129 Field Ambulance, 43rd Div - Normandy, Market Garden & crossing the Rhine.

Discussion in 'RAMC' started by Jonathan Ball, Aug 27, 2010.

  1. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Hi Jonathan,

    My father was injured early Oct 44 near the Bemmel/Nijmegen-Arnhem Road area serving with the 5th East Yorks. I'd love to see your disc.

    Hi Amberdog

    Everything that is on the disc is now on this thread for you to read. Please feel free to lift the images and save them to your hard drive for future reference. Have you spotted anything amongst the diaries for October 1944 that is of interest?
    If you would still like a copy of the diaries on a disc then send me a PM with your address etc and we can sort something out. :)
     
  2. reichswald2012

    reichswald2012 Junior Member

    Hello Jonathan.

    I am living at the Lower Rhine. I am doing research on the german an allied positions concerning Operation Veritable / Reichswald Battle. Do you mind looking at your files for some material that matches Operation Veritable / Reichswald Battle respectively the period of time from 08.02. - 17.02.1945 ?

    Sincerely, Frank
     
  3. nrsmith

    nrsmith Junior Member

    Jonathon, I am very interested in your war diaries etc of 129 Fld Ambulance at Arnhem. My father was in the RASC and told me about picking up survivours who swam
    back across the river naked. I would very much like a copy CD.Thanks Neil Smith.
     
  4. nrsmith

    nrsmith Junior Member

    Jonathon, as a new member I have come across your post ref 129 FA. and would be interested to have a look at a CD. My father was RASC attached to 43rd Wessex and we understood his company drove ambulances. he saw service in Normandy and all through to the end, including relief work in Belsen.
    Rgds Neil Smith.
     
  5. maggs154b

    maggs154b Member

    Hi, Jonathon, I have just come across this site when searching for information on my dad's military history. He was an orderly in the 129 Field Amblance (Wessex) from 1939 until his demob some two years after the war. He was stationed around the Kent area working in Dover Castle although he also spent some time in Southampton - prior to the DD landings. I have his papers and some photos of his unit etc which I can upload. The diary pages on this website are fascinating. He did talk about his experiences a bit but never in depth about the time in Belsen so it has been a real insight reading about the way they cross through Europe. Best wishes, Maggie
     

    Attached Files:

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  6. maggs154b

    maggs154b Member

    Hi, Jonathon - I meant to say in the last post - my dad's name was Albert George Peeke (known as George) and he came from Plymouth. If anyone recognises any of the faces in the group shot attached in the last post it would be great to hear. The second image is a Christmas greeting which is signed by his colleagues from around the Plymouth area whilst they were stationed in Holland in 1944. Regards, Maggie
     
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  7. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Hello Maggie

    I would LOVE to see the photos you have and many thanks for posting what you already have. Super stuff.
     
  8. maggs154b

    maggs154b Member

    Hello, Jonathan,

    I have just come across some more pictures today. A group shot where my father is on the second row (first row standing) and on the far right of the photo. I have no idea who else is in the picture so it would be great if anyone else recognises some faces. There is a small group of guys relaxing and another showing that he was possibly part of the 75 Casualty Clearing P (?). As said previously, he didn't speak much of the Belsen work, however what he did say was that he and his colleagues made up a thin gruel of bully beef and fed this to the survivors, however even this was too rich for them and they died regardless.

    I will attempt to add the images separately as the 'upload' options seems to have disappeared! Regards, Maggie
     
  9. maggs154b

    maggs154b Member

    Pictures of 75 CCP, 129th RAMC. The formal group shot is from April 1941. Regards, Maggie
     

    Attached Files:

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  10. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Great stuff, Maggie. I've sent you a Private message but I'd be interested to know where he went after the war until he was demobbed? Was it Egypt by any chance?
     
  11. maggs154b

    maggs154b Member

    Hello, Jonathan. Following demob, my father carried on as a nursing orderly for a while in Southampton and Portsmouth and sometimes in Plymouth. He didn't go to Egypt, though. The nursing orderly work didn't pay enough to support a family so he went back to his trade as a French Polisher for a while and then emigrated (with the family) to Canada, where I was born.
    Some additional information about his military career include: he was a Batman for Dr Lister, the grandson of the Dr Lister who first used anaesthetics. Their unit was based in the parish of Willington somewhere near Maidstone. He worked in Dover Castle as well and talked a lot about Tenterden although I am unfamiliar with that area so not sure if they are all close to each other. I keep remembering bits about what he said and if I find any other pictures, will definitely upload, but suspect these are the sum of what I have. Kind regards, Maggie
     
  12. Wyvern

    Wyvern Member

    Jonathon, thank you so much for posting copies of these diaries.

    Gary.
     
  13. maxmeabh

    maxmeabh New Member

    Good morning Mr.Ball. Quite by chance I have been reading these pages (a ref: sent from my brother) and find that the reels from the N.A. that you refer to most likely were made by my father Donald Eric Warburton. Certainly the reference to someone receiving an eye injury due to horseplay rings a bell. I believe it to have been due to the throwing of crab apples in an orchard. I just spoke with my father and he certainly recalled being very angry with a young officer who dithered over a patient. My father remembers a two day interview in which he recorded his experiences. Regards, Ian Warburton.
     
  14. Brian Morgan

    Brian Morgan New Member

    Hi Jonathan. My father served with the 129 Field Ambulance, 43rd Division. His name was Thomas (William urban) Morgan known as Tom or Sunny. We have a plaque which I assume he painted and I remember seeing a group photograph of men in uniform outside Penshurst Place, Kent. He also had an autograph book with a 'wall of friendship' and drawings and paintings done at that time.

    Many of the photos you have put up don't appear on my computer it just says 'Posted Image', Could you send me a CD of the material you have.

    Thanks

    Brian Morgan
     
  15. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Photos of the diaries and reports now restored.
     
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  16. Brian Morgan

    Brian Morgan New Member

    Thanks for restoring the diaries.
     
  17. Anthony Edgeley

    Anthony Edgeley New Member

    Hi Jonathan ,
    It would be great to see these war diaries on the 129th Fd amb my dad got wounded in Feb 45 and i think it was part of operation Veritable i have seen a little of a war diary of Lt Col Bourne on when they embarked and sailed for France. How do we get the cd to me is this site ok to put my address on.
    Anthony
     
  18. elaineteresa

    elaineteresa Member

    Evening. Have only just picked up this thread. 129 were one of the units that eventually came to be known as 243 Field Hospital, from which I have recently retired after 31 years service. I still remain their Unit Historian and although this year, we are concentrating on the centenary of one of the WW1 unit’s award of the Croix de Guerre, I am always very interested to collect info about any of our historical antecedents . 129 was a local Bristol unit so am interested in anyone’s relative who might have been serving just prior to WW2. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread and also to Jonathon for uploading the diary. I am rich in new research!
     
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  19. Brian Morgan

    Brian Morgan New Member

    Jonathan

    My father was in the 129th, 43 division in WW2. I have a Photo of a painting he did on wood which I would like to post but I cant work out how!

    I would love to receive the Diaries you have on CD if the offer still stands.

    Brian
     
  20. Brian Morgan

    Brian Morgan New Member

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