Searching for John Walter CHILDS, Parachute Regiment, 6th Airborne Division

Hello John, thank you for your reply which I have only just seen. That is amazing that your Father was in the same photo as my Father so they obviously knew each other and that they were both in Palestine with possibly the same dog. I assumed that because my Father had trained as a Paratrooper that he was in the Parachute Regiment but it seems possibly not. I don't know if he stayed with the 6th Airborne Division Ordnance Field Park after the Ardennes and he never mentioned being able to go to Paris on 48 hours leave in 1945.

 

Hello,

Not Childs, but see 3 Section, circa 1943:


An Army Number specialist may be able to extrapolate more; its 200 etc series is evidently from an earlier enlistment period.

Another iffy/maybe ..........

...... no ready match to your image for me, but perhaps for you .....?

where 1st Parachute Regiment was a component of 1st Parachute Brigade for September 1941 through to May 1945.

 

2047668 (a number issued by the Royal Engineers) is Private C L Child, who was serving with 1st Parachute Battalion, Army Air Corps, when killed in action 3.2.1943 in the North African theatre of war.


This list contains over 40 men of 1st Para Bn killed, wounded or missing 3/5.2.1943.
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discover...cd87e390fc&_phsrc=EaI1&_phstart=successSource

Travers

 

Here is a photo of the men on 48 hours leave in Paris during M arch 1945. They do not look too happy maybe they have hangovers. I think you would recognize your father if he is there.

 

Thank you for the photo John. They don't look too happy do they. My Father is definitely not in the photo

 

My father once told me he was sent to Leicester where there was a training camp or RAOC Depot that was near or on the horse racing track. Was your father sent to the same place?

 

A quick online search with: "leicester" + "RAOC" found several hits on an Ordnance Depot or the RAOC Records Office; one gave the later's address as Saffron Road, South Wigston. Or: Atlas House Black Wells Court Off Granby Street Leicester.

The book 'But for These Things – Leicester and its People in WWII' by Vincent Holyoak has more information and can be searched online.

The well known once Army barracks in Leicester were @ Glen Parva (south side of the city); now home to a prison and the barracks have long since closed.

From memory the Records Office would be shown as an interim posting without the person actually being there, so just for record keeping purposes. I did not spot an address.

There is a Leicester Racecourse about three miles south of the city centre.From: Leicester Racecourse - Wikipedia Post code LE2 4AL.

 

Thank you for your reply and thank you also to everyone else who has sent me information.
Thank you so much for the information on the Barracks in Leicester, my Father would have been at the one in Saffron Road, South Wigston. You will see more information about this when I reply to JohnP49

 

Hello John, well it seems as if our Father,s were in the RAOC together for quite a long time. They would have been in the Barracks at Saffron Road, South Wigston (on the border of adjoining Great Glen). The Race Course is 2/3 miles away. My Mother is from Wigston and my Father was from Southwark, London. My Mother said she met my Father when she was 17 (1941) when he was at the Barracks in South Wigston. She met him at a dance at the local Village Hall in Wigston so your Father would probably have also gone there. They were married in Wigston on 1st May 1943 when my Father was 20. My Mother said that my Father wanted to be a Parachutist and because he was only 20 apparently his Mother had to sign to say that he could. His Mother wouldn't sign so they got married so that my Mother could sign. I have always assumed that he started Parachute training shortly after May 1943 he said he trained at Andover. Do you know when your Father did his Parachute training? As our Fathers were in the RAOC together and both Parachutists do you know what they did on D-day?

 

Wedding of John Walter Childs in Wigston, Leicestershire 1st May 1943 in his RAOC uniform

 

Hello again John,
This is where the local dance was held in Wigston. I should have said that the Barracks where our Fathers were was in Saffron Lane, South Wigston on the border with Glen Parva ( not Great Glen).

 

Hello Anne,
My father joined up in Plymouth when he was 15 in May 1940
He was a boy recruit for the RAOC and sent initially to Hilsea barracks near Portsmouth
Later he was sent to the Army Technical School at Arborfield to train as a RAOC Clerk
It was during his time at Arborfield that he was sent to Leicester as part of his basic training which was around 1941. I got the impression that he was encamped on Leicester racecourse. He may have met your father around that time. I am not sure how long he stayed in Leicester but later in 1941 he was sent back to Arborfield to take exams and be taught to drive. He was also required to play the bugle.
As soon as he was 18 in November 1942 he was transferred to the regular army and sent to 14th Battalion RAOC based at Didcot in Oxfordshire. While there he met my mother who was serving with the ATS. Like your father she was also a Londoner but from the Finsbury district. They did not get married till 1947.
In October 1943 he was transferred to the 6th Airborne Division Ordnance Field Park. He was now based at Figsbury Army Camp east of Salisbury. He was not a parachutist at this time but had to go on training exercises in Horsa gliders.
At the beginning of 1944 he was promoted to war substantive Corporal. He took part in exercise Novelty where three gliders flew from Stoney Cross to Shrewton in Wiltshire as part of the preparation for the Normandy landings.
In the end there was not enough gliders for the Field Park to be transported in that way. They were split into three groups.
The first consisted of 5 men who were parachutists (was your father among these men) They were dropped into Normandy in the dark, had to find supplies and move them to the designated spot called "Homer".
The second detachment commanded by Captain Lowe sailed from Southampton and consisted of 10 men in total. They came in after the Canadian assault troops and their landing craft reached Juno beach at 11:45 on the 6th of June.
The third detachment had been encamped near Grays in Essex then boarded an American Landing Ship (Tank) on June 2nd.
They did not reach Normandy until around the 10th of June. They numbered 14 men and all three detachments were together by the 11th of June.
The Field Park returned to Southampton by early September.
They were rushed back into action on Christmas Day 1944 due to the Battle of the Bulge.
The did not return until the 23rd of May 1945.
My father then trained as a parachutist in August 1945. He said training was at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire and RAF Ringway which later became Manchester Airport.
The Field Park was sent to Palestine on the 26th of October 1945.
They were initially based in Southern Palestine and later moved north to Haifa.
My father returned in late 1946 to attend a course at Brize Norton and in early January 1947 married my mother.
He finally came back from Palestine for the last time on the 11th of January 1948.
He then spent 5 more years serving with the BAOR in Germany during which time I was born there.
He left the army at the beginning of 1953 due to illness. His final rank being a Warrant Officer class 2.

You said your father was born on the 14th of July 1921. Is that correct?
I ask this because you say he was 20 when he married on the 1st of May 1943. If the birthdate is correct he would be 21 and would not need his mother's permission to be a parachutist.
I guess your mother's name is Edna going by the name on the truck on an earlier photo in Palestine.

 

Hello John, thank you so much for the really interesting story of your Father's military career, you know so much about it and he was so young when he joined up.
As you are aware I asked Spitfireian to help me find my Father,s military records as I know so little about them.The information that I have has all come from my Mother but this, as you know, is turning out to be questionable. But I do now know for definite from your information that he was in the RAOC Ordnance Field Park 6th Airborne Division.
Spitfireian applied to the MOD for his records and was told that they have been sent to the National Archives so he has now applied to the NA but it could take 9 months to receive them.
My Mother (yes her name is Edna) always told me that she had to sign for John Walter to train to be a Parachutist but you are right he was born on 14.7.1921 and was 21 when they married so she wouldn't have had to sign!!!
With your Father being 4 years younger than mine perhaps they didn't both stay at the same barracks in Wigston or perhaps they did??
Looking through my Mother,s 90 year memory book it says that my Father was demobbed in 1946 so I am assuming that is when he returned from Palestine andeI was born in July 1947.
I don't know what part my Father played on D-day, again my Mother said he was at Pegasus Bridge and went over in a glider - so yet another mystery. Hopefully when Spitfireian receives the records from the NA all will become clear and I will let you know.

 

Hello David
Thank you for telling me about the book But for these things - Leicester and it's people in WW11. I have just sent for a copy and look forward to reading it

 

Hello Anne,
I notice your father has a chevron stripe on his lower left sleeve of his uniform on the wedding photograph. This I believe is a good conduct stripe awarded to enlisted men after two years service. I assume he must have been called up in 1940. His cap badge is for the RAOC. He does not have the beret for the Airborne yet so he must have attached to the 6th Airborne Ordnance Field Park after this date.
You say he was with the unit in the Ardennes. Here is a list of the places where they camped.
25th December 1944 Tilbury embarked and sailed to Ostend
Falisolle
Sovet (Chateaux d'Onthaine) Dinant
Asten Brabant Holland
Weert Van Horne Kazerne
Borsbeke Flanders
1st March 1945 Troisvaux France

 

Hello John
Thank you very much for the information about the Chevron stripe. As you know I don't know the exact date when he joined the RAOC. I do remember him saying that he and his Father helped to clear the rubble in the Blitz when he lived in Southwark, London, which I believe started in September 1940 so he may have joined at the end of 1940or early 1941.
I think the attached photo was taken after John and Edna,s wedding, does the beret he is wearing look like the beret for the 6th Airborne Ordnance Field Park?
Also thank you for the information about the Ardennes. I only knew about Dinant. I was about 30 when I found out that he was there. I went to Dinant with some Belgian friends and when I told him he said he had been there in the war. He said he had never been so cold in his life.
If I see anything in the book "But for these things - Leicester in WW2" relating to our Fathers being posted to Leicester or Saffron Lane (Wigston/Glen Parva) I will let you know.

 

Hello Anne,
Yes that looks like an Airborne beret.
The unit was not expecting to go back into action till March 1945. The soldiers were disappointed to be sent back on Christmas Day. My father was an acting corporal and had difficulty keeping the soldiers of his unit together during the journey to Tilbury by train. At a change of train at a London station several men disappeared into the station buffet and he had to go and round them up to get on the train. One soldier left his rifle behind. At the docks at Tilbury some of their equipment was dropped into the dock by the crane operator. They found their fellow passengers were horses on the ship.
Your father mentioned it being cold. They were not equipped with suitable clothing for the conditions. My father said some men stuffed their trousers with straw to try a get some insulation. They must have been uncomfortable.

 

Hello John
Thank you for all the information you have sent me. It has helped me to understand my Father's role in the war. When Spitfireian receives the information from the National Archives I will let you know what it says.

 

Hello John
This is an excerpt from "Leicester in WW2" so your Father could have been based at Leicester Racecourse