I'm researching my great-grandfather Edwin Munt who served with the RAOC. He lived in Honiton, Devon and signed up to the reserve army before war broke out. Once it did he ended up in Catterick but I don't know what regiment this was with. All I know is that by the time Dunkirk occured he was in Nantes. He was evacuated from Nantes at the same time as Dunkirk on the Isle of Man ferry SS Ben-My-Chree. According to my grandfather his job was transporting equipment. Unfortunately I know no more than that, but any ideas or suggestion as to what regiment he could have been with would be great. Thanks!
The best thing to do would be to apply for a copy of his service records as they will tell you what unit(s) he served with and when amongst many other bits of info. There were five RAOC units in Nantes that were part of the Nantes Sub Base Area and they were: No.1 Base Ordanance Depot No.2 Base Ordanance Workshop No.1 Port Workshop Section No.1 Base Ammunition Depot No.6 Base Ammunition Depot The SS Ben-My Chree did sail to Nantes but that was on 15th Sept 1939 transporting troops to France. Her last trip in this role appears to be on 1st January 1940 to Cherbourg. She never evacuated anyone from Nantes, her involvement in Operation Dynamo was confined to Dunkirk where she made several trips across the channel evacuating over 4,000 troops by the end of the 1st June. On the 2nd June she was involved in a collision shortly after leaving Folkstone with another ship and sustained severe damage down her starboard side and took no further part in any of the evacuations ie Op Dynamo, Op Cycle, Op Aerial. I have a couple of pictures of the ship pre and post collision if you are interested? Regards Andy
Hi Andy, Thank you ever so much for that information, I'm sorry I haven't replied sooner, I didn't realise anyone had replied! I think I will apply for his service record. I would really appreciate any photos you have, I'll send you my email address via PM? Thanks!
