10th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry (photo)?

Hi - as per my "hi" in the newbie section - here is a couple of the photos found and a bit more info on my grandad.

His name was Stephen Oliver and he was in the 10th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, moving to the Military Police in Singapore when the unit was disbanded. I believe he was a radio operator and landed on the beaches of Normandy a couple of days after D-Day. It was something he never really talked about and only started to open up a bit more in the recent few months before passing away 2 weeks ago.

Apparently, he had a very lucky escape when under machine-gun fire on the beaches, as when taking cover and laying on his front (radio on chest) - a bullet went straight through his radio and killed his friend who was lying next to him - no name ever given.

This is one of the photos that we found. I'm not sure if this is the 10th HLI, but looking at him and guessing his age at the time, it might well be. If it's not, maybe it can be of use to any other members or that someone could shed more light..

The second photo is the back, presumably signed by the men in the photo (my grandad is back row, second from left)

Sorry if this is in the wrong section - tell me if so and I'll move it!

 

Hi
Somebody here will know about the uniform/tartan/shoulder patch but see here for 10 HLI's war diaries from June 44 onwards:
15th (Scottish) Infantry Division / War Diaries (June 1944 - May 1945)
There were a couple of advance parties quite early on - might he have been with one of them?
Adam

 

Hi MrMalone

Welcome

Reading the post above you dont mention if you have his service records or not - these are vital when researching someone, they are the framework we can then fill out - link here - Request records of deceased service personnel - GOV.UK

TD

 

Wow, that's great - thanks for the links. I'll chase up the family and see if they have his service records

 

Thanks for that, amazing reading. Unfortunately, grandad was very reserved and didn't like to talk much about his time in the war, so I'm going from snippets of info I have. More info this evening and his landing in Normandy was around 10 days after D-Day, so probably fits with the dates of the war diary.
With regards to the kilt, it was mentioned in conversation that he served with the Black Watch and the tartan of the kilt matches the green/blue tartan of Black Watch. Service records are going to be the way to go!!

 

i'm no expert regarding uniforms/badges but with regard to the top photo i'm not convinced it's a 10th HLI one for a few reasons.

The cap badges of the Serjeant & Corporals in the middle doesn't appear to be that of the HLI.
They all appear to be wearing boots, trousers & gloves etc more associated with dispatch riders. Coupled with the number of soldiers in the photo (16) and the breakdown of their ranks (1 sergeant, 2 Corporals plus privates) the photo appears to be that of a typical 'section' you'd find in another unit rather than an infantry battalion (happy to be corrected on this).

That being said, there was a Pte. Walker A.W. 3317230 who was in the 10 HLI, who could correspond with the 'Jock Walker' signature on the back, especially when you consider how the (A.W.OL.) part is written. As far as i can tell he was reported missing 14.04.45 whilst with the 10th HLI, and was subsequently later 'located' in the U.K. so i assume he was a 'returned' POW.

There is also a field return dated 26.08.44 for personnel 'whose return to this unit is particularly requested', which includes the above A.W. Walker but also Pte. Ross J. 3314785 who could be the top signature on the back of the photo as well.

I'm pretty bad at deciphering signatures myself but some of the others seem to be :-

J.C Ross
H. Ashton
A. Chubb
G. Abbott
J.W. Preston
C. Robertson
J. Copeland???

If you can identify any others i'll check through the 10 HLI documents i've got to see if they turn up in those

 

Wow, great info - thanks!

Possibly one is W.G. Waite, or Waile and could be a B. Horsewood and an L. Hibbard or Hibbord?

 

Some of those signatures have got me stumped!
The signature way to the right is J Howarth??
Agreed it is W G Waite and B Horsewood
Possibly L Hibbert
5th one down J E Sudner??
7th J / Pal--------??

Lesley

 

Had another look through various 10th HLI documents like the War Diaries and Missing Personnel files etc and i can't any of those other mentioned names (or anything resembling them) in them.

'Other Ranks' get listed or mentioned in them quite a lot (a lot more than various other unit documents i've looked at). Therefore, i'm still of the opinion that the top photo isn't a 10th HLI one, and that the J. Ross & A.W. Walker signatures are possible coincidences or they might have moved to the same unit as your grandad at the same time, i.e. when the 10th HLI was disbanded.