards on the gates, but that he is getting this letter posted from outside the barracks. Presumably he found a way of getting letter over the fence and paid somebody to post it for him. His service records show that he embarked on 3rd June 1944 and disembarked on 9th June in NW Europe. Why they were on a boat for 6 days I do not know, I find it difficult to believe they would just sit in the Channel for that time. I know he was involved in Mulberry Harbours and that he was a crane driver with 1022 Port Operating Company, I am guessing they landed on Gold Beach but cannot find definitive proof - just a feeling.

His letters around that time (sadly not precisely dated) refer to having received a telegram from our Mum saying that she was going to visit him and also referring to the 4 hours they were able to spend together although there is no leave shown on his Service Record around the time. I was born 19 February 1945 so it is pretty clear what they did in those 4 hours.

His next letter is dated 10th June (i.e. day after disembarking) and he actually states in his letter that he is in the land of edible frogs. I can only assume censors would not be concerned about him stating a location as pretty sure the Germans would know they were there!!

Over the next 3 years he was in France, Holland, Belgium and his first time back to UK after D-Day was October 1945. He was with 1022, 1045, 1046 and 1057 Port Operating Companies. He was demobbed eventually in July 1946 and record shows that a few weeks before he was transferred to 999 POC and for some reason he was promoted to Lance Sergeant 3 weeks before demob.

 

Plenty of Mulberry component parts had to be towed from various estuaries around the British coast by tug but could only be assembled into the larger structures in a particular order. These may be just two of many reasons. I suggest you consult the Kew National Archives Discovery search function for the unit War Diary and web search for Mulberry articles.

 

Thanks for your suggestion, but I am not totally certain that Mulberry was the reason for him travelling between 3rd and 9th June and there are thousands of articles about Mulberrys. It has just taken three years and an official complaint for me to actually receive my Dad's Service Record which does not make approaching the National Archive my preferred approach.