sapper, is this your lot?

Discussion in 'Royal Engineers' started by Owen, Mar 10, 2007.

  1. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Great picture !

    One of the chaps appears to have a 3 Div badge but whats this guy wearing?

    [​IMG]
     
  2. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Looks like a 2 army flash. I like the idea of herding cows..... The only cows we saw were dead with their feet in the air
     
  3. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Lorry behind the wall has a 2nd Army shield too doesn't it.
    Whoever those sappers are I'd say they were a bunch of cowboys.
    ;)
     
  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Anyone you know Brian? George and Beryl Formby entertaining Royal Engineers in Normandy.

    [​IMG]
    VE-Day, The Album
     
  5. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Chap on the floor looks like he has leaping boar insignia of XXX Corps.
     

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  6. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Just looked at original picture and not sure. I think it looks a bit like the Polar Bear.

    I'll post a close up when I get home from work.
     
  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Just looked at original picture and not sure. I think it looks a bit like the Polar Bear.

    I'll post a close up when I get home from work.

    49th Div.

    [​IMG]

    IWM dates photo to 30 July 1944.
    [​IMG]

    DATE:
    30 July 1944
    DESCRIPTION:
    Wartime Entertainers: George Formby entertains a small group of soldiers in the ruins of a small village in Normandy during the ENSA [Entertainments National Service Association] tour of 1944. He is shown sitting on a tree stump with his ukulele
     
  8. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

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  9. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    That is us Owen mate.
    In that same picture book that was posted to me, was a picture of people walking across a badly knocked about canal bridge. One of them was carrying an accordion.

    That is a picture I would love to keep. The bridge had been partly blown, and while they were taking the photo, I was underneath the bridge in a rowing Boat making sure it would not collapse.
    So if you can put that picture on here Owen. I would be very obliged mate.

    It is of a crowd of women and young people crossing the bridge, with planks strewn over to cover the holes
    Sapper
     
  10. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Excellent........Do you know any of the Sappers in the pictures Brian?
     
  11. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Its either my old Officer, Lt Chas Boyse RE MC or Captain Mchael Edwards RE
    can anyone see if he has two or three pips?

    After all these years it is difficult to recall. Bur my mob for sure. The Dutch made us very welcome. But looked a bit upset when web started to prepare explosives to stop a counter attack. We did not use it in the end.
     
  12. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    No pips on these chaps
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=26576&d=1269859807

    This chap looks like he has two.
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=26575&d=1269859807
     
  13. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Andy

    Your specs need cleaning :)

    The chap on the left is most certainly an officer !

    Ron
     
  14. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    certainly is But after aall these years I am not sure who? It is Lt Chas Boyse RE mC of Captain M Edwards. MY platoon officer.
    Just wonderful to see these pictures.
     
  15. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Its that 2 photos of the Civilians crossing over a canal bridge that I want to be able to save......

    Looked carefully Two Pips,.So it is my platoon officer Lt Chas Boyse MC RE.
    I saw him at a memorial service for another D day Vet Colonel, he was the sat in a chair in the gangway of Studland church It was crowded. But he was old white haired, with the shakes. I never recognised him, until the UK Chief Engineer told me "This is your old Officer".But that was a good few years ago. He was too sick to talk to.

    Sapper
     
  16. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Here's some more pics, the ones Brian mentions of the bridge as well as a group of 3rd Div men with what looks like a sapper on the right.
    I've just made screen grabs of the website.
    Naughty I know.
    Click on thumbnails to enlarge...
     

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  17. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    A bit off thread, but one of the things that my Mum always talked about, was that she could not get back home to Delft from Breda for quite some time after the war was over, as the Bridges had been blown up.

    Nice to see some pics (particularly in colour).
     
  18. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    No pips on these chaps
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=26576&d=1269859807

    This chap looks like he has two.
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=26575&d=1269859807

    If you look very close, I would say the guy on the left in the first photo is also the officer to the right of the monks in the 2nd photo. Very similar likeness.
     
  19. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Actually ref the first chap drinking I can see something on closer inspection on his eppaulette. Is it a crown rather than a pip?
     
  20. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Fair play to you Brian if you was under that bridge.
    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=26612&d=1269896957
     

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