royal welch fusiliers

that photo must be later because he was in the norfolks after the war..take a close look at picture under sign ... the bayonet looks a bit dodgy ... what do you think? the pictures with the people both have ardennes written on back....

 

Hi Fudgereedoo

The simplest way of describing the role that the GSC performed is to re-print the piece I wrote on the BBC WW2 People's War Archives:

The long awaited buff envelope had arrived on our doormat a fortnight before informing me that I had been called up into His Majesty's Army and that I was to report to the Beds and Herts Infantry Training Regiment at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.

The Army had thoughtfully provided a railway ticket (ominously a single, one way only) and on arriving at Bury St.Edmunds we were met at the station by a three ton lorry, our first acquaintance with this favoured form of military transport.

We got to the barrack gates, dismounted and formed up into ragged ranks for identification against a master roll on a clipboard held by a very important looking sergeant.

Allocated to various platoon numbers we then marched through the barracks to a series of catcalls coming from young men in denim uniform lining our route.

"Go home while you can you stupid b******s!" was but a mild example of what we were subjected to and it was only weeks later that we realised the troops who 'gave us the bird' on our entry into camp had only themselves been in the army for two weeks and that this was a favourite pastime every Thursday lunch time when the new intake arrived at the Depot.

On this Thursday however I was not to know about such things and found myself looking around me and absorbing like a piece of blotting paper all the atmosphere of an army camp in wartime.

We were marched around the perimeter of a large parade ground getting various items of kit on the way and were eventually broken into squads of about twenty strong and allocated to squad leaders.

My particular squad leader was a sergeant, looking as tough as old nails. He marched us to our barrack hut and then gave us a short lecture based roughly on the "You play ball with me and I'll play ball with you" syndrome. He then told us to fall out and get our gear into the hut.

As luck would have it, I was the last person to file into the hut, and found my way impeded by what looked like a pair of size ten army boots worn by this imposing sergeant. "Your name's Goldstein, isn't it?" he demanded. "Jewish, aren't you?" he continued.

Everything I had ever imagined concerning anti-Semitism immediately came to mind and with much misgivings I promptly replied "So what!"

"Don't be a bloody idiot," he replied, "My name's Kusevitsky!" (or some such equally Jewish sounding name).

Within seconds he had established the fact that my new comrades would soon find out that their Platoon Commander was Jewish, and therefore in order to avoid complaints of favoritism he would have to be extra tough with me during training, but that I should understand the motives behind it and ignore the harassing. When the course eventually finished we had a drink together and had some fun out of the situation.

The six weeks primary training passed in a flash, my main memories of this period being those of inoculations, usually performed three at a time and the strange diet.

My new found friends soon discovered that I couldn't eat bacon and used to arrange to sit next to me in the dining hall.

Once we'd had our jabs and had learnt how to look reasonably presentable in uniform we were allowed to go into town in the evening and we used to swagger there in groups of about six strong.

We learnt very quickly that the cheapest place to get a meal off duty was at the Y.M.C.A or the Salvation Army, affectionately known as the Sally Ann and we all became heavy smokers, lung cancer not having even been heard of in those heady days.

Whilst at Bury St. Edmunds we were given various psychological tests and apparently it was discovered that I had an aptitude for reading Morse code for when the course finished and the 'postings' were put up on the camp notice board I found that I had been transferred to a Royal Artillery Driver/Wireless Operator training unit in Whitby, in Yorkshire.


I'm glad to see that you are in cabable hands.

Enjoy !

Ron

 

here are more that might interest you......

 

getting the hang of this at last....... if the pictures are germany does this help if he was in the 6th or did all the welch brigade make it to germany ?

 

The open collar suggests to me probably not December 1944 but around the end of the war with leave in Brussels.

The pictures with Germans out hunting are typical souveniers and could have come from a billet anywhere in Germany or occupied Europe. The German language signpost could relate to the eastern part of Belgium - Malmedy was Prussia until 1920 and re-incorporated into Germany in 1940.

 

so is there any way we could link all this together and work out his possible life in the royal welch fusiliers if he was in the 6th between 17/2/44..............28/8/45

thanking all of you fudgereedoo

 

Apply for Service Records (these should confirm it?) I'll get the 6 RWF War Diary at Kew and then trawl through it for any info, but from memory its all handwritten, somewhat poorly.

 

Fudgeredoo-
I can confirm Ron's explanation of the General Service Corps- as I too landed up in Bury St Edmunds a month after Ron and went through the same training and testing- landing up six weeks later in on of the Armoured Corps Trainig regiment at Barnard Castle - operated by the Horse Guards - and unlike some on this thread states - WE did not wear the service cap /beret anyway we liked - BUT with the cap badge over the left eye and pulled down towards the right ear - OR do 7 days peeling spuds etc - that put paid to any thoughts of keeping up with the fashion ! WE called them sloppy soldiers !
Cheers

 

so are you saying my dad was a sloppy soldier!!!!!!!!!!! ....looking at all the photos i have downloaded most seem to be wearing there beret high on their head...... are you saying its more of a fashion statement than the correct way to wear it. i must say he does look very 'dashing'.....

also if he was called up ..... how could he have lied about his age ???

 

Fugereedoo -
If your Father wore his beret in that fashion which was contrary to Kings R & R's - then he was indeed a sloppy soldier - and would have peeled mountains of spuds.......and I made no reference to his age or whether he was called up or volunteered......
Cheers

 

so you are...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! along with all the others in the photos and properly alot more ..... you obviously were the only one to be perfect ........well it didn't do him any harm because he served 37 years in the british army and recieved the B.E.M IN 1980...#####

the other part was in reply to another post....

 

Sorry, I've just woken up but I did find that funny-Have a rep!

Here you go matey have a read of the thread below:

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/weapons-technology-equipment/23400-orgins-british-army-beret.html

Your father is not wearing a beret he is wearing a General Service Cap.

As some have mentioned your best bet is to get his service records or you are just guessing as to the what's and where's. The link below will help you apply for them-They do take some time but they are well worth the wait-Especially if he pushed 37 years !

Army Personnel Centre - British Army Website


Regards
Andy

 

owen .. nice to here from you ... yes ihave read the link and i have started to fill out the forms... hope this doesn't mean the end of this quest on ww2talk ... i have enjoyed reading alot on here even though some of them end up in a bit of a bitch and i know more than you !!!!! 'specially the thread on audie murphy'.................

 

Specifically on the GS caps, its noted in Red Dragon that the men were never told how to wear them, no regulations were ever passed on - hence the many different ways of wearing them.

 

thanks drew5233 i enjoyed reading about the beret and feel better now that they were all wearing their general service cap / beret the way it was and that tom was being a bit predantic ....