Unknown 6th Airborne Officer at Pegasus Bridge - ?

Discussion in 'Airborne' started by Cee, May 24, 2014.

  1. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    Unfortunately I can’t identify the officer in the first post but the Canadian Major is Beverly Hart who stands at the bridge and speaking to M and Mme Dupont who owned the Brickworks at Le Mesnil as pointed out by Cee. Found this info from an article in the June 1946 Illustrated magazine.

    June 1946 two years after D-Day 34 British Airborne Pilgrims returned to Normandy this was photographed by James Jarche (grandfather of David and John Suchet) for Illustrated magazine.

    French locals mentioned in the article are Mme Nicolle (English woman married to a Frenchman), Comtessse de Rohan-Chabot (Chateau de Guernon-Ranville), M & Mme Gondree.

    Bobby Bray is photographed next to his glider Chalk Number 71; Darrell-Brown declared Bray’s landing as “a good landing” on the 6th June 1944 Darrell-Brown’s own glider landed in Worthing and flew in glider Chalk Number 151a for Operation Mallard.

    Here are the names of 18 of the 34 Pilgrims mentioned in the article:

    Pte. “Ginger” Baker

    L/Cpl. S. Kennedy

    L/Cpl. Louis Reynolds

    Pte. Arthur Berwick

    Pte. Raymond Johnston

    L/Cpl. E. Unwin

    Colonel Carson – 1st (Airborne) Royal Ulster Rifles Battalion

    Major Beverley Hart – 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion HQ

    Major Charles Strafford – Editor Pegasus News Sheet

    Brigadier James Hill – CO 3rd Parachute Brigade

    Lt-Col. Robert Napier Hubert Campbell Bray – GSO 1 Divisional HQ, 6th Airborne Division

    Major John Howard - 2nd (Airborne) Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

    Captain David Wood - 2nd (Airborne) Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

    Cpl Tappenden - 2nd (Airborne) Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

    Major Darrell-Brown - 2nd (Airborne) Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

    Lt. William Anthony Bousfield – 2nd (Airborne) Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

    Rev George Hales - Senior Chaplain to the Forces (SCF) with 6th Airborne Division

    Major F.H. Hynds - 1st (Airborne) Royal Ulster Rifles Battalion

    Lt. Jack Watson - 13th Parachute Battalion


    N.B. Sorry I have not put the whole article up having trouble as some images are too large!
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Aug 12, 2017
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  2. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Well done brithm!

    Just a terrific Illustrated article with accompanying photos, many of which I've never seen before. I missed completely the Brigadier James Hill and Major Beverly Hart photo at the graveside of RSM Wendell Clark from the book "Paratrooper" written by Colonel Gary H. Rice. I couldn't find much on Major Hart himself. The article does explain that he was the last member of his Battalion remaining in Britain at the time of the reunion.

    The photo of him lingering at the Varaville Bridge is not included in the story nor is the attached one which shows Brigadier Hill, Major James Strafford, the Duponts and Major Hart at the Mesnil Pottery. All of which suggest there may still be other photos from the 1946 Tour yet to surface.

    Mesnil Brickworks 1946 Tour.jpg

    Regards ...
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2017
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  3. brithm

    brithm Senior Member


    Major John Woodgate's memories of Major Strafford mentions Captain Havelock 'Hal' Hudson being on the first Normandy Pilgrimage

    Hudson had a very colourful career as his obituary shows

    Forgot to say if anyone would like a copy of the article do let me know and I can email you a copy.
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2017
  4. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Brithm,

    Well isn't that interesting. Guy Hudson and I were batting around the possibility that one of the Officers seen in the article photos was Captain Havelock Hudson, Adjutant, 9th Parachute Battalion. The Independent obituary mentions he was "decorated for his part in the campaign". Various searches have produced no evidence thus far he was awarded a medal for his actions in Normandy.

    Captain Hudson was wounded terribly during the attack on the Merville Battery and came close to death on the operating table. Attached are some photos of Capt. Hudson. I thought he bore a resemblance to the Officer at the religious service and atop the Merville. At the same time I wonder if Captain Hudson would have still been a serviceman in 1946 after the serious injury received in Normandy? If not he may not have been in uniform? Brithm below thinks the Officer could be Major Jack Watson.

    Captain Havelock Hudson Adjutant 9 Para-1.jpg Captain Havelock Hudson Adjutant 9 Para-2.JPG Officer Religious Service.JPG Officer Merville Battery.JPG

    Edit: Citation and identification doubts

    Regards ...
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
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  5. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    From an Ancestry public tree

    For future reference - http://mv.ancestry.co.uk/viewer/ab2...03012/-891810196?_phsrc=ams9011&usePUBJs=true


    HHTH was knighted for sevices to invisible exports in 1977. Chairman of Lloyd's from 1975 to 1977. He served in the Hampshire Regiment and then the 9th Parachute battalion during the second world war. He was very badly wounded during the attack on the Merville battery.
    He is named Havelock after the Havelock family. The two daughters of Charles Frederick Havelock married the eldest sons of Captain John Hudson R.N. who was his great grand father. There is also another Havelock Hudson, also knighted, who was a distinguished soldier of the 1st World War and is a cousin. Presumably the Henry comes from Dorothy Cheetham's father and the Trevor from his grandmother Alice (nee) Trevor.
    Geoffrey Hudson writes
    Havelock was born with a deformed right hand. The fact that he was christened Havelock caused immense indignation among Captain John's first family, who regarded the very euphonious name of Havelock Hudson as their private trade mark. Havelock has led an adventurous and successful life. He quarrelled with his father and signed on as crew of one of the last windjammers on the Cape Horn run. In his own words the 1939 war came at just the right time for him. He became a parachutist and his war lasted for five minutes. Landed on D day, or just before, as part of a force of 1500, of whom two thirds missed the objective, he was badly wounded but, deciding he must kill just one German, he drew his revolver. Lying on the ground in his weakened condition, he only succeeded in shooting his own foot. By some miracle he was evacuated and found himself being nursed by Cicely Hudson, T.K.'s granddaughter. After the war he started in Lloyds, by all accounts with minimum help from his father Savile but a great deal of support from my first cousin Guy Portman. He was enormously successful and became Chairman of Lloyds Committee in 1974. A man of diverse interests and great physical strength, he married twice. Desmond, his brother, seems to be a less colourful character
    Obituary from Independent
    Sir Havelock Hudson was perhaps the last Chairman of Lloyd's of the old school. Not that Lloyd's was not already changing fast in his chairmanship, which lasted from 1975 to 1977; nor that cracks had not already begun to appear in the mahogany veneer which covered the market's turbulent and sometimes disreputable realities. But in 1977, when Sir Havelock was knighted by the Queen and also awarded the Gold Medal for services to Lloyd's, the market was still generally seen as an untroubled and tranquilly prosperous part of the City of London.
    Hudson, moreover, assumed that the market was still dominated by men with as simple a sense of honour and straight dealing as his own, an assumption that was soon to be painfully disproved.
    "Hal" Hudson began his career in the merchant navy, where he served, as the phrase went, "before the mast" after leaving Rugby School. He went to Lloyd's in 1938, but soon enlisted in the Royal Hampshire Regiment, from which he was seconded to the Parachute Regiment. He was badly wounded during the Normandy landings in 1944, and decorated for his part in the campaign. He like to tell an amusing story about how one of his friends had inserted a ribald poem by Oliver St John Gogarty, "Lines to a Boon Companion", into the wrapping of his medals: If medals were ordained for drinks Or soft communings with a minx, Or being at your ease belated, By heaven! You'd be decorated. The implication presumably was that even by the standards of a tough regiment he was thought to have had a notable capacity for enjoyment. After the war he went back to Lloyd's, and was elected an underwriting member (a "working Name") in 1952. He was first elected to the Committee in 1965 and re-elected in 1970 and again in 1970. He was Deputy Chairman in 1968, 1971 and 1973, and Chairman from 1975 to 1977. Perhaps surprisingly for a man who was something of a traditionalist, Hudson advised his successor and friend, Ian Findlay, to go ahead and build a new Lloyd's. As an immediate past Chairman, Hal Hudson responded strongly to the news of the "Savonita" affair, which involved suspicions that the Committee had bowed to the interests of big brokers in dismissing claims by a comparatively small broker, Malcolm Pearson, that he had been pressurised into paying a fraudulent claim involving Fiat cars shipped from Italy to the United States. Hudson called immediately and publicly for a thorough investigation to clear Lloyd's reputation. Equally characteristically, when approached as Chairman by Pearson, he had expressed surprise that there should be any doubt in the matter. If the claim was a good one, it seemed to him, it should be paid; if a bad one, it should not be paid, and there was an end of the matter. "Bat straight," he said, ignoring the fact that cricket has never caught on in Italy. In his speech thanking the Committee of Lloyd's for his Gold Medal, Hudson expressed his philosophy in what now seem poignant words. "Lloyd's does not continue to hold its unrivalled position in the world," he said, "because of its {financial} capacity, but because of its honour, an old-fashioned word perhaps, but I am speaking to people who still know what it means." Some of his hearers did, but he must have been sad to learn over the last two decades that others cannot have had the faintest idea of what he was on about. Havelock Henry Trevor Hudson, insurance underwriter: born 4 January 1919; underwriter, Lloyd's 1952-88, Deputy Chairman 1968, 1971, 1973, Chairman 1975-77; Kt 1977; married 1944 Elizabeth Home (two sons; marriage dissolved 1956), 1957 Lady Cathleen Eliot (died 1994; one son, one daughter); died Stanford Dingley, Berkshire 14 November 1996.
     
  6. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    Two other images from Battlefield Historian the first I think was taken at Benouville Bridge LZ 'X' identified by the gate not sure about the second image but possibly photographed around the same time.

    brithm
     

    Attached Files:

  7. brithm

    brithm Senior Member

    Found this on Getty images from Keystone-France collection the image caption reads "On June 6, 1946, A Norman Girl Offers Flowers To One Of The Soldiers Of The 32Nd [sic] Airborne Division British Ranville They Released First."

    This is at the 13th Parachute Battalion's memorial at Ranville in the background I think I can spy Lt Jack Watson who can be seen on the first page of the Illustrated article with Brigadier Hill and Reverend Hales. He is also on top of the Merville Battery.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Mar 4, 2017
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  8. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    TD,

    Thank you for the interesting biographical material on Captain Hudson. He strikes me as being quite the character.

    Brithm,

    Great find! Indeed the officer to right rear at the 13 Para Memorial does look like Major Jack Watson. He also bears a strong resemblance to the Officer in uniform at the religious service. Another plus for Watson was the award of an MC for for his heroic actions during the assault on Bure in the Ardennes.

    The Sam Browne shoulder strap is not showing up clearly, unless it's hidden by the lapel? The object pinned to the right lapel on the Officer could be a poppy pin. Some of the other men have similar pins, perhaps handed out for the occasion.

    According to an account on the Pegasus Archive Jack Watson was still in service in 1946:

    "In 1946, Jack Watson gained a Regular Commission from the Army Air Corps to The West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales Own)."

    Major Watson was a regular attendee to D-Day commemorations. Later a bust was erected to honour him and his role in the liberation of Ranville.

    Memorial Bust Major Jack Watson.jpg

    -Various Edits-

    Regards ....
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
  9. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Lieutenant-Colonel Bobby Bray's Glider

    Brithm sent a couple of photos of landed horsas and wondered if they were two more views of the glider which brought Lt-Col. Bray to LZ V, which is also seen in Illustrated article above. I think he's correct after looking closely at them. Excellent finds!

    92425388 by Roger Viollet-Getty .jpg bhc007158.jpg

    Regards ....
     
  10. Moppy

    Moppy New Member

     
  11. Moppy

    Moppy New Member

    I'm sure the officer by the Airborne Cross is Major Jack Watson - my father. There is another photo of him and Brig. James Hill in the Pegasus Museum pictured by the Airborne Cross.
     
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  12. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Thanks Moppy,

    That settles it then. Perhaps also your father, Jack Watson, in background of photo of men reading French newspapers?

    French Newpapers.JPG

    Regards ...
     
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  13. Moppy

    Moppy New Member

    It certainly looks like him - I haven't seen this photo before.
     
  14. Nijmegen

    Nijmegen Member

  15. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    I'm guessing they don't point out which man is Lt-Col. Harvey? The tall chap in suit could be the same man with overcoat (3rd Left) as seen in a ferry crossing photo with Brigadier Hill and Charles Strafford.

    French Newpapers.JPG Hill & Strafford Crossing.jpg

    Because of the fedora (or homburg?) I thought this may have been Reverend George Hales who can be seen in a few of the article photos with a black hat. However, I think it is someone else entirely and did he lend his fedora to Reverend Hales?

    Unknown & Rev Hale.JPG

    Of course it could be a case of over-analysation on my part.

    Regards ...
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2017
  16. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Nijmegen,

    I may have misunderstood - are you referring to the unknown Officer at Pegasus Bridge which opens this thread? I can see some likeness to Lt-Col. Harvey and he was definitely at the bridge on D-Day.

    Compare Officer & Lt-Col Harvey.jpg Lt-Col Harvey ParaData.jpg

    According to ParaData:

    "Bruce Harvey was promoted to Temporary Colonel in May 1945 and appointed as Deputy Director Medical Services Norway Command in HQ 1st Airborne Division. He was responsible for the organisation of medical services for the whole of Norway during its liberation and his work was subsequently recognised with the award of the King Haakon VII Liberty Cross.

    He continued as a T/ Colonel on the Supplementary Reserve until 1948 and was awarded the honorary rank of Colonel.

    Bruce Harvey remained on the Regular Army Reserve of Officers until reaching the age limit in January 1959."


    A Colonel has three bits of insignia on the shoulder strap and that doesn't appear evident on the unknown Officer, assuming of course the photo was taken post war. Also there is the issue of black buttons as brought up by Staffsyeoman in post # 13.

    Regards ...
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2017
  17. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Looks like Lt.Col Luard from the 13th to me .....
     
  18. Cee

    Cee Senior Member Patron

    Alex,

    Peter John Luard was commissioned into The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1931. In July of 1942 he was posted to the 4th Parachute Battalion as Second In Command. He became Commander of the 13th Parachute Battalion in September of 1943. Lt-Col. Luard took up life as a farmer in Oxfordshire on retiring from the Army in August of 1948.

    Attached are some photos of Lt-Col Luard found on ParaData and elsewhere.

    Lt-Col. Peter J. Luard-1.jpg Lt-Col. Peter J. Luard-Sept 44.JPG Lt-Col. Peter J. Luard-2.jpg Lt-Col. Peter J. Luard-Feb 1945.jpg Lt-Col. Peter J. Luard-IWM H40774.jpg Anne-Henley-and-Lt-Col-Peter-Luard-tatler-29nov16.jpg

    I'm inclined to think he is not the Officer at the bridge, but who knows? It's amazing how a simple thing like a moustache can make these men seem similar in appearance.

    Regards ...
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2017
  19. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Even the shape of the beret ( which is always very individual ) looks the same to me!
     
  20. Alex1975uk

    Alex1975uk Well-Known Member

    Also the cap badge is way over to the left in one of those pics you just posted ( you can't see it in the mystery pic which you probably could do from the angle if cap badge was over the left eye) just building my case!! Anyhow, I'm on a roll tonight as I've solved Frank Pendergast's mystery of what hospital he was treated in. On Pegasus archive he's pictured outside a massive building. He has never remembered where it was.... but I've sussed it !

    Alex.
     

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