Weird one Drew - Basil Walstan Lawrence is not on the list of dead or DOW in the official XRH history - no mention by name in Huggins' account of the battle either. He's buried in Dieppe Canadian cemetery which would seem to indicate he either died of wounds later and the death date is wrong or that his body was retrieved and buried there? I never find the CWGC very helpful on enquiries so best place to start would be his casualty card which will be in the archive at Bovington - I can sort of guess what happened by a process of elimination but that's whetted my appetite for a search - after I've done a shed load of marking....my best guess at present is that he didn't get out of a tank and his body was recovered and buried by either French or German forces and then reburied in Dieppe? The Casualty Card will say when his parents were notified and when his death was confirmed.
I was wondering if he could be your 'missing black Trooper'. My only assumption on this is his name and his parents details on CWGC. It does have a possible West Indies feel to it?
I was wondering if he could be your 'missing black Trooper'. My only assumption on this is his name and his parents details on CWGC. It does have a possible West Indies feel to it? Basil Walstan Lawrence was the son of Cyril Walstan Lawrence and Elizabeth Lydia Lawrence (nee Hatch), of West Croydon, Surrey, England. His dad was born in Norwich in 1889, he married in Hackney in 1915 where Basil was born. They appear to have had 5 children over a long period of time. That makes it an outside chance that he's West Indian - shame, although Sgt. Huggins reckoned there were two black troopers in the 10th Hussars.. I'd be more inclined to assume the old soldier in the interview was mistaken as to time and place. In my experience - and I've interviewed a fair few now, I'd assume memory and other circumstances have their effect. I have no doubt he was recalling something but as to the veracity of that? I won't get down to Bovington until spring now, but I'll ask the librarian to root out the casualty cards - it was something on my 'to do' list anyway. What I did find - or my wife actually found, was Lieutenant LeMieux, the officer in charge of the detachment of 10th Hussars at St.Pierre du Vauvray - he was wounded, captured, put in Oflag VIB and survived the war, got married in London and had five daughters, of which at least one is alive and unmarried. He's easy to find as his surname is unusual and he had four Christian names. So much to do, so little time...
Posted by JCB in the Markings and Insignia for Armour in the BEF thread. See post 315 http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=89736&d=1345202220
Hi Brian, Does anyone in your interview notes mention my Grandad Lcpl John Harrison DCM A squadron, he was a mech driver of on of the A13's. Regards Danny
Hi Brian, Does anyone in your interview notes mention my Grandad Lcpl John Harrison DCM A squadron, he was a mech driver of on of the A13's. Regards Danny Not off the top of my head mate, but anything I've got is confined to May and June 1940 - presumably your granddad was at Huppy? Did he win his DCM there? If I remember rightly you've posted something about that so I'll look it up and please ignore the silly question. I'll have a look as I think Sergeant Huggins was a Troop Sergeant in A Squadron. cheers, Brian
I have the Queen's Bays down as having 21 MkVI light tanks, 4 A9, 3 A10 & 22 A13 cruisers; is it the same for the 9th Lancers (and the 10th Hussars?)
