Photos of 229332 Lt David Scott RUSSELL, RE (died 3/9/44) & who else?

dear friends, the picture to the left is David Russell who died on 3/9/44 in Sint-Lievens -Esse (Belgium). The picture to the right is a soldier who was bileted the same village of SL Esse in the spring of 1945. the family Casteur who hosted the soldier beieves it is David Russell, bud that is impossible. Was there perhaps a brother ofDdavid who fought also in the army (92th field regiment RA. theirr father was also in the army. Can anybody help me ?

 

You need to start a separate thread for this posting. This thread has nothing to do with your posting.

 

Two posts above moved to create separate thread


https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2896333/david-scott-russell/
LIEUTENANT DAVID SCOTT RUSSELL
Service Number: 229332
Regiment & Unit/Ship: 13 Field Sqn. Royal Engineers
Date of Death: Died 03 September 1944
Age 22 years old
Buried or commemorated at ST. LIEVENS-ESSE CHURCHYARD
Grave Reference: North West corner.
Location: Belgium
Additional Info: Son of Lt.-Col. James Robertson Russell, Royal Engineers, and of Constance Katherine Russell, of Wimbledon, Surrey.
His father also died on service. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2188007/james-robertson-russell/
Personal Inscription: BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART: FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD

 

Hi Dirk.

As you say, it is impossible for the man on the right to be the same David Russell, if that photo was taken in spring 1945. To be honest, you can also see from the nose that it is completely different to the nose in the photo on the left.

Now, I presume you are asking whether David had a brother in 92nd Field Regiment RA, not David himself, and, out of interest, what makes you believe this was the regiment?

From the CWGC information above, of course, David himself was in the Royal Engineers, not the Royal Artillery. Is it possible that David was attached to 92nd Field? However, the regiment was in Syria in September 1944, not Belgium. It did not return to NW Europe until early March 1945. In fact, this was the first time the 92nd had been back in Belgium since May 1940.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the war diary for March or April 1945, but as you can see here, the DRAMA report I do have shows that coincidentally the Regiment’s 368 Battery was located in Sint-Lievens-Essen around 13th March. 368 was my grandfather’s battery.



(courtesy the RA Historical Trust)

I do have some of the diaries for 1944 and from May - December 1945, but there is no guarantee that these will record any brother, if there is one, of course, unless that brother was also an officer. I will certainly have a look to see if I can spot any “Russell” listed or mentioned in any of the diaries I hold.

Here, for example, the return of officers list for week ending 5 May 1945 - no Russell.

 

I am still to look through the diaries for the name “Russell”, but before I do that I had a look at a couple of the photographs I have. Hardly a forensic process on my part, I paid attention to only those wearing spectacles, mainly for the guy in your photo on the right.

If it was the Casteur family who told you the man who stayed with them in 1945 was in 92 Field Regt, then this photograph of 368 Battery was taken in Germany between June and August 1945. I have circled two soldiers wearing spectacles, but cannot definitely say either of them is the man in your photo. No names on the back of the photo, unfortunately, only the place and year.



The man sat in the front row has very similar spectacles, but I’m not sure the face is the same. The man nearer the back, on the right, has a similar face, but maybe his spectacles are not the same…

This next photograph was taken in Kirchee, India in May, 1942 and, again, very scientifically , I concentrated on anyone wearing glasses - note the man sitting on the extreme right here. Similar to your man on the right? Again, no names on the photo, sorry.

 

Hmmmm…

 

I have now finished looking through the war diaries I have for the regiment. I found two mentions of “Russell”.

One in June 1940, 871658 Driver C. G. Russell, awarded the Military Medal. The only other time the name appears in the diary is in November 1945, 951335 L/Bombardier C. A. Russell, whose return from hospital is requested. Of course, there is no evidence or any way to prove that either is a relative of David, and in the UK Russell is a fairly common surname.

I found no officers listed with that name.

Whilst I do have several diaries for the regiment, I must stress that I do not have them all, sorry.

 

thank you very much for your research. I am impressed....

 

This is a picture of Montgomery in Steenhuyze 17 of March 1945

 

You are most welcome.