Whatever happened to Syd Pullen, 9th Battalion Royal Fusiliers?

16th September saw the battalion attack Mulazzano - positions as referenced in the WD. Mulazzano is on quite a ridge that forms a U shaped bowl around the wooded area in front of D coy. I drove through Mulazzano while on a Gothic Line tour with Frank in April and was surprised at the height of the ridge.

This area is a bit familiar to me as I was researching a Captain Forgan from 6 Cheshires who was killed in the 'u shaped bowl' on 18th September along with 5 ORs of A Company while trying to recover bogged carriers.

 

Hi - I'd give that a miss and read this one instead - Gothic Line: Amazon.co.uk: Douglas Orgill: 9780330023443: Books.

 

Hi Stu,

It's all about lighting - ideally to take pictures of those panels you want flat light and no shadows. So over cast with no sun otherwise the dynamic range is too great.

Cheers,
Gary.

 

Hi Gary,
thanks for the advise. I will bring a different camera with me on next study. The black & white photo does look rather good .. It seems to bring out the engraving on the panels. I've spent a age in trying to stitch the separate photos of each panel that I'm interested in. Like a complete fool, I've lost the top notch app that i had for merging maps / photos. Microsoft Ice springs to mind. It was a cracking tool.
I would be interested in obtaining the WO file on the missing.. Not sure of the relevant number.
Cheers,
Stu.

 

Hello Stu,
Believe it or not its supplied from the CWGC site

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2072002/pullen,-sydney/

Scroll down to the `Graves registration` section. I havent checked for others

Kyle

 

I'm thinking that I will have to put in the panel No's for them to appear. Its something I'll have to play with.

Kyle, thank-you for the link. Its great that it has a separate page which shows the name, rank, battalion & regiment along with other details. Top chap.


Regards,
Stu.

 

If you look carefully on the Royal Fusiliers Panel you will see Second Lieutenant EF Waters.

Second Lieutenant Waters was the father of Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.

Regards

Frank

 

SteveDee.

Gary T is absolutely right. The Douglas Orgill book is very good.

Regards

Frank

 

Roger Waters has a plaque / memorial to is old man of 9 RF at Anzio. Frank will know more about it. I've been fortunate to see it, but did not take a pic. We passed it on the coach,& could not stop to take a decent photo. Not much of it if my memory is correct. Having said that, its a memorial that one should tip your hat.

Regards,
Stu.

 

We called at the Anzio Beachhead Museum on our Leger Italian tour and listened to the song Roger wrote. A really haunting song. The museum is a lovely place to visit. Scroll down a few pictures to see the exhibits in the museum-
The Anzio Beachhead Museum – Il Museo dello Sbarco di Anzio


Lesley

 

Eric Waters was in 8 Bn. RF. I'm not sure if the location of the memorial on Google maps is correct but if it is the memorial is in completely the wrong location. Again that is if the grid references in the WD for the morning Z Coy was overrun and Waters was killed are correct.

 

It was the nearest place that Harry Schindler of the Italy Star Association could get to the spot where Eric Waters was killed. Not all Italian landowners are cooperative.

Frank

 

Gary,
thanks for the correction. Apologies on my part.

Regards,
Stu.

 

Thanks once again, but I'm now a little confused.

The CWGC state he died on 16th Sept 1944 & Richard said the battalion was near San Savino on the 15th & 16th.

So did they travel up country about 170miles to Mulazzano during 16th? (that seems like a long way to travel in an occupied country in less than a day).
Also, Major Porter's statement in the Missing Personnel file states that Syd was still alive at 4am on the 17th. There was also a note that he may have been a POW.

Is this just the fog-of-war?

 

Mulazzano in Rimini...5 miles from San Savino.

More about Mulazzano here:
La frazione di Mulazzano nel comune di Coriano (RN) Emilia-Romagna