91450 Major David Charles Lennard SHEPHERD, MC, MiD*, 67 Field Regiment, RA: 25/12/1944

A thanks would be nice! I was going to post some more information, but i will give it a miss. If you are not in your comfort zone, why have started your thread?

Its interesting to note that Scott mentions that he has a copy of The EYES and EARS of the REGIMENT 67 Field Regiment by Whitfield. I sent the book to him by post, & (It was then forwarded onto that top chap called Frank de Planta.) Forum member Scott1975, has paid out a small amount of coin re the diaries of the above regiment which he shared them with me. I only wanted 1944, but Scott sent me more than was expected of which was most appreciated.

I think you may be taking a liberty here in saying that you cant ( just get the STAFF THESE DAYS?) I'm sure that i don't need to underline that. Did you need to come out with a sarcastic comment with baited breath? Chris, take a chill pill.

Regards,
Stuart.

 

Stuart,

I haven't given up on this but won't be posting anything else as requested, and am in contact with two archives in Ferrara regarding Feld Lazarett 200 and the municipal cemetery register.

Please send me anything you have on a private message,

Vitellino

 

Many apologies for not thanking you all for your kindly assistance. It was not taken for granted but there were others that I needed to consult before returning.
This has been a very personal enquiry which is not without considerable emotion.
This maybe the end of this enquiry but not the end of the story.
If and when it is completed I will reveal to you any results that I am able to provide to satisfy your interest.
My particular thanks to Vitellino for the expertise and effort which I think has raised some unique information and provided us all with an example of how to research using off line resources.
The internet is a great tool for communication but can prove a barrier to ones personal emotions.
Thank you once again for your time and selfless efforts.
My primary concern however is to respect those for whom this a personal reality, whilst we remember the fallen, we should respect those still amongst us.

 

Uncle Target, has requested, & with respect i will be emailing Vitellino with the other information that i have. Its mainly extracts from some books, & War diaries. One sometimes finds small details that may be of use, or may not have been seen before? I'm thinking more of yourself.

I'm working on it.. It may take some time has to only being able to send things during the weekend. A test email has been sent.

Regards,
Stu.

 

One last comment, being pernickety is rather important in my opinion. Its even more so when you are passing on facts to a (second party). Read your post #20. Who is correct here, yourself, the Gordon Highlanders Museum, or the War diaries? I will upload a image that you may not have come across before?

Regards,
Stu.

 

This post is closed but I will help you out on this if only to terminate it.
The Gordon Museum told me that Major Rose was an Argyll.
The 67th said that It was Major Rose who went with Major Shepherd. I assume that the Gordons were correct and the 67th wrong.
Life is never that easy and War Diaries are not exactly first hand information. In the case of the 67th there are the Regimental War Diaries which you get from NA but there were also Battery Diaries with more local information which do not seem to have survived intact. There are also letters held by relatives. I do not use War Diaries very often as I am one of these.
I will not post these as they are very personal but will on this occasion provide an excerpt.
Hopefully my next post will be to update the forum of anything that we might find most likely after the families trip to Italy.

 

I think you may be making a idiot of yourself? Please do excuse myself. I shall quote you a paragraph from the PREFACE of Whitfield's book. It goes has the following: Just in case that you have not read it?

I would like to express my grateful thanks to those of my friends, Major Tom Averill, William (Taffy) Hall (Dec'd), and Jack (Dixie) Dean, who have have contributed their anecdotes. Was that the famous chap who played football?
Being able to consult a copy of the 466 Battery War Diary and also a summary (of all three Battery War Diaries) & yes you have read that correctly.. Which was written by Capt. Peter Mennell after the war had ended, has helped tremendously in getting my dates correct and supplying knowledge about the Regiment which was not available to one of the lower echelon.Its here for the record.No point me sending on any more war diaries if you don't use them very often. You must be a one off. Weird.


Museums are not all the same. Some hold more information than others. I think I'll stick to them in future.

Regards,
Stu.

 

Spoke to Major David Shepherds relatives yesterday as we are fast approaching the 75th Anniversary of DCLS capture, Tuesday next week.
We are deciding on whether to publicise this date or his death which was Christmas Day 1944 (if we do so at all) in the local press.
Having a memorial in the Cathedral it might be considered of "Public Interest".
This may seem to be somewhat late but we have both been tied up with personal matters (mostly my fault as my wife had a mini stroke and operation recently).
I am currently transcribing all his letters having arranged a photograph album for the families use, placing them all in chronological order.
We now know the "wounds" which he died of and have a credible scenario as to how they occurred but as yet no definite proof.
I was hoping to find more from the letters but nothing definite has appeared.
There will be mention of this in a book soon to be published (not by me) and whilst the author is not holding us back,
I would like to give them credit for the excellent research without blowing their publication launch.

 

Excerpt from Major Shepherd Letter Oct 1944.
Life is very exhausting both mentally and physically. The terrain and the weather are about as difficult as they could be till one feels the only fight is against them rather than the Germans!
The actual technicalities of mountain warfare and the physical effort I am now used to. The wet and wind are hellish. Imagine sleeping out with at the most one wet blanket at 3000 feet on an exposed hill still in pouring rain. Yet one does it – and one’s work and cooks one’s food and revels in every moment of sunlight and survives and soon forgets misery.
It has its compensations ironically. I have never seen such views in my life. For example, the sun is setting and so just catching the peaks and hills and there a long slope – the remainder of the hills lying like corpses in their dark shrouds – and away beyond the plain of Lombardy, its cities lit in turn as they become caught in the patches of sunlight. That magically materialises them from the indistinguishable mist of evening. And behind again, a hundred miles away, the majestic barrier of the Dolomites. At dawn too it is unbelievable to watch the view come to life as the sun creeps up………..
One of the worst aspects of these mountains is the great difficulty involved in evacuating wounded, often a lone man and mule carrying over precipitous path ankle deep in mud for perhaps 5 or 6 miles. Add to that darkness and rain – and it’s a grim outlook!

 

Chris,

I thought it was you who was going to write the book? I'm in contact with a chap off the board!. I think it may be wise has to what you say?

It's up-to you if my advise is taken?

Regards
Stu.

 

Thank you Stu,
My intention is to put together a modern history of the 67th Field Regiment using original letters and photographs to supplement the previously known activities.
I currently have contact with eight families who are related to members of the Regiment, more arrive from time to time so the narrative is growing.
I don't know if I will ever get it done but between us we will have a significant amount of information which can be used for this purpose.
The book is not planned for publication but for the families to remember and understand what their relatives did.
A copy would be placed in an archive for future studies.

The Story of David Shepherds loss is to be mentioned in a book fairly soon. The author will no doubt make this known in due course a it is small part of a wider story.
The book regarding the 67th might become publishable, most likely for the Centenary of WW2 which I doubt that I will be alive to see and will probably be written by a relative as we have people capable of doing so but their current circumstances prohibit this.
Thanks for your offer, much appreciated but my current focus is on the 75th anniversary of the loss of Major David Shepherd.
I hope you understand.

My inspiration comes from the transcribing of the letters of Noel (Bill) Beadle. He was mentioned in the preface of A History of the 67th Field Regiment by Peter Mennell which I came across in Worcester Archives a few years ago and use in preference to other sources. I think this is a very touching introduction:
"I culled my information from the Battery War Diaries and to the writers of these I am greatly indebted. The work of Bill Beadle was an astonishing help and his lively and humorous presentation of events has given most of the colour and reality it possesses. I wish that he had still been alive to complete this history in my place.
Finally it is not intended as a glorification of war.
I firmly believe that war is beastly and evil in all its aspects. The personal acts of courage, the endurance, the comradeship and skill at arms recorded in this History are virtues on their own account and their glory does not emanate from war but it arises from the immutable character of every man whose identity became one with that of the 67th Field Regiment" .

 

On 10th December 1944 Major DCL Shepherd MC disappeared whilst returning from his OP at Rovine Monte Calderaro.
His story is told in "Some Corner of a Foreign Field" by Janet Kindrade Dethic page 37-38.
One of many other cases of soldiers who died in enemy hands, mentioned in the book.

 

Thanks for this. Major Shepherd's story is as complete as it can be, using all the documentary information available, but there are some aspects that can never be known.

Vitellino (Janet)