Update 29 Dec 2015
Well its been a long time since I added to this blog and since then I have found out a little more information.
I managed to get my Grandad's service records from Glasgow via the SPVA. According to his records he did his basic training in Catterick as part of the General Service Corps however upon completion joined the Royal Signals.
Rather than being part of the main stream Royal Signals my Grandad was assigned to an Air Formation Signals unit, (16 AFS I believe). These units where established to provide ground to air communications which would be vital in calling in and coordinating air support.
He embarked for Normandy 07/06/1944 (D+1) so was in France during the initial days of Operation Overlord. However due to the obscurity of these units little is documented.
Tuesday 22 December 2015
Thursday 21 February 2008
In Search of The Past
Introduction
When I was a child like many young kids I was fascinated in the Second World War. I used to spend the weekends and summer holidays running around the countryside playing soldiers with my mates. I used to read Warlord and Commando (Still available today) and we often daydreamed about finding some hidden treasure left undiscovered, a crashed plane, a buried Jeep or a Tank perhaps. At the time I lived on the South Coast of Dorset and there were several stories of planes that had been shot down on their way back to Europe after Bombing cities further north - Bristol and Coventry perhaps. But search as we may we never found a thing, well we did actually find some bullet heads and the odd casing in the butts of an old rifle range near comers hill, this was on one of many excursions with my mates one in particular that i`ll mention "Simon Courtney" sadly passed away at a young age. Simon had many stories, this one turned out to be true about an old training area near Comers Hill Symondsbury. It was Simon who told of another story about a Hienkel Fighter Bomber that crash landed off the beach at west bay. We embarked on another trip with "Dim" as he was known armed with snorkels and masks we went in search of the plane but never found it, well Simon claimed on one deeper and longer than normal dive he reckoned he saw the engine. It has I believe been spotted during a Spring Tide and although I have never seen it I have more recently spoken to friends of my fathers who, along with him grew up in the area, and can confirm the story. More recently at my fathers Wake, I spoke to one of his friends that grew up with him who once again confirmed the story and added that the crew were buried nearby in Eype. The only documented information that I have found is from a research paper by Wessex Archaeology 'Aircraft Crashes At Sea - A Scoping Study'. In a table compiled using information from a web site put together by a gentleman called Dave Fagan it records only one German plane crash in West Bay:
6-11-40 ?/6N+AH He.111 KG100 forced landing West Bay,Bridport, pilot thought he was over France.
The link to Dave's web site no longer works, the link to the study document is here:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafsubaqua/rafcms/mediafiles/04F90D75_5056_A318_A85893C085315C27.pdf
This list of Luftwaffe losses does not list an aircraft downed in Nov 1940:
https://www.asisbiz.com/Luftwaffe/luftlossreg-bomb-KG26.html
Last weekend, Feb 08, I happened to be back visiting my folks in Bridport where I grew up and whilst I was there I took a wander up Wadden Hill and took some pictures. The first picture is of a man made hole in the ground on top of the hill, we thought it was a possible Anti Aircraft Gun Emplacement located on top of the hill, it did after all have commanding views of the valleys running North South towards the coast. Picture at top of Wadden Hill in Bridport Dorset.
It was on this hill that we played most, we built bunkers in the woods and to my surprise evidence of our youthfull labours still exist today.
We ran around in gangs playing Colditz a kind of hide and seek mostly at night - it was after all safer back in those days. I owned a Webley Hawk Mk III Air Rifle, wore camoflague trousers and my Grandads Battle Dress Jacket. My prize posession however was a dummy US Pineapple Grenade purchased from "The Sussex Armoury" a mail order catalogue, oh how i longed for a replica Thompson Sub Machine Gun!!
Of course back then at a young age I was oblivious to the horrors of war and the pain and sorrow that it brings with it. Now that I`m older however, although I am still very interested in researching the past, I will go about my business with a little more understanding of what it meant to those touched by such horrific events......
The Project
The ultimate goal over the next couple of years is to look into my Grandads service history, focusing on his time in Europe from D Day and beyond, looking at where he went and what he did along the way. However whilst carrying out this research there will no doubt be several spin offs in my attempts to gather information regarding the historical events of WW2 that he was involved in. I have also been asked by my Mum to find out about her Grandad who fought in India / Afghanistan under Lord Kitchener but that may be another Blog.
First Steps
I have asked my dear old mum to dig through her things and gather some info on my Grandad, hopefully she`ll still have at least some service photos, maybe even his pay book? In order to get his Service Records, as he enlisted after 1920, his details are still retained by the MOD, you have tp pay a £30 search fee and they cannot guarantee to find them, but you stand a better chance if you have a service number.
Mums Uncle Fred
Well my Mum did have some good photos of my Grandad but she did not have any of his service details so I`m going to have to look elswhere, more later.
She did however have a wonderful letter written by her Uncle Fred in January 1941 to her Mum and Dad (My Grandad). The letter had his name rank and number and showed which Regiment he was with from this I managed to find out decent information. He lived in London and joined 152 Battery, 51 (London) Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery. In 1941 the Regiment is know to have been in North Africa. My mum remembers that he probably died in Tobruk. Well a quick search on the Commonwealth War Graves Commision web site revealed exactly that. 1433261 Gunner Frederick George Doubtfire, Died Age 22 on 27 April 1941 Remembered with honour at the Tobruk War Cemetery Libya. Son of Percival Thomas Doubtfire and Adaline Mary Doubtfire of Willesden Middlesex.
The letter that my mum had was the last letter he ever wrote to his sister.............
William George Ballard - Gandad Bill
Anyway onto my old Grandad, here he is in probably the best photo, rather a handsome chap. The picture is believed to have been taken in 1943 shortly after being called up, being 34 at the time it was the younger lads that were called up first.
All I know at the moment is that he did his basic training in Catterick and hated it and that he was in the Signals Corp? None of which is verified. He also had the French and German Star confirming that he served in Europe, I know he went to Normandy some time after D Day and I do know he was involved somehow in the Battle of the Bulge albeit in preparing for a possible German Offensive.
I found several other wartime photos of my Grandad however there is no information on the photos to suggest where they where taken. Some could be in UK, one is of a stripped down military motorcycle. One photo was possibly taken in Europe, owing to the architecture of the building in the background.
When I was a child like many young kids I was fascinated in the Second World War. I used to spend the weekends and summer holidays running around the countryside playing soldiers with my mates. I used to read Warlord and Commando (Still available today) and we often daydreamed about finding some hidden treasure left undiscovered, a crashed plane, a buried Jeep or a Tank perhaps. At the time I lived on the South Coast of Dorset and there were several stories of planes that had been shot down on their way back to Europe after Bombing cities further north - Bristol and Coventry perhaps. But search as we may we never found a thing, well we did actually find some bullet heads and the odd casing in the butts of an old rifle range near comers hill, this was on one of many excursions with my mates one in particular that i`ll mention "Simon Courtney" sadly passed away at a young age. Simon had many stories, this one turned out to be true about an old training area near Comers Hill Symondsbury. It was Simon who told of another story about a Hienkel Fighter Bomber that crash landed off the beach at west bay. We embarked on another trip with "Dim" as he was known armed with snorkels and masks we went in search of the plane but never found it, well Simon claimed on one deeper and longer than normal dive he reckoned he saw the engine. It has I believe been spotted during a Spring Tide and although I have never seen it I have more recently spoken to friends of my fathers who, along with him grew up in the area, and can confirm the story. More recently at my fathers Wake, I spoke to one of his friends that grew up with him who once again confirmed the story and added that the crew were buried nearby in Eype. The only documented information that I have found is from a research paper by Wessex Archaeology 'Aircraft Crashes At Sea - A Scoping Study'. In a table compiled using information from a web site put together by a gentleman called Dave Fagan it records only one German plane crash in West Bay:
6-11-40 ?/6N+AH He.111 KG100 forced landing West Bay,Bridport, pilot thought he was over France.
The link to Dave's web site no longer works, the link to the study document is here:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafsubaqua/rafcms/mediafiles/04F90D75_5056_A318_A85893C085315C27.pdf
This list of Luftwaffe losses does not list an aircraft downed in Nov 1940:
https://www.asisbiz.com/Luftwaffe/luftlossreg-bomb-KG26.html
Last weekend, Feb 08, I happened to be back visiting my folks in Bridport where I grew up and whilst I was there I took a wander up Wadden Hill and took some pictures. The first picture is of a man made hole in the ground on top of the hill, we thought it was a possible Anti Aircraft Gun Emplacement located on top of the hill, it did after all have commanding views of the valleys running North South towards the coast. Picture at top of Wadden Hill in Bridport Dorset.
It was on this hill that we played most, we built bunkers in the woods and to my surprise evidence of our youthfull labours still exist today.
We ran around in gangs playing Colditz a kind of hide and seek mostly at night - it was after all safer back in those days. I owned a Webley Hawk Mk III Air Rifle, wore camoflague trousers and my Grandads Battle Dress Jacket. My prize posession however was a dummy US Pineapple Grenade purchased from "The Sussex Armoury" a mail order catalogue, oh how i longed for a replica Thompson Sub Machine Gun!!
Of course back then at a young age I was oblivious to the horrors of war and the pain and sorrow that it brings with it. Now that I`m older however, although I am still very interested in researching the past, I will go about my business with a little more understanding of what it meant to those touched by such horrific events......
The Project
The ultimate goal over the next couple of years is to look into my Grandads service history, focusing on his time in Europe from D Day and beyond, looking at where he went and what he did along the way. However whilst carrying out this research there will no doubt be several spin offs in my attempts to gather information regarding the historical events of WW2 that he was involved in. I have also been asked by my Mum to find out about her Grandad who fought in India / Afghanistan under Lord Kitchener but that may be another Blog.
First Steps
I have asked my dear old mum to dig through her things and gather some info on my Grandad, hopefully she`ll still have at least some service photos, maybe even his pay book? In order to get his Service Records, as he enlisted after 1920, his details are still retained by the MOD, you have tp pay a £30 search fee and they cannot guarantee to find them, but you stand a better chance if you have a service number.
Mums Uncle Fred
Well my Mum did have some good photos of my Grandad but she did not have any of his service details so I`m going to have to look elswhere, more later.
She did however have a wonderful letter written by her Uncle Fred in January 1941 to her Mum and Dad (My Grandad). The letter had his name rank and number and showed which Regiment he was with from this I managed to find out decent information. He lived in London and joined 152 Battery, 51 (London) Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery. In 1941 the Regiment is know to have been in North Africa. My mum remembers that he probably died in Tobruk. Well a quick search on the Commonwealth War Graves Commision web site revealed exactly that. 1433261 Gunner Frederick George Doubtfire, Died Age 22 on 27 April 1941 Remembered with honour at the Tobruk War Cemetery Libya. Son of Percival Thomas Doubtfire and Adaline Mary Doubtfire of Willesden Middlesex.
The letter that my mum had was the last letter he ever wrote to his sister.............
William George Ballard - Gandad Bill
Anyway onto my old Grandad, here he is in probably the best photo, rather a handsome chap. The picture is believed to have been taken in 1943 shortly after being called up, being 34 at the time it was the younger lads that were called up first.
All I know at the moment is that he did his basic training in Catterick and hated it and that he was in the Signals Corp? None of which is verified. He also had the French and German Star confirming that he served in Europe, I know he went to Normandy some time after D Day and I do know he was involved somehow in the Battle of the Bulge albeit in preparing for a possible German Offensive.
I found several other wartime photos of my Grandad however there is no information on the photos to suggest where they where taken. Some could be in UK, one is of a stripped down military motorcycle. One photo was possibly taken in Europe, owing to the architecture of the building in the background.
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