Help tracing Allan M. Carrie D-81003 Black Watch, shot and survived Dieppe blue beach, POW questions

Hello,

I am hoping some of the knowledgeable members here can help me with a research roadblock.

I am researching my husband’s grandfather, Allan MacInnis Carrie, service number D-81003.

He served with the 1st Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada during the Second World War. I am trying to trace his service chronology after the Dieppe operation and determine whether there is official documentation of later POW status.

What I have confirmed so far:

Name: Allan MacInnis Carrie
Service number: D-81003
Rank in 1942: Private
Unit: 1st Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
Born: February 8, 1919, Montreal, Quebec
Died: 1986
Wife: Mary Carrie, nee Boyce

War service / confirmed record:

A Part II Order shows he was S.O.S. from 1st Battalion after a gunshot wound during the Jubilee operation and sent to 15 Canadian General Hospital. The entry references A List No. 185, dated 22 Aug. 1942, and notes he was S.O.S. to No. 2 Canadian Divisional Infantry Reinforcement Unit on admission to hospital.

After that point, I lose him.

Family history says he was later a prisoner of war, but he was not captured at Dieppe. The hospital and evacuation record confirms he reached the UK after being wounded. I am trying to determine when he returned to duty, where he was posted next, and when or where he may have later been captured and held.

I also have a June 1945 return-to-Canada reference showing him returning through the port of Halifax as one of 593 Montreal soldiers returning home.

Later, I have a newspaper reference placing him as Sgt. / Mess Sergeant with UNEF in Rafah, Gaza in 1959, and he appears to have served again from approximately 1951 to 1965.

I would be grateful for help identifying where to look for records that could confirm:

His movement after hospital discharge in 1942
Whether he returned to the Black Watch or was posted elsewhere
Any POW card, POW index card, casualty notation, or repatriation record
His later service chronology and promotion to Sergeant

I have submitted an ATIP request for his full service file, but it is delayed. I also tried to submit an ICRC Second World War POW request, but the request window closed almost immediately after reopening in January 2026. And I have been through every genealogy site and lists.

In the meantime, I am trying to identify any available records, lists, indexes, war diary appendices, casualty lists, archive references, or search strategies that may help bridge the gap between August 1942 and his later confirmed service.

Thank you for any guidance.
Melissa

 

Hello,

It's a sad thing to say but it really is easier to research those who were lost. A colleague of mine refers to researching those who survived the war as "looking for a needle in a haystack of needles"

Your husband's grandfather doesn't appear on any missing or casualty lists after the Dieppe one of 24 August 1942. I checked to see if there was anything in the UK papers and nothing.

I do not think he was a prisoner-of-war. Primarily, because his name is not on any casualty list, but also because there were reparations paid by West Germany to ex-Canadian POWs in 1953 and again in 1959. I don't know of anybody who didn't claim it.

The vast majority of what you are looking for is only going to be found in his service file.

Regards,

Dave

 

Melissa,

I suggest there are options apart from official records. As an Other Rank he is unlikely to appear in their War Diary for example.

Have you been able to identify any obituary for him? I would have thought as a long serving NCO post-war his passing would have led to a published obituary, locally and in the Black Watch of Canada magazine / journal. As his regiment remains active is there an active Facebook group where you can ask for help? Or ask for help via a letter for publication in the journal.

A regimental association journal. Some are separate from the official one.

What help if any can the regimental museum offer? In the UK museums do charge for such research.

Was he ever interviewed as part of an oral history? Especially for his UNEF service. No idea where such a record would be held in Canada.

Good luck.

 

Sounds like you are on the right track, agree that his file is the best way forward. Only alternative would be to research Black Watch Pt II Orders to see if you can find his return to them. As you are not certain that actually happened and those records are voluminous, a challenging project. Those orders should be at LAC in Ottawa, some units kept theirs or passed them to more local archives (provincial etc.). What you find in those orders should be reflected in his file.

Out of curiousity, what kind of timeline is LAC currently suggesting for personnel files?

 

I’m working on getting my hands on the part 2 orders.

They filed a 90 day extension on day 30 of the original request, which I expected with that much service over 2 terms. Then the 90 day deadline passed with no update so I gave it a few days and requested an update. A week or nothing so I filed a complaint and got “Unfortunately, despite the extension of up to 90 days beyond on the original due date, we are not able to provide a specific date by which your request will be
processed.”

 

I guess the complaint worked, got a call from LAC today and will have all 950 pages of the service file by end of next week!