Missing British Soldier/Grandfather in Montreal, 1942

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by Don Bentley, Oct 26, 2020.

  1. Don Bentley

    Don Bentley New Member

    I guess my first question is, why would a British officer/soldier be in Montreal, Canada in the spring of 1942? What type of units would be there? Maybe for training? We have a skeleton in our genealogical closet of a British soldier being a sperm donor with my grandmother around March, 1942. She refused to anything regarding my mother's biological father while she was alive.
     
  2. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    Don, your question has a million different answers. He may have been a Liaison Officer to Canada, or on training, or a “trainer”, etc etc etc. You need to give us as MUCH information that you can find or give us, names or dates, etc etc. Anything that you know could help us advise you further. Do you KNOW if he was a British Officer?? Could he have been a Canadian Officer??? Again, anything you could give us would help
     
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  3. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    I am going to guess that Don doesn't have that information.

    The two possibilities that come to mind are (a) pilots involved in the British Commonwealth Air Training Programmer or (b) Montreal was a port, but I don't know if British convoy escorts would have gone that far.
     
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  4. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Welcome aboard. Others may come along and help. Always apply for his Service Record, even if the turnaround is reported as a year plus now. See: Get a copy of military service records Upload the records here once you've obtained them and then the forum can get to work on them.

    Please do not pay for any site on the internet who promise you his service records they will not have them, and you would have wasted your money.

    Adding what you have already found can help, saves others from duplication. A Date of Birth and a Service Number help, though the experts here can surmount that gap.

    I have noted the 'Other Ranks' rarely feature in Google searches unless they have been awarded gallantry medals or written their memoirs.

    Searching Google will sometimes bring you back here. The site’s search engine is rather simple; two examples 53rd will bring back all mentions of 53rd; an Army unit can have after 53rd an additional official name, in one case 53rd (Bolton). You must be agile and keep going.

    War diaries can contain almost anything. At the very least, they give the daily movements and most important actions of every unit. They may also contain information on casualties, message logs, rolls of officers (but not O.R.'s), maps, orders, and much else. They are available at the PRO to everyone. Drew5233 and some others are willing to scan them for the benefit of those who cannot get to the National Archives at Kew.

    It depends of course how much you want to know, just one battle or campaign for an example.

    Please come back and tell us what you found. Scanning threads it is clear some discover the site years after your posts and add their information or request help. Good luck.
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2020
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  5. Don Bentley

    Don Bentley New Member

    Thank you, everybody. All I know is that my grandmother liked to dance in Montreal, and that the sperm would have been donated around March, 1942. Where did Canadian girls meet soldiers to dance in Montreal? My DNA does not show Canada in my ancestry, so I believe he would have been a British national. This is a skeleton in our closet. I know nothing else. I know this is like throwing a dart in the dark, while blindfolded, during a hurricane, while standing on my head. Thank you for the suggestions.

    I see where Italians from England/Scotland were interned in Canada. Would they have been guarded by British soldiers?
     
  6. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    That seems unlikely just because the UK needed every available man. There were German soldiers interned in Canada too. Also, there were so-called "zombies", men called up under the Canadian 1940 "Natural Resources Mobilization Act" which allowed for conscription for home service but not overseas. Such men could presumably be used to staff prisons in Canada so why not use them?

    Temujin is a wizard of Canadian WW2 knowledge ... maybe he knows more on this point.
     
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  7. alieneyes

    alieneyes Senior Member

    Hi Don,

    The population of metropolitan Montreal in 1942 was 1.2 million. There would be literally hundreds, if not thousands, of places to go.

    Internees and POWs were guarded by the Veteran's Guard of Canada, mostly WW1 veterans.

    Regards,

    Dave
     
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  8. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    This report may give some understanding of what happens, I have only skimmed it and there is no mention of Canadian women and visiting servicemen. I note some countries have volunteers who trace the missing parents, not Canada though. See: https://childhub.org/en/system/tdf/...r_children_0309.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=18860

    There all manner of British servicemen in Montreal, although not specific to your time there was an official RAF tailor. Detailed within: Limited Edition Aviation Print Mosquito Attack by Philip E West | eBay

    I easily found numerous links regarding wartime convoys using Montreal, adding a naval aspect.

    It might be worth considering a DNA match is the "way ahead", although this is only likely to give your possible options. There are many commercial DNA laboratories to choose I expect. Remember a recent California 'cold case' where familial DNA helped to identify a prolific murderer. See: What the Golden State Killer Tells Us About Forensic Genetics
     
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  9. travers1940

    travers1940 Well-Known Member

    You say your DNA does not show Canadian ancestry, but rather British. Could it be that someone who emigrated from UK say in the 1920's or 1930's shows on the DNA service you use as British.

    In my family emigration to Canada from SE England happened between 1900 & 1914, in both cases the couples were married before emigration, and had solid English DNA back to 1800 or so so their children may also show as having this.

    To add to the possibles Royal Artillery soldiers manned guns on defensivly armed merchant ships which may have called at Canadian ports.
     
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  10. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Not being a DNA expert but what is Canadian DNA

    All DNA tests show what a mixed bunch we are

    Not sure you should be hung up by DNA

    The study revealed that the nation is made up of 46 per cent continental European DNA (including from countries like Germany and France), while British, Irish and Scottish influence only account for 43 per cent, which is surprising considering our country’s Anglo-Saxon roots.
    Canada’s DNA reveals surprising ancestry
     
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  11. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    From what I've read in recent articles, it appears that successful tracing of unknown family has been achieved via DNA tests offered and hosted by the usual genealogy sites. That is for finding blood relatives, not the fuzzier representation of DNA sources on a 'regional' % basis. Much more reliable method of tracing half-siblings, cousins, etc, than trying to work out who might have been in vicinity when grandmother found herself pregnant?

    Just one example...
    The DNA detective helping to reunite families
     
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