Hello, I am currently leading researches on Royal Engineers on their landings on Normandy on June 6th. I am specifically looking for information about one man who landed on one of the beaches. Could you please tell me where I could find information, like archives, in order for me to know on which beach this man landed? I used one topic here, with several links to lead researches, in order to find information thanks to his name, but found nothing. I unfortunately don't have his soldier number. As French, I would like to honour him but it is very hard as I know not accurate information. Thank you,
Can you tell me his name or any information ? I may be able to help if he landed on Sword beach, as I have the casualty lists of my company and the other REs Sapper
The Royal Engineers Museum at Chatham may be able to help http://www.re-museum.co.uk/ but their archives are only open part-time. They can do research, for a fee, but I don't have any details on that. It would help if you said which beach this man came ashore on, as that would give possible units and narrow down your search. You will then be able to get more information from people on the forum - my father was an armoured engineer, un sapeur blinde en Jour J - bonne chance.
Thank you gentlemen for your answers! Unfortunately, I know only few details. What I can say is that he was part of the Royal Engineers, he landed in Normandy on DDay, later stationned in Germany for a while during the war. He was a deep-sea diver (maybe it can help to find in which company he was??). I try to find myself in which company he could have been in order to find in which beach in Normandy he landed but didnt find anything. Not even by looking for him thanks to his name. I can say too that he started off as a Sapper/Private and gradually was promoted to Sergent Major (maybe there are records of promotion in the army?). I have of course his name, where he was born and when but have nothing more. I was wondering that maybe also he was part of the Dynamo Operation in Dunkirk in 1940 - french archives told me that they have only the archives of soldiers who died. Do you know anything about that? I am not from the family, so it can be hard to ask for researches as you need permission or need to be from the family. But.. I REALLY want to find out this path through the war, and honour him the best I can. Thank you for all the help you could bring to me!
Hello Matthew and welcome Can you give us his name please and where he was born? I have some war diaries and other forum members may have some too and we can look up his name Lesley
You can apply for his service records if he's dead and you don't need a relatives permission. If he died more than 25 years ago you'll get everything, if he died less than that you'll still get his unit(s), the dates he was with them and where and when he went overseas.
Divers. That helps. Not many RE units had divers. All D Day beaches had Landing Craft Obstacle Clearance Units which had men trained in 'Scuba' type shallow diving equipment. Deep sea divers could be Port Maintenance and Repair Units. Each Beach had these as well. There were many RE units and tens of thousands of RE personnel involved in the landings. Mike
Thank you again gentlemen for your answers which helps me a lot! Thank you. I'm glad to be here on this forum! By the way, can I give you his name by private message? Unfortunately he is. Can you please tell me where I can apply for his service records? Thank you. I also know that later he was in charge of putting bombs on bridges in Germany. Can you tell me where can I find information about the divers units? Everybody, I'm a little sorry. All my answers are questions but I am a little lost in the RE matters. But it's great, i'm learning thanks to you.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence/about/publication-scheme#how-to-apply-for-records-of-service-of-deceased-service-personnel
Thank you for quick answer. Could you be more specific please by telling me in my case, which paragraph concerns my request to get information? Do I have to contact the MOD or it concerns the "Requests for personal data"?
Is there a specific reason why you do not want his name on an open forum? You could send me a message but the more members see his name, the more chance of helping you Lesley
