british 3rd iron infantry division.

[raf]

lee .. i believe that my grandad too land d,day plus he was in the irish ulsters. i'd like to find out more about his events

[sapper]

If he was in the Royal Ulster Rifles? He was in a great mob.. courageous, The best.. I had lunch with the Colonel that commanded them on D day. Back on the 60th annivesary.
Sapper

[raf]

i'll get his army number and i'll pm it to you sapps. maybe youll know some one. i recall he did his training in the english lake didtrict...hated it so much he never returned. he liked france though

[Rich Payne]

Originally Posted by raf

i'll get his army number and i'll pm it to you sapps. maybe youll know some one. i recall he did his training in the english lake didtrict...hated it so much he never returned. he liked france though

raf, I think that his reaction to where he trained is perfectly normal.

My Dad has visited Holland and Germany happily since the war but if someone suggested a visit to Catterick in winter...

His memory of Normandy as I recall is that generally the farmers were more concerned about the damage to their orchards than they were pleased to be liberated.

[4th wilts]

my grandad did all his trainig at brough in yorkshire,near hull.he loved that area of england,he liked holland too.yours,lee.

[4th wilts]

are there any divisional assosiations for 2nd army formations.yours,lee.

[sapper]

Not that I am aware of Lee. Though to be honest they would not get many members today? The youngest of the Vets would be in their 83rd year, as I am.
The great majority of the Normandy Veterans Associations have closed, as have the Market Garden Vets. Many members died, and those that are left are old and infirm.

The thing that prevented the reunion of many units post war, was that their mobs had been disbanded, and did not exist any more. As was mine. They did have a small reunion, and I have a card signed by the few survivors at that reunion.

There was the other very good reason why the reunions never took place. Like my company, they died along the way from Sword to Bremen.

Many of the original members of the companies did not make it to the end, That is what happened to my mob. having found my platoon officer, he told me that very few were left to have a reunion with.....
Sapper

[4th wilts]

brian,was the british 3rd div ever attached to the canadian army at all.yours,lee.

[sapper]

Never Lee. They were adjacent to us, that was the Third Canadian division. We had two third Divs, one Canadian one British.
Those two covered the whole area North of Caen. We covered the whole area North with the Canadians to our right side as we faced South. the Eastern boundary was the Caen Canal with 6th Airborne over. I have the two battle maps for D day and D plus one upstairs somewhere. You mentioned the bodies..Some of them were not buried for weeks, some never. they just melted away. Stench was ghastly
The Third British Infantry. Monty's Ironsides. was his old Div. The last out of France at the time of Dunkirk providing the last ditch rearguard. So Monty made sure they were FIRST back.
Sapper

[4th wilts]

was the 3rd british div attached to the canadian army at all,during the whole nw europe campaign,was what i meant,sorry about the confusion brian,yours,lee.