4th Durham Survey Regiment RA

[Robin McEwen-King]

We are pleased to have a copy of the new edition of the book 'Z Location or Survey in War' by Col's WHETTON and OGDEN
Published recently by Jim WHETTON

It is a first hand story of this regiment from its inception in Gateshead in 1937 to 1947. Covers what was a survey regiment about; how did the do their job and details their service during WWII.

This is a private publication and I have Jim's permission to pass on his address to anyone interested in obtaining a copy.


Our interest is in Margaret's father Clarence E HIRD who joined the then TA Regiment in April 1939 and served troughout the war. He was BQMS and long time Secretary of teh OCA.


Pleased to have contact with any others interested in thsi regiment.

Robin

[Enid James]

My father (William Burn) joined the 4th Durham Survey Regiment in Gateshead early in 1939. After service in the UK he went with the regiment to North Africa and in 1941 he was with the force that was sent to Greece. When Greece was overun he was captured in Corinth and spent the rest of the war ina POW camp in Austria.

I would be interested in any information about the 4th Durham Survey Regiment or anything specific about my father.

[Robin McEwen-King]

My father (William Burn) joined the 4th Durham Survey Regiment in Gateshead early in 1939. After service in the UK he went with the regiment to North Africa and in 1941 he was with the force that was sent to Greece. When Greece was overun he was captured in Corinth and spent the rest of the war ina POW camp in Austria.

I would be interested in any information about the 4th Durham Survey Regiment or anything specific about my father.

Are you still on this list?

please reply


Robin

[Kerrywood]

Sorry, Enid James is no longer a member of these forums.

[RichardV]

Hi Robin.

Just read this post you made some time ago. My father - Ron Vinton - was in the 4th Durham Survey Regiment for most of the war. He was in Greece, the first siege of Tobruk, Alamein and everything thereafter but sadly died in 1972 before I was old enough to talk with him about it all. I'd love to find out as much as possible about the regiment although I have already read "Z Location". Can you point me towards other sources?

Kind regards

Richard

[Jan1954]

Hello Richard - welcome to Brit-Gen,

Robin has not visited the forum in over a year, although he is still a member.

However, if you click on his user-name, a drop-down box will appear and one of the options is to send him a private message. If you do this, it should trigger an email to him, which hopefully will bring him back.

Thank you,

[Robin McEwen-King]

Hi Robin.

My father - Ron Vinton - was in the 4th Durham Survey Regiment for most of the war. He was in Greece, the first siege of Tobruk, Alamein and everything thereafter I'd love to find out as much as possible about the regiment although I have already read "Z Location". Can you point me towards other sources?

Kind regards

Richard

Hello Richard

Amazing the coincidences that happen .. we are reading the diaries of Margaret's dad (BQMS C E Hird) and were discussing the days of the battle of El Alamein this week. Shortly before he was in Syria and passes through Homs and Damascus when they were recalled to the Western Desert in preparation for a 'big push'.

There are several autobiographical articles on line .. will have to check our notes to find them again. We've recently applied for the service record of CEH to see if it adds anything to the story .. takes a long time to get the results 'up to a year' ....
We have the Nominal ROll of all who served and will dig it as it will have an immediate post war address for your father. CEH was secretary of the Comrades Association for many years (he died in 1977)

One item of interest is the Welcome Home Banquet which was held in Newcastle in 1946 - we have deposited a copy of the official programme at Gateshead Library.

We went to the funeral of Major John Balfour a couple of years ago over in Fife and Margaret wore her dad's medal as a tribute from all who served with him. She spoke to Maurice Howard a week before Christmas .. well in to his 902's he is possibly the last of the old boys .. he was captured in the fall of Tobruk and spent the rest of the war as a POW in Italy.

Finally for now we have photos of the Summer Camps in 1938 and 1939 of all who were there.


Regards

Robin and Margaret

[Robin McEwen-King]

I've checked in our files ....
The Nominal Roll shows Sur. R Vinton No 949554 landed with the regiment in Egypt in December 1940. The address for him is a Plymouth one.

We think that most of the regiment sailed to Egypt via South Africa on the same ship.. We have mementos of the voyage and the daily entries from CEH diary.


Robin

[RichardV]

Hi Robin.

Yes - that's Dad!

He joined up in July 1940 so won't be in the Summer Camp photos sadly. The main thing I have is a file of all the letters he sent home from that ship voyage all the way through to the end of the North African campaign - all have been through the censors and so there's very few names but I'd hope they'd be of interest. I am trying to type them up but that'll take some time - the idea was to blend his letters with references to the history related in "Z location", any photos I can find and - indeed anything else thats relevant. The aim is to have something for my two boys but it may be of further interest outside our family. Any scans you have of anything would be gratefully recieved - there are some (rather poor) snaps that I can dig out, scan and send to you: may be of someone you know!

With Dad returning to Plymouth after the war and passing away relatively early in life we have no record of him keeping up with the regiment. It would be fantastic to talk with someone like Maurice Howard although as I understand it the regiment was split in 2 early on with one half being in Tobruk the first time and the others being unlucky enough to be there the second - I'd assume that Dad and maurice were therefore in different halves.

Talk soon,

Richard

[Rachel75]

I'm really excited to find this thread. My Nans 1st husband was in the the 4th, sadly he died in June 1944. I would be very interested to find out what he did. His name was Michael Picker, if this means anything to anyone.