Also posted in another thread... Being that I'm not one to give up.. I'm looking for people who had family who joined the Royal Montreal Regiment in 1939, who also would have left from Montreal headed to Halifax to be on the first convoy out on 10 December, 1939. There were 2 trains that left Montreal during this time, on 6 December, 39, that arrived in Halifax on the 7th. Hopefully by searching for these other people, I'll be able to find group photos, and maybe a few of my Grandfather. Enlisted with the Royal Montreal Regiment September 29, 1939. Departed Montreal December 6, 1939. First spent time with the RCASC. Transferred to No. 1 Convalescent Depot March 23, 1941. Transferred to No. 1 Transport Company RCASC June 25, 1941. Spent time in No. 16 Canadian General Hospital. Discharged June 6, 1945 I know there were five ships that sailed as part of the first convoy destined to Britain. Aquitania - E4 Duchess of Bedford - E6 Empress of Britain Empress of Australia Monarch of Bermuda I would also like to find out which ship he may have been on, and whether or not a list of soldiers who sailed on which ships might be available. Mostly looking for pictures associated with his time in various places. For me, it's like being introduced to him for the first time.. Mike
Yes.. Name is in the title. Ralph Wesley Grace. B: 27 Oct, 1907 D: 13 July, 1957 D76535 I have a letter stating he left as a L/Sgt, but I also know from his records he chose to go down in rank, not uncommon for the times. He did make it home from the war, so he doesn't exist in any casualty records.
It is highly unlikely you will find what you are looking for, during all my years of searching records I have yet to find a passenger list for a ship transporting troops, before and after the war its not a problem. I assume somewhere on his service record there is an 'embarkation code', this tells you that all those with the same code boarded the same ship, so if there is a personal record by someone of the same regiment, or even other regiment who boarded that ship and happens to mention the ships name then you could be in luck. An avenue you may wish to search down is whether or not the ship actually had a record in the form of a loading list that would provide in general 'X' soldiers of 'Y' Regiment, this is a pure guess on my part but I am sure somewhere there might be that sort of data, just in case of a ship being sunk they may need some idea of who and how many, but I am 99.9% sure they will not hold a named passenger list at least not during the war TD Presume this is him Ralph Westerly G Grace 1907–1957 BIRTH OCTOBER 27, 1907 • Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada DEATH 07/13/1957 • Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Actually this is far from a forlorn hope for Canadian convoys which are well served by LAC and Héritage, with many nominal rolls surviving and having been digitised. Even the rail movements have survived in many cases. Collectively they are grouped under the ‘Directorate of Movements’. The bad news for Mike is that the records for convoy TC 1 are contained on reel C-5609 which is not available online (yet?). The missing ‘Ship allotment numbers’ for TC 1 were: E.4 Aquitania E.5 Empress of Australia E.6 Duchess of Bedford E.7 Empress of Britain E.8 Monarch of Bermuda N.B. these were temporary for a single crossing, east or west, and often substitute for the vessel’s name in movement orders.
Thanks, Tricky, but wrong tree.. I know he left Montreal on either train 4 or 5 on the specified date..at 7:45am on the 6th and arrived in Halifax 11am on the 7th. Convoy TC1 left 3 days later on the 10th. They (RMR) traveled with Saskatoon Light Infantry (MG). One half of the battalion embarked on board the "Duchess of Bedford" and the other half on board the "Aquitania". On the SLI (MG) records, it says that 1/2 the Battalion embarked on E6, and I know the RMR (MG) also embarked on E6. Mike
Still hoping someone can help, or had family that served during this time with the RCASC, or even has some history on where their own may have served.
Mike, my request to have reel C-5609 digitised has borne fruit and the nominal roll for the Royal Montreal Regiment, sailing aboard the Duchess of Bedford in Convoy TC 1, is now available and Ralph’s passage confirmed. https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c5609/2376