Morning all, This is my first time posting in the forum and I am relatively new to WW2 Talk, so apologies in advance if this has been posted elsewhere or is in the in wrong section. Just to provide some context, my Great Uncle Bill Dunn was the driver of a Churchill AVRE on D-Day and landed on Mike Red Sector on Juno Beach as part of 1 Troop, 26 Assault Squadron under Major Younger. Most of those reading this post who have visited Normandy will, i am sure, have encountered his AVRE , One Charlie, the monument displayed close to the exit from Mike Red following its recovery in the 70s. Prior to his passing, I had the privilege of going with Bill to Normandy on the 70th Anniversary of D-Day. As is often the case, I was a fair bit younger back then was too in awe of Bill and other veterans to actually ask the questions that i am now trying to find out a decade later. Over the past 12 months i have been doing some good research into 26 Assault Squadron on D-Day, i have managed to get some great Aerial Photographs via NCAP & NARA of the location in which Bill's tank became submerged in 1944. I also found a current serving RE on Twitter who was kind enough to share some photographs he had taken in TNA of the 26 Assault Squadron War Diaries. While from the UK, i have been living in New Zealand for the past 8 Years so getting access to primary sources is bloody tough (even before COVID). I was just wondering if any of the members of this forum had, by chance, ever encountered or kept records of any other material associated with 26 Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers either before or after D-Day such as photographs, diary entries etc. Any form of help would be greatly appreciated to try and plug together pieces of the story of the squadron in the Second World War, in particular with the link to Billy's involvement. Thanks in advance, Kind Regards Craig
Craig, I will share information that I have on the Juno Beach landings. I’ll send you some links by PM shortly
threads here for your interest on the forum there are others if you search JUNO BEACH. 26 Assualt Squadron, Royal Engineers 26th Assault SQ - Looking for Report snippet 26 October 1944 - LSgt Snelling Help required. 26 assault sqn
Hello Craig, Have you come across this write-up previously in your searching? 26 Armoured Engineer Squadron Letter - Stockport Normandy Veterans Kind regards, always, Jim.
Hello Craig, My father Stanley Moore (aka Tubby Moore)was in the 26th he was a driver/mechanic, he usually drove a AVRE that layed Bailey Bridges and he knew your uncle and I think that they used to corresponded from time to time, I'm sure that I found a letter from Bill in my dad's paperwork, I must still have it in with dad's stuff. One of the duties that my dad had before D Day was to make sure that all the tanks were mechanical ok, and I remember him telling me about Sur-la-Mer and about what happened to '1 Charlie' and dad told me that he had only worked on it a couple of days before. Dad for years had been searching for a book especially printed about The 79th Armoured Division and was informed that there was a couple of pictures of him in it. Sadly he passed away before I managed to buy a copy and also I was given another copy by a very kind man from Australia and he was in it, I think that there are also pics of him in a book called "Vanguard to Victory" by David Fletcher I also know that dad used to entertain his mates by playing his much loved piano accordion. Since dad passed in 2000 I have managed to get some info on the 79th but it's difficult to find much about dad's squadron, I'm in very poor health but I know that my son's going to collate the info I have and try to add to it. I have also given them one each of the "History of the 79th Armoured Division". Now that I have found this forum I will keep popping back to see if there's any more info put on. Take care Lesley Holt
Lesley, Welcome aboard. We often have new members arrive after they find us via an online search. Craig last logged on December 2022, he only added this post. Next I will send him a private message (PM) you cannot do that until you have posted five times. Hopefully he will check in. Assuming his email address has not changed since joining and he has not flagged this thread. There are other threads here on the 79th Division. I added posts to one recently on Crocodile tanks @ Brest. See: Crocodiles at Brest Do you have his Service Records? They are the definitive, official record of his service. Yes, it is a long process obtaining them. PM with tips to follow. Adding his full details here will help, sometimes people are already here.
Thank you for responding to my post David , yes I do have dad's service records, a lovely chap was going to Kew and he got it for me and he refused payment for it, it's nice to know that there are some really nice genuine people about. Sorry went off the track a bit. I've safely stored all dad's army documents in my loft and until one of my lad's pop in I've no way of getting to them, but I know that dad done trading both in Dorset and at Leisdon Suffolk and that he was sent to WALCHREN ISLAND, he landed at West Kappelle. He was also doing something by the Elbe not sure what or why but I have a newspaper cutting saying that he was there keeping the men's spirits up by playing his piano accordion, and then he landed just behind 1 Charlie on Juno Beach. Thank you so much for your advice David and I will keep an eye on your fantastic site. Regards Lesley
Hello Lesley, Do you happen to know who your father's tank commander was, either on D Day or at Westkapelle? Or the call sign of your father's AVRE or LVT? Michel
Sorry Michel I have no idea, unless it's in his records somewhere that I was given mention it, but as said until one of my son's visit I can't get to them. I so desperately wish that I had taken the time to write it all down when dad was alive, but as many kid's do you think that your parents will go on and on, sadly they don't. All I do know that Tony Younger was his Commanding Officer. Sorry that I can't help much. Regards Lesley
Hi Lesley, Thankyou for reaching about around the story of your Dad and 26 Assault Squadron. I put this post up a year or so ago but to be honest i had given up some hope of finding out any further information. Online records are quite hard to track a hold of and i also live in New Zealand so it makes getting access to Kew impossible. It is really fascinating to hear that your Dad and Bill kept in touch over the years after the war. I have done a fair bit of research over the past couple of years that i am more than happy to share with you. I think you mentioned before that you are aware that Tony Younger was CO of 26 Assault Squadron. I would recommend his book "Blowing our Bridges". It is a great read. Also thank you for the recommendations on the books. I will do some shopping at my end and i will see what i can find down here in NZ. I will send you a private message with the things i have found that may be of interest. Regards Craig
Hi Lesley, Hope you are well, I tried to message privately but similar to what David has mentioned I do not think I quite have the ability to do so due to the small number of posts the both of us have made. I am sorry to hear that you are not in good health at the moment and hopefully your son will pop around soon enough so you can get the information you need. I was lucky enough to take Bill to Normandy as part of a week trip when i was younger and before he passed. I was still early twenties at that stage and like you said above i often wish i knew what i knew now and i would have loved to have spoken to Billy about them. As far as my recent research goes, I think the story of One Charlie is quite well told now both outside and inside Normandy but i was really keen to research more and get a better understanding of the wider squadron. Because i am in NZ i was kindly sent some War Diary records from a serving Engineer following his visit to Kew and his own research into the 26th Assault Squadron. I was very fortunate to have heard his stories in person, but have copied some link below if you wanted to listen to his interview with the Imperial War Museum in 1993: Oral history Tony Younger also did an interview in a similar period: Younger, Allan Elton (Oral history) In relation to the 26th Assault Squadron and your Father, i have copied some pictures from below that may help. Assuming your Dad was operating an Small Box Girder Avre on D-Day with Billy i would assume he would have been either in 1 or 2 Troop (Billy was in 1 Troop Charlie). If you read the accounts below you can see that two bridges were dropped in the initial wave, one to the high dunes just to the right of the main Exit at Mike Red Beach and the other was used to drop the Bridge onto One Charlie after it had became submerged in the crater. I think i read that there were three SBG AVREs landed in total but i would suspect there would be a high chance your Dad was involved in dropping his bridge in one of the two locations. There is also some photographs below of the aftermath of a 26 Assault Squadron attack on a radar station after D Day.
Hi Craig, Wow! Fascinating, thank you so much for sharing your information with me, I hope that you don't mind but I have downloaded the info that you sent. It was so nice to hear Bill's voice, I love his Geordie accent. So he was a driver/mechanic like my dad, I remember dad telling me about the qualifications he had to get, and that he found it difficult, dad's education was very sparce, I think from what he told me that these days he would be classed as dyslexic, he was very intelligent and practical but not so good with writing etc, my eldest son is the same, in fact he is my dad with some of the things he does. It may be a while before I can get to dad's stuff, we have another grandchild arriving soon and I know that my son will have his hands full for a while, and my other son lives a distance from me, plus he works full time and I don't get to see him often. Thank you again Craig, warm regards Lesley
Hi, Just came across this. My father Arthur Ronald Webb ( Taff ) was the driver of the tank next to Charlie 1. His recollection is that he was designated lane 5 of 6 on the landing approach. Due to the poor weather landing craft crossed over and he found himself in lane 6 and Charlie 1 took lane 5 and the rest we know. He said he knew Bill and the rest of the crew and his description of events match the facts. He also told me that later in the day he had the responsibility of marching the prisoners from the pill box to the left as you look at the beach to a holding area and that he had 6 bullets in his revolver with 7 prisoners. He further said that that was the pill box that fired on Bills stricken tank. I have also visited the site many years ago and found it surreal. Thank you for sharing. Glyn Webb
First time posting but trying to locate any information on these two photos. My dad William (Bill) Danvers was the tank driver in the 26th Assault Squadron RE, landing on JUNO driving an AVRE. Looking for more information, I was aware that he was involved later in the demolition of the U-Boat pens in La Rochelle but everything hazy between landing and release in 1947 I have his service record but any pointers welcome
Really appreciate you taking the time to reply Glyn. Incredible how many stories you hear of the second world war luck/fate (or whatever you want to call it) gets in the way. I know Billy did always say to me that he landed at the wrong beach and as i was a lot younger and niave i didnt really know what he meant. It was not really until i did some research after he passed that i can see that 1 Troop were designated the Mike Green exit and 2 Troop Mike Red. Both landed at Mike Red so it seems. What kind of AVRE was your father a driver of? Was it a Fascine/Bridgelayer/Bobbin? Kind Regards Craig
Hi David, Appreciate you joining the thread. Do you know anymore details of what troop your father was in? I would certainly recommend Blowing our Bridges by Major General Tony Younger as he does cover most of 26 Assault Sq activities post 6th June. This may give you abit of a steer initially to start your research.
My dad was about to start talking to us about his experiences as it was just coming up to the 60th anniversary of the landings and there was a lot of TV coverage he was talking with his grand daughters about some Canadian Indians on the LCT with him and with their war paint that scared him. Unfortunately he then had a massive heart attack and died watching the coverage so we never got the information Dave
