147th Essex Yeomanry RA - Battery Identification

Discussion in 'Royal Artillery' started by Susan A, Jun 1, 2020.

  1. IanTurnbull

    IanTurnbull Well-Known Member

    Andy
    I believe the original Dunmow photo came from user Sherbet posted to this forum back in 2011, but the albums have long since been deleted. I am in regular contact with him now and have copies of the photos and he recently joined your FB group (SM).
    (2) Essex Yeomanry / 147th Royal Field Artillery - WW2 | Facebook
    The location is unclear but there are other photos of vehicles from what looks like the same spot so we may identify it in time.
    Ian
     
  2. KevinT

    KevinT Senior Member

    Hi Andy sorry for the late reply jut setting up my new computer so been off line for a while. I see that Ian Turnbull has answered your question though.

    Cheers

    Kevin
     
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  3. Andy Urwin

    Andy Urwin Active Member

    Thanks Ian,
    Didn’t realise it was one of Stevens photos. Am in touch with him.
    thanks
    Andy
     
  4. Rick Pegrum

    Rick Pegrum New Member

    Hello everybody
    I’m afraid I’m a complete newcomer here, but at long last I have decided to try and find out something of the history of my father’s D-day and thereafter exploits.
    His name was Jack Richard Pegrum and he was born in Epping in April 1910.
    He joined the Essex Yeomanry in April 1939 and spent his time until D-day in training. I know he had communications training and that his rank was just Gunner. He was based in Frome Somerset at some point where he met and married my mother. My sister and I were therefore both born in Frome in December 1944 and February 1946 respectively.
    I believe my father was part of the crew of a self propelled gun who left Beaulieu on the start of Operation Overlord and landed on Gold beach a few hours after the start of the invasion.
    The reason I am replying to this post is that of the very few details he ever mentioned about the war, he did say that the sp gun in which he crewed was disabled on the beach and that they eventually continued their campaign a few days later, possibly in another vehicle or tank. He did mention that much of the rest of the campaign he spent in either Churchill or Sherman tanks.
    I once watched the film “A bridge too far” with him about the battle at Arnhem, and for once he was a little talkative and somewhat belligerent about the details as shown in the film. I believe from what he said that his team were trapped and unable to assist in the battle.
    So my apologies for the vagueness of my knowledge: I am a complete layman as regards military warfare and history and I suppose I have inherited a little of my fathers reticence in not wanting to think about what he and all those guys went through during their first days of combat. But the 80th anniversary has moved me to start wondering and wanting to know.
    To my knowledge he never accepted any campaign or other medals.
    If anyone can shed any light I would be extremely grateful!
     
  5. IanTurnbull

    IanTurnbull Well-Known Member

    Hello Rick
    According to a one line Obit in the 2006 EY Journal he served in 431 Battery but no other details. I have looked at the D Day Landing tables for 431 and cant see him but there is a "Pigram" of "C" Troop landing in the Gun Position Officer's 1/2 Track in the 1st wave (c 08:30, H Hour + 65 mins). May not be him of course or could be a typo. The Troop's Gun Position Officer, Lt Basil Sowden in this case, had a team responsible for setting up the Gun position and coordinating the firing.

    I know the Regiment lost 4 Half-Tracks on landing, but I am not aware of any particular difficulty C Troop had on their landing. I dont think they lost a Gun (SP)

    The best place to start would be your father's service record from the MoD LINK

    I will have a think about other possible sources and come back to you.
    Ian
     
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  6. IanTurnbull

    IanTurnbull Well-Known Member

    Rick
    I found his Tracer Card on Ancestry (they have free access at the moment commemorating D Day) showing his service No. I dont know too much about interpreting the codes on here I am afraid but there are strings on this forum that do. They are mostly to do with enlisting and release at the end of hostilities. As far as I can see there is nothing that confirms his Battery/Troop
    Ian
    upload_2024-6-8_17-45-20.png
     
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  7. Rick Pegrum

    Rick Pegrum New Member

    Hello Ian and many thanks for your prompt and informative response!
    Our surname is frequently misspelled so "Pigram" is a definite possibility. I once hired a tennis court by phone to find myself addressed as "Pigrot" when I arrived!
    I will follow the link that you provided to see what I can dig out. I do know that his service number was 894465 so I hope that may give me some leads.
    I had also found the Tracer Card on Ancestry but that is all I could find and it means very little to me apart from the link to 147 Field Regiment which in turn googled me to this site!
    I have subsequently found an even less informative sign up document giving his date of enlisting and the comment that he would be discharged by 1955!
    Thanks so much for your help!
    Rick
     
  8. IanTurnbull

    IanTurnbull Well-Known Member

    OK Rick - let me know how you get on. Its a time consuming process.
    I attach a crop from the 431 Battery landing table in case it is him. You can see the men on C Troop's Landing Craft Tank (LTIN 2142) with their vehicles. C1 - C4 are the Sexton SP Guns
    upload_2024-6-8_18-13-23.png
    Ian
     
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  9. Rick Pegrum

    Rick Pegrum New Member

    Thanks Ian ... I have a feeling that it might be Dad in the half track. As I said in my initial post, he was never very forthcoming about the events of d day, just the occasional comment here and there. If my memory serves me correctly I believe the "disabling" of the vehicle he was in fact the loss of a track possibly as a result of hitting a mine. But that is just a fleeting memory of some comment my father made!
    I have submitted a request for Dad's service record under freedom of information to the National Archive (via the link you sent me!) and I should get a reply in 20 days. I'll keep you posted!
    Thanks again
    Rick
     
  10. Andy Urwin

    Andy Urwin Active Member

    Hi everyone,
    This is my first time seeing this picture.
    It is one of the Sextons of B Troop.
    Do we have a name for B2 at all?
    Thanks
    Andy
     

    Attached Files:

  11. IanTurnbull

    IanTurnbull Well-Known Member

    Andy
    I first saw this in a newspaper clipping from the Evening Express, Monday 2 October 1944, which was a Liverpool based newspaper at that time

    It also appears in David Render’s “Tank Action” book and shows a wider view including a landed Troop carrier and a Tank.

    upload_2024-6-13_21-46-17.png

    It also appears in “Brothers in Arms” and in a press cutting held by the EY Association with the headline “Target Germany” and text “The first British artillerymen to fire on targets in Germany clean their self-propelled gun after shelling Reich soil. These are men of the Essex Yeomanry”, although the source paper and its date are unknown.

    None of these versions of the picture name the vehicle

    Ian
     
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  12. Andy Urwin

    Andy Urwin Active Member

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  13. IanTurnbull

    IanTurnbull Well-Known Member

    Andy
    Thanks for this which I had not seen before.
    413 Battery were detached supporting the SRY with the aim of reinforcing the US 82nd Airborne Division who a few days earlier had made an airborne landing around Nijmegen as part of Market Garden and it was probably on or just after 20 September 1944 when this picture was taken.
    Ian
     
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