Hi all, I'm trying to track any info on Harold Hardy Service number 281092... Normandy to Hamburg with the 53rd Welsh Division, 158 Brigade (??) REME. Remained in Germany after the war and ended up a Leiutenant Colonel I think having risen through the ranks possibly. He was stationed south of Hamburg and acted as the local commandant at one point but I don't specifically know where. His son says he used to joke about rebuilding the VW factory in Volksburg(???) and teaming up with some Mercedes engineers etc. His staff car/jeep could exceed 100mph apparently!! Joined the army prewar and left around 1949/50 possibly. His son remembers that he was mentioned in dispatches twice and one of these was in 1946 in the London Gazette 4 April ref WO/373/91/221. Also received MBE in 1948 mentioned in the London Gazette 2 June 1948. He had other service medals but his son doesn't know what they were for nor does he have any record of them. Basically he trained as an engineer. Any help tracking further info, photos etc of Harold would be very much appreciated. N.B. I have the 2x mentions in the London Gazette and War Office reference from National Archives. I am looking specifically for mentions of him in REME histories or if he appeared in photos that REME experts may have etc, or any papers that may be related to him. I will get his son to write off for his service record. Thank you all.
Can't find any mention of H Hardy in any books I have. The volkswagenwerks was at Wolfsburg, near Brunswick. According to a REME history book, a Major Hirst who oversaw the rebuilding of the works wrote a detailed account of it in the REME Journal of 1962.
If RemeDesertRat is right, you might want to try the REME Museum. That is where the 1962 Journal would be kept. FdeP
