I've enjoyed watching a few of the Remembrance programmes and particularly enjoyed the Gary Lineker programme about the "D-Day Dodgers". It set me to thinking where my Dad was on D-Day.
My brother and I know he was in the Royal Artillery 30 Corps and part of the gun crew of a 25lb gun. We know he was part of Operation Market Garden and at Neijmagen and a quick, basic internet search suggests that he may have gone on there from Normandy. The same searches suggest he was in North Africa at El Alamein. Coincidentally, the older brother of our Mum (who Dad married in the 1950s) was killed in May 1942 at El Alamein but we never heard mention of this common ground.
Anyone any help, information or guidance to offer which might help us be sure where Dad was in June 1944?
Thank you.
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Thread: Where was Dad on D-Day?
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15-11-2019, 2:18 PM #1
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Where was Dad on D-Day?
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15-11-2019, 7:28 PM #2
Hi
Do you have your father's WW11 service record?
Wikipedia says "XXX Corps (30 Corps) was a corps of the British Army during the Second World War. The Corps provided extensive service in the North African Campaign at the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942, and in the Tunisia Campaign and the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, after which it returned briefly to the United Kingdom; the Corps served in the reclamation of France from June 1944 in the Allied Invasion of Normandy, and then served in Operation Market Garden, in the Netherlands, and finally in Operation Veritable in Germany until May 1945."
The National Archives does have war diaries and other records for this corp but they are not online.
ChristinaSometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
William Burroughs
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16-11-2019, 9:59 AM #3
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Thank you for this. We don't have Dad's military service record but are considering applying for it.
We had seen the Wikipedia entry which was what caught our interest that Dad was at El Alamein and may have been so many other places. I might persuade my brother to visit The National Archives for the diaries as I am in France and it isn't so easy from here!
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16-11-2019, 7:52 PM #4
Hi Audrey
You will need to get his service record first, before looking for war diaries. Then you will know which diary to look at for what period. My Dad switched between regiments.
regards
RobertRemembering
My Father 1819170 Lance Bombardier Robert Simpson 39/14 L.A.A. R.A.
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17-11-2019, 11:13 AM #5
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Yes, I think the next logical step is to get his service record. Thank you.
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