Seaforth Highlanders or Seaforth Highlanders of Canada?

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by Dolly, Sep 4, 2020.

  1. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Hi
    This is an incredible long shot as I am 74. Have never met my father who was a Seaforth Highlander called Bernard and met my mother, briefly, but long enough to make me in 1945. Approximate month June/July. He was in Southend on Sea, Essex
    I have tried before but it seemed a big task and I lost heart. If any of you that may have known him or families now living that would have known him please get in touch. To know some of his background and maybe a half sibling would be wonderful as I am an only child. An old one now!! It may seem silly at my age but I never understood my love of bagpipes and I make a mean tablet. It was too difficult to ask my mother the facts which I found out later in life.
    Thankyou for reading this. Pom
     
  2. adbw

    adbw Active Member

    Hello Dolly!
    This is a long shot too but the vehicle party of the 7th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders (15th Scottish Division) appear to have spent the night of 15/16 June 1944 in Shoeburyness (just by Southend on Sea) before sailing for Normandy - say no more ..
    https://4fb34fa8-7108-4882-a984-2cf...d/29af12_c6c7f74db04a4523bbe242afea5dc0f2.pdf

    There are also 4 Seaforth Highlanders on the CWGC website, who died after June/July 1944:
    Bernard Brookes - 5th Bn - DOD 8/8/44
    Bernard Cassidy - 5th Bn - DOD 11/2/45
    Desmond Bernard Geens - 2nd Bn - DOD 19/4/45
    Alexander Bernard Hartley - 7th Bn - DOD 31/10/44

    It looks like the 2nd, 5th and 7th Battalions were the only ones in North West Europe but I don't know how the 2nd and 5th got to Normandy from the UK. Their war diaries will no doubt explain.
    As you say, all long shots but who knows what might emerge .. good luck!
    Adam
     
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  3. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Hello to you
    Amazing you replied Thankyou so much. It only took one night!!! It unfortunately is a year early as I was born on 23rd March 1946. Was he definitely there in 1944 or maybe he went back in 1945. As that definitely ties in with dates. I really appreciate your help.
    Pom (Dolly was my mum)
     
  4. adbw

    adbw Active Member

    Sorry, Pom - my mistake! I took you being "made" as being born. In that case, Bernard could have been back home, on his way home, on leave or indeed anything else at all in June/July 1945!
    Have you thought of doing the Ancestry DNA test, which now has quite a large database. It might well throw up a family connection of some kind ..
    Adam
     
  5. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Thank you Adam.
    I think I will have to go down the Ancestry route and DNA. Will get on to it in the winter months and will get back to you.
    Thanks again for taking an interest I have so little information about him and Salvation Army wouldn’t help as they were not married.
    I’m unlike most of my family and my mum was tiny. I’m a lot taller and different than cousins. I always said mum came home with the wrong baby. Anyway thank you again for taking the trouble to reply. Pom
     
  6. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Oh and Adam he played the drums....
     
  7. adbw

    adbw Active Member

    And in the Pipe Band .. - could he also be Canadian (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada)?
     
  8. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Possibly but I really don’t have any more clues. Mum would never talk about it. Only found out name from family.
    Will keep searching my family are all from Southend and some live in Shoeburyness where mum would have visited.
    Thanks again
    Pom
     
  9. minden1759

    minden1759 Senior Member

    Pom.

    The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada were part of 2 Canadian Infantry Brigade who were in 1 Canadian Infantry Division. After landing in Italy in Sep 43, they stayed and fought there until Jan 45 when they were deployed to NW Europe via the UK. At war end in May 45, they transited back to Canada through the UK at some point after.

    Regards

    Frank
     
  10. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Thank you Frank
    I will try and find out if they went through Essex.
    So kind of you all to try and help me.
    Pom
     
  11. minden1759

    minden1759 Senior Member

    Ask on here if anyone has the War Diaries for Seaforth Highlanders of Canada for the period May-Jul 45.

    F
     
  12. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Hi
    Will do Thankyou.
    Pom
     
  13. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Hi Frank
    I’m not sure how to post on to the War Diaries forum.
    Pom
     
  14. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Hey Dolly, I’m not sure if this would help, the link below takes you to photo’s of ALL the members of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada at the BEGINNING of the war. Of course your “Bernard” may have joined the unit later, and the photo’s do not have first names, so it makes it difficult.......BUT, in your search if you did find a “clue” with a last name, this may help

    Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - Photo’s - 14 Dec 1939 - WARTIMES.ca

    Also, this book has a complete Nominal Roll of the regiment?

    The Seaforth Highlanders 1910-1965 — Seaforth Highlanders
     
  15. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Hi
    Thankyou for that information.
    Pom
     
  16. 51highland

    51highland Very Senior Member

    There were no Scottish Seaforth Battalions stationed in Southend in 1945. Your Father could have been on Leave and actually been a resident of Southend. I can find no trace of any Canadian Seaforths there 1945 either. Best wishes in your search.
     
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  17. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Thank you I hadn’t actually thought of that.
    Pom
     
  18. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    This may seem an obvious point, but is your father named on your birth certificate? It is unlikely but certainly possible.
     
  19. Dolly

    Dolly Member

    Unfortunately not. Thank you for getting in touch though.
    Pom
     
  20. travers1940

    travers1940 Well-Known Member

    Soldiers serving in a Scottish regiment (esp in wartime) may have had no connection to Scotland at all, except that they were posted to that unit. In war you went where you were sent & the army did not usually consider geographical niceties.

    I wish you well with your searches.

    Travers
     

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