Freds Normandy Visit 2012

Discussion in 'All Anniversaries' started by son of a rat, Jan 18, 2012.

  1. son of a rat

    son of a rat Senior Member

    Hi all this year my Father will be 92 years old in September, I will be taken Father to Normandy in June and would like to make it a special pilgrimage for him. Just looking for any ideas on researching his movements though Normandy. Father drove a Half Track mainly on reconnaissance with the 621 Field Squadron Royal Engineers 7th Armoured Division. Sapper Frederick A Wright 1949292.
    Father will not talk about the bad things that took place, He just tells me he was a Butcher before the war an blood didn’t worry him and says he didn’t sleep well until the 1970s and now he sleeps and doesn’t wish to remember but still has nightmares.
    But on our yearly visits to Normandy he wonders about less significant things ie In a small field with a few tanks and Infantry getting ready for a nights kip when 3 Fokker -Wulf 190s came over at tree top height one which dropped his bomb blowing himself up. Also while looking for a Tiger Tank they came across a narrow lane leading up the side of a small hill were they came across 2 German Half Tracks over a fence there was a small meadow in the ditch were dead Germans laying about four deep spreading some way along the ditch. There are a few incidents that took place were he would like to return to maybe just to lay a wreath and ponder. I just wonder if there were any way of tracing there movements would these be reported somewhere any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Many Thanks Andy and Frederick.
     
    James S likes this.
  2. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Their war diary will almost certainly record their movements: WO 171/1663 621 Coy RE 1944 Jan-Dec. Would I be right in thinking that they operated mostly with 131 (Queens) Infantry Brigade?

    It's likely that the company's platoons operated independently at times, so it will be worth asking your father which platoon he was in (or he may have been company headquarters) as they may have written up their own exploits.

    Andy (Drew5233) or Lee (PsyWar.org) do a competitive copying service. You might want to limit it to, say, May/June/July for this trip (May diaries sometimes have very useful stuff).
     
  3. son of a rat

    son of a rat Senior Member

    Their war diary will almost certainly record their movements: WO 171/1663 621 Coy RE 1944 Jan-Dec. Would I be right in thinking that they operated mostly with 131 (Queens) Infantry Brigade?

    It's likely that the company's platoons operated independently at times, so it will be worth asking your father which platoon he was in (or he may have been company headquarters) as they may have written up their own exploits.

    Andy (Drew5233) or Lee (PsyWar.org) do a competitive copying service. You might want to limit it to, say, May/June/July for this trip (May diaries sometimes have very useful stuff).
    Thanks very much for your reply Father has just gone to bed i will show him your reply tomorrow. I know he thought a lot of the Queens and belive he calls them the cherry pickers. He so looks forward to Normandy.

    Many Thanks Andy.
     
  4. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Just a quick one: the Cherrypickers were the 11 Hussars. They were the Corps reconnaissance regiment (armoured cars) in Normandy but worked very closely with 7 Armd as they had done in the desert.
     
  5. son of a rat

    son of a rat Senior Member

    Just a quick one: the Cherrypickers were the 11 Hussars. They were the Corps reconnaissance regiment (armoured cars) in Normandy but worked very closely with 7 Armd as they had done in the desert.
    Are yes when i took Dad to a militaria fair he bought me two badges and told me about the 11th Hussars and i think the 5th Queens maybe. I have so much to learn but the two badges have lead to Helmets, Knives,Guns, Medals, Etc and a 1944 jeep iv'e got the bug.
     
  6. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

  7. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    ...
     
    Jonathan Ball likes this.
  8. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

  9. son of a rat

    son of a rat Senior Member

    Thanks for your help i'm trying to get more info from Father. Father says he was with second section wich had squares painted on the wing of the Half Track No Z-5517317 He says the reports were done by sgt Leigh. He also says sometimes they were away from the unit for a few days making contact by a Dispatch Rider Nobby Clark. I'm afraid it's not much to go on. Also today Father received a invitation to Fallingbostal in March, He has never flown before i don't know if it's a good idea.
     
  10. AJ1962SG

    AJ1962SG New Member

    I am reasearching my Grandfather John (Jack) Crolley who was with 621 Field Squadron RE as a Driver in Normandy and would would be very grateful for any background information on what the unit's role was in Normandy, the equipment they would have used and also of events surrounding his capture. Unfortunately I don't know what platoon he was in. The string on this forum is very helpful and I shall follow up some of the suggested data sources. I hope that what I have written below will also be of assistance.

    Where and when did they land?
    We think on Gold beach at around 1pm on 6th June but this is from memory of conversaions 30 yerars ago. But my mother says that his Officer told her (in the 1980's) that they were the first tank on the beach. - perhaps from the follow up after the beach had been secured rather than initial landings?

    POW:
    I'm not totally certain of the date he was made POW but I think it was probably at the time of Villiers-Bocarge - so about a week of active service in France. From what little he told my mother, they appear to have been parked up (having a brew he told my Father) when surprised by the Germans and taken prisoner. I'd be interesting in finding out more about this incident and information about anyone who knew him in captivity. They may have been at Stalag XII (a or B), Linburg.

    POW train straffing:
    After capture they were on a POW train that was straffed. Graddad was unharmed but the Canadian Doctor with whom he'd just been talking was killed. Graddad wondered why he, an ex-Liverpool docker, should be spared but this educated man was killed. I wonder how many Candadian medical Doctors died after being made POWs in June/July of 1944 and if it is possible to trace who he was?

    Reunions:
    Granddad visited France on reunions in the late 1970's and also one in Leeds in the early 1980's, but not the 40th anniversary bash in France in 1984. My mother was previously in correspondence with his CO in the 1980's following the Leeds reunion which she also attended. Granddad owned an Opel car and had no annimosity to the ordinary Germans.

    Thanks for reading this.
     
  11. son of a rat

    son of a rat Senior Member

    I have sent you a personal message for my Facebook page as one friend of 91 years of age was like my father also a driver with the 621st.
     
  12. Spenn68

    Spenn68 New Member

    Andrew

    I was in France on a visit to Bayeux Cemetery where I saw a poppy wreath in relation to your father, I would be honored if you could tell me a little bit in reference to his story.

    I would be most grateful to hear his story.

    Regards

    Paul Spencer.
     
  13. son of a rat

    son of a rat Senior Member

    Hi Paul, Father was almost 24 years old on D-day and watched the battle from the liberty ship Fort Kas-Kaskia waiting for his turn, he didn't get ashore until early on the 8th. Dad served with the 621st Field Squadron Royal Engineers 7th Armoured Div as a reconnaissance half-track driver and made it all the way to Berlin.
    Fathers journey though Europe was eventful but like many his stories remained in his head like a silent torture leaving him with night mares. Dad told stories about the lighter moments. He did not return to Normandy until 2004 and like his war years it was also eventful being pictured in news papers, filmed for BBC and Anglia TV and my favourite being pictured on the D-day posters in Normandy from 2009 until 2013 when passed away. Even today he is pictured on the D-day clock in Bayeux.
    Thank you for the interest in my Dear Father.
     

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