53rd Reconnaissance Regiment

That might have been me, but I believe I then went onto the Find My Past website then, plus the Forces War Records one too. Thomas Hall is my grandfather who was in the Commandos, they were originally I believe in the 2nd Monmouthshire Regt. together. I shall have a look at the link and see who it is. Trying to upload photo but having trouble at the moment.

 

Unfortunately I don't have access to the full Ancestry website, just the free account, so can't view the link properly, I know that someone else have my grandfather in their tree, a Margaret Wilkes, so it could be the same person. The link for Thomas Hall is the items I sent to the Commando Veterans Association a couple of years back.

 

Taken on the 73rd anniversary of him being KIA after a kind gentleman, Marcel Boven placed a candle at his grave in Mierlo Cemetery and paid his Respects. Thank you.
#RIP

 

I left the family tree link there in case I needed to go back to it or if someone has Ancesty membership then they can look as well, but basically it makes life easier for me if I need to refer to it again

TD

 

Got you chap, no probs, know what you mean. I'll look myself into access again to both the Ancestry and FMP websites in the near future.

 

Just checked and the creator of the tree I have linked to is Margaret Wilkes, as you mentioned above

TD

 

A few photos of items I've acquired, more to follow.

 

This is the last letter my great uncle Wlif wrote to my grandfather Thomas whilst he was in Burma. As you can see Wlif was in C Squadron of the 53rd Regt. Recce Corps and sadly the month afterwards he was KIA.

 

Downloaded the transcripts of the units War diaries that was on a post much earlier in this thread and saw that in part 2 it mentions my great uncle (Sgt. Hall), it was for 20th Sept'44, after B & C Squadrons went on patrols into the woods towards the Dutch Belgian border, 4 miles west of Luyksgestel. He was the only one of the unit to be KIA that day with 1 OR wounded, but no major encounters were made. I tried to copy and paste that section onto here, but my iPad isn't playing ball. If anybody else can do it, please do so, thanks.

 

http://www.cwmbransdead.shaunmcguire.co.uk/images/obituaries/Hall_w_cwmbran.jpg
Lance Serjeant HALL, WILFRED JAMES
Service Number 4077201

Died 20/09/1944

Aged 23

53rd Regt.
Reconnaissance Corps, R.A.C.

Son of Albert and Alice Hall, of Cwmbran, Monmouthshire.


INSCRIPTION
R.I.P. GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN. HIS LOVING MOTHER

 

Yep, got that newspaper clipping too. Thanks for that.

 

Eventually got a copy of that part of the War Diary, done a screenshot, but when I tried to upload it, wasn't to be, just coming up with file extension error. Will try another way, fingers crossed.

 

#RIP

 

Hi Darren, this is a quote from the war diary about the circumstances in which your great uncle was KIA.

Sorry I have no further details. Their is a regimental history called Welsh Spearhead, a vey difficult book to come by, which may add some further details.

 

Sadly, I must report that I am unable to locate my copy of 'Philip M. Cowburn. Welsh Spearhead : a history of the 53rd Reconnaissance Regiment 1941-1946'.

Is anybody able to post copies of all the photos in the book in this conversation? I ask as my grandfather appears in one where he is on guard duty and would love to see it again.

I would be eternally grateful to anybody who is able to help.

Kind regards,
Paul

 

Hi,

Very sorry if this is the wrong forum, but i am trying to find out some information about my Wife's Grandfather John Langford-Williams. and i wonder if anyone could help. We think he was part of the 53rd Recce mostly because he was from Mid Wales and the very vague description of his movements in WWII seems to be similar to those of the 53rd. The only information we have is a clipping from an old newspaper article which indicates he was part of the Reconnaissance Corps. He landed in Normandy on D-Day (we think) and was tasked to find and destroy V1 sites. From there all we know is that he helped liberate Bayeux and then crossed the Rhine. He later assisted with the liberation of Belsen (he didn't ever want to talk of the detail).

Any help anyone can offer in giving more information about him would be massively helpful. By all accounts we was very quiet about his war experiences and they affected him deeply afterward, as a consequence there isn't much detail on his service.

If this isnt the place for this kind of question, please could someone point me in the right direction.

Thanks

 

This may well be the right place but, to be sure, I would suggest that you obtain his service records which will outline his military history and the unit(s) he was with.
Get a copy of military service records
Your wife, as a next of kin, should apply. Good luck.

 

Follow Tony56's advice - its the only place to start collating the true picture of what he did and where he went

TD

 

That's really helpful, thank you. Will get her to apply and see where it takes us.

 

My mother's cousin was Trooper Ernest Hartley (b 17th November 1924 - d Tuesday 3rd October 1944, a month before his 20th birthday). His service number was 14546081, "A Squadron", 53rd Regiment of Reconnaissance Corps. He was Casualty List No. 1575, buried at the Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery Grave reference 17.A.4.
I have attached a couple of photos - the first shows him on the right, at Gullegem (near Moorsele) being thanked as a liberator. The second shows his still grieving parents at his grave in Bergen-Op-Zoom (Netherlands, 25 miles north of Antwerp). His father, also Ernest, was a despatch rider in WW1. I have just started tracking Ernest's movements through Europe hoping to find details of how he met his end, presumably during the liberation of Antwerp.
I shall be going on a motor bike rally to Belgium in May, so plan to visit Gullegem and his War Grave. If anyone has come across Ernest and can short cut my investigtion, that would be great, as reading this thread, requests for service records take quite a while. One question which I have, is who took the photo of him, which obviously got developed (where and when?) and sent to his parents - was there an official photographer, was it another trooper, or a local newspaper?

Thanks, Edmund.