Post Dunkirk 217 car amb coy RASC 51 HD

Discussion in '1940' started by ukhozi, Jan 16, 2011.

  1. ukhozi

    ukhozi Junior Member

    As a foot note so to speak I must comment on the lack of recognition for the car ambulance crews who were unarmed and always in the thick of it protected only by the red cross on the vehicles, many wounded troops must owe their lives to the courage of these drivers and medics but so little is known of the men who responded to the cry “MEDIC”.
     
  2. Roy Martin

    Roy Martin Senior Member

    I attach a list of the ships that sailed from St Nazaire that week. Hope it helps to jog the memory. A lot of the soldiers who sailed on the ORONSAY didn't realise that she was damaged until they got home

    Roy
     
  3. ukhozi

    ukhozi Junior Member

    Just an update, I finaly got Dad's records, what a mess, writing clearly was not a requirement in those days it seems.
    Although he said he was in Africa and at Al Alamain the records shows
    "Home from 18/07/1939 to 29/09/1939,
    Abroad BEF 30/09/1939 TO 23/06/1940 (THREE WEEKS AFTER DUNKIRK)
    Home, 24/6/1940 to 13/6/1944
    218 coy NWE (?) 14/06/1944 to 27/06/1944
    '2' CT7 Res 27/4/1946 to 14/07/1952
    The bit I don't get is "recd incidental injuries of a not serious nature on 19/2/1945 on duty, not to blame" (PKII 30/45 556 1st Div Tps coy) He lost his left eye and hearing whilst instructing on a range, so he said.I am begining to wonder just how much of what he told us is true now.So much to sort out and the records are all over the place and they love those abriviations.
     
  4. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Thanks for coming back - any further clues who he was with in France during 1940
     
  5. ukhozi

    ukhozi Junior Member

    4 res MT Coy RASC
     
  6. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    We got there in the end but the dates don't look promising:

    WO 167/1088 4 Reserve Motor Transport Company Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) 1939 Sept.-Dec.

    Either the 1940 diary is missing or the unit were re-deployed.

    The next diary has them in the Middle East from Sept 1940.
     
  7. ukhozi

    ukhozi Junior Member

    It seems after St Nazaire he was posted to 3 ambulance car coy (diary WO 167/1114 can't find anything after that) and attached /posted to A coy 1 HD. from 31/01/1941 to 23/06/1944.I have also an idea that the ship may not have been the Ben-My-hree as he said but the Lady of Mann which was one, if not the last ships to leave on the morning of 18th arriving Plymouth three days later reported back to unit 23/06/1940 but Dad says with 300+ on board but op ariel doesn't say that.I have made up a spreadsheet from 06/09/1939 to his discharge in 1952 if anyone is interested.
     
  8. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    I copied 4 Reserve Motor Transport Coy and May/June are just field returns.
     
  9. ukhozi

    ukhozi Junior Member

    Jack Lee, Cpl, service number was T/99976, RASC. 3 car Ambulance Company.

    I have received (part) of his service records which confirms his story On his "Military History Sheet" is says;

    Home, 18/7/1939 to 29/9/39
    Abroad,30/9/39 to 25/6/40 (BEF & Dunkirk/St Nazaire)
    Home. 24/6/40 to 13/6/44, (during which time he gained the Africa Star?)
    218 Coy NWE, 14/6/44 to 27/6/44.
    Home 28/6/44 to 26/4/46.
    '2' CTY Res 27/4/46 to 14/7/52

    It seems there is a gap in his service records from 2/4/41 to 5/10/44, it just says "Home" but 3 ambulance car coy, as posted to 1 HD from 24/6/40 to 13/6/44, they went to Africa, (Black Watch), There is a posting 11/1/1943 to 218 amb car coy and an entry 218 Coy NWE, “Order 12AG 10553/44,- Emb UK 14/6/44”. Does EMB mean Embarked for UK, if so, from where?

    He has the usual 5 (NAFFI, as he called them) medals including the Africa Star, (with an Oak leaf ?)

    I am amazed at the lack of records regarding ambulance companies in the RASC considering the vital role they played and usually in the thick of it carrying wounded.
     
  10. ukhozi

    ukhozi Junior Member

    Found another diary WO 166/4881 for 3 car ambulance coy 01/11/41 to 31/12/41 which was after he was promoted to L/Cpl (2/4/41) and fills part of the gap in his records from 2/4/41 to 4/5/42 when he passed PT instructors course. this was just before June 1942 when 1 HL Bn sailed for Egypt.

    I always assumed he went with A coy 1bn 51st HD as that was his last posting since 21/2/41 and still with (218) 3 car ambulance coy RASC but there is nothing in his records about going to Africa but he has the Africa Star ( awaiting confirmation from Innsworth) and I can find no record of (218) 3 car ambulance coy RASC in the order of battle at that time, in fact it is difficult to find any record, diary etc of this unit apart from the two at Kew.

    Was there some 'lag' in promotions as in Oct 1944 when he met and married (29 April 1944) my mother she says he was a sergeant (in a "blue uniform", at a dance) but apparently he wasn't a sergeant until 20 Aug 1945 (I was born 31 Dec 1945) and on my birth cert it says he was a Sergeant but records say he was U/A/L-Sgt on 12 Oct 45 and 'Y' list 'B' on 19th Dec as a Cpl and discharged in Bedford on 20 Fed 1946 as a Cpl ??
     
  11. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    U/A/L-SGT is Unpaid Acting Lance Sergeant so he would have worn the rank but not got paid for it.
     
  12. ukhozi

    ukhozi Junior Member

    Seems a lot of the stories we were told were BOLLOCKS.
    NEVER went abroad after returning via St, Nazaire on 23 June 1940 until D+10 and then was wounded in France (From only account of action I can find on that day. Shelling of D.M.A. 1 O.R. killed. Resupply mission by 18 Stirling A/C. More shelling of D.M.A. 1 O.R. killed and 2 O.Rs wounded 1 O.R. evacuated with severe shock. 1 O.R. wounded on detachment.) And back to blighty 10 days after, never to return, 1944 posted to 556 and 557 Coy inf div THS until discharge.
    Africa star on the medal bar is bogus, according to the medals office in Innsworth he never set foot in Africa.
    NO record of his 'accident' where he lost his left eye after opening the breach of a rifle following a misfire, which I would have thought as an instructor he would have know is a HUGE no-no, even my cadets knew you place the rifle, untouched, on the ground facing the target and get up and report it to the range office, if it hasn’t ‘cooked off’ by then of course. There is no record of that in the service records and I am sure such an incident would have instigated a hearing into a N.D. resulting in an injury.
    He was with 4 res MT coy RASC from Sept 1939 to 28 Jan 1941,
    3 Ambulance car Coy RASC from 28th Jan, 1941 to June 1944. Based mostly in Worcester shuffling ambulances between depots.
    1944 to 1952 THS
     
  13. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Isn't there a certain amount of tradition re. getting married dressed one rank up?
    Not official, but I'm sure I've heard of it.
     
    Drew5233 likes this.
  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    I got permission from my CO to get married one rank up.
     

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