3rd Battalion IRISH GUARDS

Discussion in 'The Brigade of Guards' started by dbf, Mar 25, 2008.

  1. Jake2356

    Jake2356 New Member

    Hi , I am terribly sorry and can’t apologise enough for not getting back to
    What I can tell you is that my dad died in 1991 aged 66
    His service number was 2723988, George Garrett,he was in 5 platoon, no2 company, 3rd battalion Irish Guards
    I know he served with Lt O’Grady M.C for action on Bonninghardt Ridge 4th March 1945,
    With L,Cpl Veale M.M for the same action
    K.I.A from that platoon were Guardsmen Kent 150245, Begelly 040345, Wade and Devine both on O50345
    Wounded in Action were Kielty, Summers, Hutchison and Lt Tennison
    Tennison is mentioned in one of the sites in a battalion war diary I believe, it speaks of him being injured in the heel February 1945
    Pow were Guardsmen Hobbs, Moore, Emerson ,Fordham and Sutton
    My father is in one of the photos at training depot one of the training sgts is called Dooley I believe.
    He never spoke about his time in the war in detail
    he said film Bridge to Far was not a true reflection of what happened to the irish guards.
    He spoke about patrolling the bridges at Nijmegen looking for explosives floating in the river to attempt to blow up the bridge
    burying German soldiers
    He never spoke about Normandy but his older brother who was in a reserved occupation in the shipyards told me after dad died that he had seen action in Normandy and mentioned Cagny where I believe he may have been injured.
    This does not seem to tie up with his service record, I don’t know how accurate they
    Lt Tennison who mentioned earlier I found an obituary on line for a person called Tennison with same initials and was injured in the same battalion had recently died, it would seem he went onto become knighted diplomat
    I will send the documents to you that I have
     
  2. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Welcome back, good to hear from you again.
     
  3. Jeremy Flint

    Jeremy Flint New Member

    hello there. My uncle was Guardsman Aubron Warriner of 3rd bn, Irish Guards (Service number 2721769) who died on 3rd August 1944, aged 31. That is all that I know about him I'm affraid. My mum who is now 91 years old never really talked about her brother, but watching the D Day 75th commemoration on tv, she had a tear in her eye and talked about Aubron, and this made me ant to know more, especially the circumstances of his death. From The War Graves Commission I have located where he is buried, but would love to know about him and his battalion after D Day. Any help would really be appreciated x
     
  4. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Hello and welcome to the forum

    You could apply to MOD for copy service records
    Request records of deceased service personnel


    • From the War Diary for the 3rd Battalion Irish Guards, this is the date the battalion, as a whole, embarked for Normandy
    23 June 1944
    LONDON DOCKS

    After being delayed for two days by bad weather, the ship put to sea in the early hours of the morning, and the marching party woke to find the shores of NORMANDY just coming over the horizon. It was a wonderful sight to see the shipping lying off the beaches. We were quickly transferred from our liner to L.C.T. and taken ashore. We got our feet wet somewhat to everyone’s annoyance. A tiring march took us to our assembly area in the fields just NORTH of CREULLY where we spent the night.

    • This is the entry from the war diary for the day your uncle was killed:
    3 August 1944
    Today we received orders to capture the village of MONTCHAMP - it was subsequently discovered that this was a strong enemy point and contrary to original intelligence. The armour meanwhile had passed SOUTHWARD through ST. CHARLES de PERCY. We had quite an exciting night advancing along the road between ST. CHARLES de PERCY and MONTCHAMP and the leading Coy, No 1, were soon held up by German Spandau posts about a kilometre to the EAST of ST. CHARLES. Well backed up by two troops of tanks (1 Armd COLDM GDS) and after 3 efforts, they overcame the opposition and a combat group composed of No. 4 Coy and a troop of tanks, passed through No 1 Coy to deepen the penetration by 300 metres. They succeeded with very slight losses. Another combat group (composed of X Coy and one troop of tks) then again attempted to penetrate 400 metres further EAST to gain the village of COURTEIL, but were held up by a strong enemy resistance. During the day’s fighting, Lt. HICKEY (1 Coy) was rather badly wounded and other casualties were nine ORs [Other Ranks] killed and 18 wounded.


    From the War diary for the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards:
    3 AUGUST
    At first light and enemy inf attack was put in from the SOUTH on 3 IRISH GUARDS HQ, this was beaten off and No. 1 Sqdn had a good Browning shoot through the hedges surrounding the position. That afternoon 3 IRISH GUARDS sent out a Coy and 2 Tps of tks to Pt 176. On the way up No. 3 Tp had 1 tk hit. To get to Point 176 they had to go up a narrow sunken lane between tall hedges and Mjr BATT was shot in the head by a sniper. Capt. ST CLAIR took over Comd. His 2 Tks were in contact with SP Anti-Tank guns and a coy of the K.S.L.I.s around Pt 176. There were enemy about this point; the same small groups of Tks and inf that we were now constantly encountering. ? Neither side was strong enough to drive the other back and No. 1 laagered for the night with the A Tk guns and infantry. The remaining 2 Tps were still back with HQ 3 IRISH GUARDS.

    In the meantime No. 3 Sqdn was still with the 1ST BN WELSH GUARDS and they received orders. Some PANTHERS had been seen in the neighbourhood of ST. C. DE P. and 2 Tps were sent down in that direction, but they found nothing. The remainder of the day, the situation was very confused.


    Casualty
    Guardsman WARRINER, AUBRON
    Service Number 2721769
    Died 03/08/1944
    Aged 31
    3rd Bn. Irish Guards
    Son of Herbert and Sarah Jane Warriner, of Shirebrook, Nottinghamshire.
    INSCRIPTION:
    HIS FACE IS OFTEN BEFORE US HIS VOICE WE'D LOVE TO HEAR. LOVING THOUGHTS. MOTHER
    Buried at ST. CHARLES DE PERCY WAR CEMETERY
    Location: Calvados, France
    Cemetery/memorial reference: I. F. 8.
    Screenshot 2019-06-08 at 11.55.28.png
     
  5. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    From The History of the Irish Guards during The Second World War, FitzGerald:
    IMG_0472.JPG

    From The Coldstream Guards 1930-1946 Howard & Sparrow:
    IMG_0473.JPG
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2019
    CL1 likes this.
  6. Jeremy Flint

    Jeremy Flint New Member

    thank you very much for taking the time to forward this information. It means a lot to me that you have replied. It brings home the sacrifice that our forces made to give us the freedom we sometimes take for granted today. Again, thank you x
     

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