Padres 6th Airborne

Discussion in 'Airborne' started by Ludo68000, Apr 27, 2014.

  1. Ludo68000

    Ludo68000 6th Airborne D-Day

    Hi all,

    here is a new quest about some of the 6th Airbone men: the Chaplains of 6th Airborne Division on d-Day night;

    6th Airborne HQ: Lieut-Col HALES

    3rd Para HQ: Padre Joseph Mc VEIGH: POW at Saint Vaast En Auge.
    8th Para: Padre G.A KAY: KIA 07/06/1944: circumstance of his death? buried at Ranville War Cemetery IA.M.02
    9th Para: Padre John GWINNETT
    1st Canadian Para: Padre George HARRIS, DOW at Heuland (his partachute failed to open properly), of internal injuries
    buried at Ranville War Cemetery VA.C.06
    224 Field Ambulance: Padre J. KENNY

    5th Para HQ: padre ??
    7th Para: Padre George PARRY: KIA 06/06/1944: circumstance of his death?; buried at Benouville Churchyard, grave 21
    12th Para : Padre J JENKINS
    13th Para: Padre W.FOY
    225 Field ambulance: Padre W BRISCOE

    at the following web page there is interesting information about the Padres of 6th Airborne http://www.89fss.com/affiliated/rachd.htm

    there are photos of some of the padres.
    Has someone studied the organisations of the Chaplains?
    Have you come accross photo of HALES, Mc VEIGH,KAY, KENNY, PARRY, JENKINS, BRISCOE?
    thanks for any information,

    Ludo
     
  2. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    They should all be listed on the Officers Field Returns in the units war diary under attached officers .
     
  4. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Ludo,

    Here's a newspaper clipping by reporter Leonard Mosely on the death of Padre Parry, 7 Para. It's the more detailed of a few available on the web. Neil Barber in his book 'The Pegasus and Orne Bridges' investigates the location of the killings, as well that of the RAP set up by Capt Wagstaff, 225 PFA. According to the Wagstaff Account:

    "The party approached the location chosen for the RAP (Regimental Aid Post). by following the escarpment which winds round to the S.W. from the bridges. Suitable accommodation was eventually obtained in houses at Map References 095745.

    The padre with Ptes Anderson, Gelson, Howard, Leggett. Davis, Sleeth and Sayles set up a ward for walking wounded on the East side of the road."


    This would have been on the lower road into Benouville. It really highlights the desperate situation that 'A' Coy, 7 Para was in at the time.

    Regards ...
     

    Attached Files:

  5. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

  6. Ludo68000

    Ludo68000 6th Airborne D-Day

    thanks CEE for this.
    3 padres were KIA in the early hours of the invasion: Padre PARRY (7th Para Bat), Padre HARRIS (1st Canadian Para) and Padre KAY (8th Para).
    As I write abose, Padre HARRIS died of his wounds at Heuland a village next to Saint Vaast En auge. Witnesses told me once that the Germans did not allow villagers to get close and ease Padre HARRIS pains. He died a few hours later.
     
  7. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Ludo,

    There's an account of Padre G.E. Harris' fateful D-Day descent in 'Men of Steel' by Colonel Bernd Horn:

    "Sometimes the exits from the aircraft were too fast. Corporal Tom O’Connell left the aircraft too quickly and his parachute got tangled up with another jumper’s. “As we plunged toward the earth I heard the other fellow yell from below, ‘Take it easy old man!’” Both men crashed to the earth. Around noon, a severely injured O’Connell had finally regained consciousness. Beside him was the corpse of Padre Captain George Harris. On the ground beside him he could see the two parachutes twisted together like a thick rope."

    The Rev. George Alexander Harris - Find A Grave

    The Rev. George Alexander Harris with Brigadier Hill.jpg

    Regards ...
     
    brithm likes this.
  8. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    Chaplain/Padre Capt. George Alexander 'Alex' Kay of the 8th Parachute Bn supposedly killed on the 7.6.44 "killed during the early stages of the Normandy campaign by machine gun fire while driving a jeep out to collect wounded personnel; in spite of the fact that it was marked with Red Crosses and flying a Red Cross flag."

    http://www.paradata.org.uk/people/g-alexander-kay
     

    Attached Files:

  9. roodymiller

    roodymiller Senior Member

    Padre Foy of 13 Para wrote a booklet about his war in Normandy. Think it's on the net somewhere. If you can't find it send me a PM and I'll email a copy.
     
  10. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Captain The Reverend W. C. T. Briscoe

    There's an amusing anecdote on Reverend Briscoe's great enthusiasm for parachuting on ParaData:

    http://www.paradata.org.uk/units/royal-army-chaplains-department

    He was wounded during a mortar attack on the 225 PFA MDS at the Chateau de Guernon.

    "7th June 1944
    Place: Le Bas de Ranville


    1600 - A heavy bombardment by mortars was experienced and a direct hit fell on the cookhouse, killing 2 and wounding several, including Rev BRISCOE."

    Rev. WCT Briscoe-225 PFA .jpg
     
  11. Ludo68000

    Ludo68000 6th Airborne D-Day

    Thanks to all for your answers and messages.
    Who was the Padre of 5th Para Brigade HQ?
    were there other Padres other than the one mentionned (in the initial drops/landing) in my initial message?
    Did the all dropped in or came in gliders?
    Thanks,

    Ludo
     
  12. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Reverend Father J. McVeigh - 3rd Parachute Brigade HQ

    "For Father McVeigh he had dropped wide at the start of Op. OVERLORD and was captured shortly after landing. Unfortunately for his captors Brigadier James Hill has given him a shillelagh before the operation for self-defence. After get a bit fed up at being interrogated he set about his six captors with the shillelagh and made good his escape. Father McVeigh was recaptured, but this time the Germans refused to believe he was a priest and stripped him of his dog collar. He spent the remainder of his war in a Baltic prison camp."

    Photo from group shot of 3 Para HQ Officers in Palestine.

    Rev Fr J McVeigh-3 Para HQ,.jpg

    Ludo, I don't know the answers to your queries, but I would think the Padres with the Para Battalions were all jumped trained.
     
  13. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    Hi Ludo,

    The below may help. The picture attached is of 6th Airborne Division padres from left to right taken in May 1944: Rev. A. Buchanan (Larne N. Ireland) Rev. E. Timothy (London), Rev. Hales (6th Airborne Division HQ), Rev. J. Owen Jenkins (12th Parachute Bn).

    6th Airborne Division Chaplaincy 1944-45
    Operation Overlord

    • Headquarters: Lt-Col/ Reverend J.C. Hales (Netheravon attached to Gen. Gales H.Q.)
    thereafter Major/ Reverend A.P. Cameron (Operation Varsity)

    • 3rd Parachute Brigade
      Captain/Reverend J. McVeigh attached Brigade HQ Prisoner of War
    • Captain/ Reverend G.A. Kay attached 8th Parachute Battalion K.I.A. 6.6.44 thereafter Captain/ Reverend W.T. Ogilvie (possibly K.I.A. Operation Varsity 24.3.45)
    • Captain/ Reverend J. Gwinett, M.C., attached 9th Parachute Battalion (Maroon epaulet)
    • Captain/ Reverend G.A. Harris attached 1st Canadian Parachute Regiment K.I.A. 7.6.44
    • Captain/ Father J.W. Kenny attached 224th Parachute Field Ambulance, RAMC


    • 5th Parachute Brigade
    - Captain/ Reverend George Edward Mark Parry, attached 7th Parachute Battalion
    Anglican, 29, K.I.A. 6.6.44 thereafter Captain/ Reverend Hyde thereafter Captain/
    Reverend A.L. Buckingham, Baptist
    - Captain/ Reverend J.O. Jenkins attached 12th Parachute Battalion, Spittal, Pembroke
    (“Yorkshire” Light Blue Epaulet)
    - Captain/ Reverend W. Foy, attached 13th Parachute Battalion
    - Captain/ Father W.C.T. Briscoe attached 225th Parachute Field Ambulance RAMC

    • 6th Airlanding Brigade
    • Captain/ Father J. MacMurray- Taylor, Padre John Johnston,
    Father Hourigan attached 1st Battalion, The Royal Ulster Rifles
    - Captain/ Reverend A. Nimmo attached 2nd Battalion The Oxfordshire &
    Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
    - Captain/ Reverend J.W. Hall attached 12th Battalion The Devonshire
    Regiment
    - Captain/ Reverend J.P. Vaughn Jones attached 53rd Worchester Yeomanry
    (Operation Varsity)
    - Captain/ Father M. McGowan attached 195th Parachute Field Ambulance,
    RAMC

    • Glider Pilot Regiment (attached to both 1st and 6th Airborne)
    - Captain/ Reverend G.A.F. Pure attached 1st Wing Glider Pilot Regiment,
    Army Air Corps
    - Captain/ Reverend W.R. Chignell attached 2nd Wing Glider Pilot Regiment,
    Army Air Corps

    • S.A.S. Brigade
    - Captain/ Reverend J. Fraser McLusky M.C., France 1944
     

    Attached Files:

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  14. Ludo68000

    Ludo68000 6th Airborne D-Day

    thanks a lot Brith for this very detailed information.
    Who took over Padre HARRIS, 1st Canadian Para?

    Regards,

    Ludo
     
  15. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Ludo,

    According to Gary C. Boegel"s Boys of the Clouds it was Honorary Captain Doug Candy HQ Coy, Chaplain. He was sent over to them in August 1944 and when they returned to England in early September he was packed off to Ringway for jump training. His recollection of the the Varsity jump is quite interesting. No photo as yet.

    I have found information on the following two, but photos are eluding me:

    Captain/ Father J.W. Kenny attached 224th Parachute Field Ambulance, RAMC
    Captain/ Father M. McGowan attached 195th Parachute Field Ambulance

    And yeah that was a great group pic added by britim ... :)

    Regards ...
     
  16. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    Picture of Capt/Rev. George A. Harris, 1st Canadian Parachute Bn.

    Cee has given an accurate detail of Harris' plight.

    Brithm
     

    Attached Files:

  17. Ludo68000

    Ludo68000 6th Airborne D-Day

    a few years ago I read a witness account about Padre HARRIS, but that account did not mention about Pte T.B. O'CONNELL.
    The witness wrote:
    "Reverend George HARRIS was buried at heuland on Mr Gabriel DETEAU property. He died ten hours after being wounded, he had both legs broken in several places and had internal injuries.According to Mr Deteau and his wife who saw him, they figured he was a Captain but the Germans would not give them permission to get close to him.The Germans buried him. The grave is taken care by Mrs Deteau, who had picked up a prayer book written in english, and a little cross. About a month ago an English officier came to find information about Rev. G. Harris. He was a friend of his. He was very happy to be able to find his grave. He took the prayer book so he could give it to his family. And he put the little cros son the grave."

    Ludo
     
  18. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Ludo,

    A very moving story. It is unusual that M. and Mme Deteau do not mentioned O'Connell in their account. From the injuries described by them it strikes me that Rev. Harris struck the ground with considerable force. In the few books I have there are variations in the story of how he died.

    Reverend Candy for instance mentions an entanglement, but says Harris died the next day.

    "George Harris had been the Chaplain that had dropped with them on D-Day. He got his parachute tangled with another person in the drop and he broke his back on landing. He died the next day in a little French farmhouse."

    From a footnote (569) in Paras Versus the Reich also by Horn (2003) which preceded Men of Steel:

    "Another casualty sustained during this night drop was the Battalion's Padre, Captain G.A. Harris. The Padre's parachute got tangled with another parachute. Harris was killed upon impact while the other paratrooper survived."

    From Gary Rice's book Paratrooper on the life of RSM W. J. Clark:

    "Padre George Harris' parachute failed and he died an agonizing death on the drop zone."

    Padre Harris was an Englishman jumping with a Canadian battalion. To me it's highly unlikely a Canadian would say ‘Take it easy old man!’ in a time of crisis as they plummeted towards earth. But like all these accounts with few witnesses rumours do get repeated and are spread by word of mouth.

    Regards ...
     
  19. Ludo68000

    Ludo68000 6th Airborne D-Day

    Mr & Mrs Deteau not referring to O'CONNELL may prove he was evacuated.
    Tricky Dicky is checking if he was later retain POW.

    Ludo
     
    brithm likes this.
  20. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Reverend W.T. Ogilvy attached 8th Parachute Battalion, K.I.A. Operation Varsity 24.3.45

    From the 8 PARA War Diaries:

    "24th August 1944 - New Padre Capt. Ogilvy arrived.

    24th March 1945 - Rev. WT OGLIVY killed whilst attending German prisoners of war."

    The following information from They Gave Their Today. There's a slight error with the location given as Arnhem.

    "Walter Tulliedph OGILVY
    Chaplain 4th Class attached to 8th Battalion The Parachute Regiment. Army no. 118329
    He was killed in action on 25 March 1945 at Arnhem. He was 33.
    He was the son of Nora Kathleen Ogilvy of Stanley, Co. Durham and the late Walter Tulliedeph Ogilvy
    He is buried in grave 37 B 5 Reichswald Forest War Cemetery


    Additional Information
    MA (Oxon.).
    His address for probate was Altyre House, Stanley, County Durham
    He had previously been reported missing in Libya in 1942
    "

    Reverend Candy of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion explains he was the only one of the four 3rd Parachute Brigade Padres who wasn't a casualty on Operation Varsity. He is referring to Padre Ogilvy in the following brief description of his death.

    "The other chaplain, he got himself busy attending the wounded, bringing them off the DZ and he got killed doing that."

    No photo as yet.
     
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