Hello All, May I first wish all forum members an early Happy & prosperous New Year Another year soon gone but hopefully a better one to come. I hope someone may be able to help. I have been looking at my Family history files as They seriously need sorting out and came across a photocopy of what I think is a citation for MID for a relative Kenneth Jaques. It says: L/Cpl K Jaques of 2 East Yorks. I congratulate you on your inspiring and gallant leadership of your section during the action on the UDEM Road on 27 February 1945. 1/7/1945 LG Whistler Major General Commanding 3rd British Infantry Division. I have found a little information on the action but not much that mentions the East Yorks. Does anyone have the war diaries for this period that may put a little flesh on the bones of what he or his section were up against. Sadly Kenneth has passed away and the couple of times I met him, many years ago, he was reluctant to talk of his time in the Army. regards Nick
Hi Stolpi, No I do not have that book but any help from it you could provide would be very much appreciated. From my understanding the 27 Feb 1945 was the start of "Operation Veritable", I found a site that has some of the maps but am no wiser on the East Yorks participation. Regards Nick
Great, many thanks Stolpi I will do as you suggest and search for the place names and see what comes up. Kenneth seemed to be in the thick of it, he was wounded by shrapnel in July 1944 but was obviously fit to rejoin his unit. many thanks again Nick
Here's the diaries covering his injury in 44 and the possible MID in Feb 45 WO 171/1397 2 East Yorkshire Regiment (The Duke of York's Own) 1944 Jan.- Dec. WO 171/5293 2 East Yorkshire Regiment (The Duke of York's Own)1945 Jan.-Sept. There's two more covering up to June 1946. Both are WO 169 series so I suspect they were re-deployed to Palestine after the war. Ref the MiD it could be a CC (Commanders Commendation). Cheers Andy
Thanks for the references Drew Had a look and they don't seem to be online but will contact the NA to get a price. It looks as though he was in Palestine afterwards, his release leave cert says Haifa Palestine dated 25 Feb 1946. I have also been reading a very interesting thread on this forum and the 2nd at Dunkirk in the retreat of 1940. Ken enlisted on 15 Nov 1939 I wonder if he would have completed his basic training in time to be sent over to the Belgium border only to be making his way back to blighty soon after? Cheers Nick
I'll look at the 1940 possibility later-I have their war diaries for that period. TNA has a weird price/estimate system and their prices do seem to be rather excessive-at best guess they charge around a £1.00 a page. I'm considerably cheaper at 10p per page so give me a shout when you get the quote if its too much for you. Regards Andy
Cheers Andy will do. As I mentioned Ken never talked about the war so I have no idea if he was with the BEF in 1940 so not sure if he would be mentioned in any records prior to D-day. I know about the TNA charging system, I requested a quote for some station ORB's a while back and got a shock at £1200 per file. I have some digging to do with the info Stolpi suggested for now Nick
I know about the TNA charging system, I requested a quote for some station ORB's a while back and got a shock at £1200 per file. I dunno how they have the b**ls, it's almost like no one wants to do the work. I've copied quite a few ORB's for members on here and the most expensive was £44.00 and the cheapest was £13.00 so that may give you an idea on how my prices compare to their's.
Sorry not to have been back sooner..... Many thanks Stolpi: It seems more than likely that Ken distinguished himself in the battle for the bridge at Mohlen Fleuth on the Uedem-Weeze road. Operation Heather began at 7am on the 27th Feb 1945. The bridge was given the name "Yorkshire bridge" from what I can gather due to the fierce fighting and the bravery of the East Yorks in taking & holding it. That gives me a couple of new things to look at whilst I have nothing better to do. Nick
