2614587 Reginald Jinkinson, Grenadier Guards, CMP- 6th Airborne.

I am posting this for Rjinkin, a new member who has kindly given his permisson for me to post this info he sent me in a PM,

"My dad, Reginald Jinkinson, is still alive, 95 in Jan. Army no 2614587. Grenadier Guards before the war. Called up Sept 39 to CMP, volunteered as parachutist as soon as he could. 6th Airborne division. Arrived by sea Asnelles 11.30 6th June with a jeep full of traffic signs. Two days later was at Pegasus Bridge putting up signs Was at Subles,St Vigor,Bayeux,St Croix, Le Mesnil Patris, St Mauvieu,Grainville,Tourville Evrecy, River Orme,Falaise and on in the Vanguard of 53Div. At one stage in front of Horrocks, then Ardennes and crossing the Rhine and on to Hanburg (VE day). I have no idea what he did on 7 and 8 June, though know some 6th Div arrived by sea. He was corporal and then sergeant in charge of 13 men. 5 came back"

 

Just to add what I have checked out so far, given Roger's info it would seem that his Dad served with the Grenadiers pre ww2 and then left seems strange that he joined up into CMP and not recalled to the Guards, it would appear he was in 6th Airborne divisonal Provost company and on D-Day was in the seaborne element, this paragraph is taken from Rjinkins first post in another thread but helps tie in a few things...... "My father was with the Military Police in the 6th Airborne. He arrived in France by sea on Junes 6th at Asnelles 11 am. He was driving a jeep full of road signs, disappeared under the sea, but carried on driving and ended up on the beach.

From there to Subles, St Vigor le Grand, Bayeaux, St Croix Grande Tonne, Le Mesnil Patrie, St Manvieu, Cheux, Grainville, Tourville and on to the battles around the Orme and Falaise.

At some time, my guess around 7/8 June he was at Pegasus bridge and tells me he put up a sign saying something like.

If you can read this sign Gerry can shoot you

He seems to have done this under fire as the other troops (presumably 6th Airborne) were laughing. Any suggestions as to archives I could access on his unit please? " ...... I am curious as to the mention of 53rd Welsh Divison and hope that our resident experts can shed some light as with any info on the Airborne and Grenadier side of things.A couple of links and pics that are relavent many thanks for any help members can give to Roger on any of the above, kind regards Jason. 6th (Airborne) Divisional Provost Company, CMP http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/airborne/36033-6-airborne-division-report-operations-normandy.html#post462792 SEE POST 7.

 

Jason, I'll state the obvious and say those place names except for the Pegasus Bridge mention are not ones you would associate with the 6th Airborne Division. They are clustered around Caen and in the rear towards Bayeaux.

The first mention in the war diary of the arrival of seaborne reinforcements for 6th Divisional Provost Company is June 8th, 1944.

 

Jason, I'll state the obvious and say those place names except for the Pegasus Bridge mention are not ones you would associate with the 6th Airborne Division. They are clustered around Caen and in the rear towards Bayeaux.

The first mention in the war diary of the arrival of seaborne reinforcements for 6th Divisional Provost Company is June 8th, 1944.
Hey Cee, I did say it would appear he was 6th airborne provost, the reason for the post is to try and pin down units and locations, might be handy if Airborne Medic....... or one of the the other guys can confirm a jump course.

 

Nothing unusual about original documents not being factually incorrect regarding dates and places. Most of the time (as said by most of the vets on here) they were not actually 100% sure what was going on or where they were.

I have read quite a few, quite a lot if I'm honest, original 1940 war diaries written in the main by officers in HQ's and personal diaries. Name places can be clearly wrong aswell as dates which is a far more common mistake in my reading. Even in modern times its quite easy to loose track of days and dates if you don't keep a diary when on operations as it doesn't take long before one day to just merge into another, with no significance other than its just another day to work.

Any chance of ID'ing if he went to France in 1940?

 

Hi All.

Reginald Jinkinson is my grandfather and I am trying to help my dad (Rjinkin) piece together his army career.

I have his record of service here which has the following:

Grenadier Gds 27/5/35 -26/5/39

Grenadier Gds 2/9/39 - 7/9/39

CMP 8/9/39 - 14/11/45

So it does look like he was recalled into the Grenadier Gds but then transferred to the CMP after only 5 days?

When the Parachute battalions were formed he transferred to what he calls the 'Parachutist Military Police' for the extra 2/- a day.
Some time in 1943 during a practice drop his chute did not open until just before he hit the ground. He broke both legs and was in hospital in Liverpool for some time. Consequentially he was not allowed to parachute into France, though trained on gliders.

He arrived in France by sea on June 6th at Asnelles 11 am. (Presumably not by glider due to lack of gliders?)

We think he was in 6th Airborne Divisional Provost Company CMP but later seems to have been attached to the 53rd Welsh Division.

Any help in filling in the blanks would be really appreciated!

 

On ebay someone is selling some Medals of Corporal G. Taylor, of 6 AB CMP
GRENADIER GUARDS/ CMP 6th AIRBORNE DIVISION MEDALS WWII, PALESTINE, CORONATION

eBay - The UK's Online Marketplace

 

I will see if I can find any one of this name who went through Ringway.....

 

Some Speculation

His service records should sort out his various postings and if at some point he was transferred to the 53rd Welsh Divisional Provost Company, Corps of Military Police. If so then that unit's war diaries would be helpful.

A film description at IWM mentions the above company:

SCENES IN THE ODON BATTLEFIELD FOLLOWING OPERATION EPSOM

 

This comes up but.....
RINGWAY CARD
IDNUMBER RANK NAME INITIALS COURSE UNIT
15194 2614587 CPL JENKINSON RA 0 REN

There is no course number nor transfer record for him.......

 

This comes up but.....
RINGWAY CARD
IDNUMBER RANK NAME INITIALS COURSE UNIT
15194 2614587 CPL JENKINSON RA 0 REN

There is no course number nor transfer record for him.......


Hi Guys
Sorry for the delay - I didn’t realise this thread had been updated!

Can someone explain what the RINGWAY CARD means. Does that mean he completed his jump training? What does the REN bit under unit mean?

Is the lack of course number unusual?

 

Hi

I now have granddads service record which helps fill in some gaps:

He was in the G.G. before the war and then was recalled in to CMP.

In 1940 he is in the 53 DIV PRO COY.

53 div - 53 D.P. Coy - 20/2/40
53 DIV - Posted to 6 a/b DIV PRO COY - 2/7/43
6A/B DPC - Posted to 'Y' list - 16/10/43
'Y' list - Posted to 6 a/b DIV PRO COY - 19/2/44
6A/B DPC - Posted to 108 PRO COY - 19/6/44
108 P.C. - Posted to 54 RHU to xii ??? - 28/6/44
54RHU - To Draft ECPWN - 3/7/44
39RHU - Posted to and TOS this unit - 5/7/44
34RHU - Posted to and TOS this unit - 6/7/44
53 DPC - Posted to and TOS this unit - 1/8/44

So as I read this on 2/7/43 he transfers to the 6th airborne.

On another record we have 'received accidental injuries of moderate serious nature 24/10/43' So this is when he is injured on a parachute jump.

He then spends 5 months in hospital on the 'Y' list before rejoining 6th airborne on 19/2/44.

He then lands in Normandy by sea and joins his unit on the 8/6/44

But then on the 19/6/44 he is posted to 108 PRO COY.

I cannot find any hint of this unit from searching on the internet.

There is a clue here:

6th (Airborne) Divisional Provost Company, CMP

19th June 1944
Control of bridges over R.Orne & Canal de Caen. Lt Neaves & 5 N.C.O's proceed on detachment to 6 A/Landing Bde. Stragglers Posts.

Could this be my granddad being posted to air-landing brigade? Could 108 pro coy be part of air-landing brigade?

Then on the 28/6/44 he is posted to 54RHU.

There is a few bits I can't make out here:

There is a reference to 'xii'. Could this be the formation of xii corp? Was my granddad pulled out of his unit and put into a pool so he could be returned to 53 div in xii corp?

Then the acronym ECPWN. Anyone know what this one is?

Then he is shuffled around a bit and ends up back in 53 DIV his old unit!

Its nice to see that the stories are starting to make sense. A grenadier guard who landed in Normandy as a sea born paratrooper and ended up fighting with the Welsh!

 

Hi,

Like you I could find very little on 108 Provost Company, but if you read carefully here and here you'll notice an association with 12 Corps in both Normandy and Holland.

There is a 108 Pro Coy War Diary available for the period:

WO 171/3375 - 108 Company Provost - 1944 Jan.- Dec.

The "xii" designation may indicate he suffered a casualty and ended up at a RHU (Replacement Holding Unit). There is an explanation of the X Lists in a thread here. At the moment I can't find any connection between 108 Pro Coy and the 6th Airlanding Brigade. His posting to 108 Pro Coy and later in August to 53 Division Pro Coy would probably account for his being farther afield than the 6th Airborne area of operations during that period.

I have no idea what ECPWN means, but it appears he returned to 53 Division Pro Coy (53 DPC) on August 1st of 44. You might get a better response if you post the relevant scanned pages of his service records.

Hopefully I'm not too far with that interpretation and others will come along to correct.

 

Many thanks for the information and help.

I have not heard he was injured in Normandy but that does not mean he was not.

I have attached the relevant page from his war record. Hopefully it will provided some more clues.

 

Hi,

Sorry, "suffered a casualty " is a poor turn of phrase on my part and too specific as it may not describe what occurred with your Father. If he was on the X (ii) list he became medically unfit in some way. He could have got sick as well.

To confuse the issue the second "i" almost looks like a "v" when you zoom in which could indicate the X (iv) list. But since it is strongly dotted my inclination is to go with X (ii). Perhaps the phrase "To Draft EPCWN" would help clarify?

Regards ...