176 Workshop & Park Company RE - Friends Reunited

Good morning, through this marvellous forum, I've managed to not only find out a lot about my father in law’s unit but also contact some relatives of members of the same unit.

Cpl Ronald Wagstaff (father-in-law), Lt. Jack Atkinson and Lt. David Dewar were in the 176 through training, D-Day and eventually onwards to Hamburg in Germany.

The sons of Jack and David, David and Iain, together with my wife and myself met up in Edinburgh recently to share stories and memorabilia from the war. We could each tell the others lots of information to fill in the blanks of the parent’s war experiences which they communicated little or nothing of whilst they were alive.

From the War Diaries it seems that:

Lt. Jack Atkinson landed on Juno Mike on the 8th of June

Lt. David Dewar landed on Sword Queen on 8th of June

Cpl Ronald Wagstaff probably landed with David on the 8th of June. I think I’ve worked this out correctly from Assembly Area information.


From landing, the 176's task was to manage material coming off the ships and then onwards to the troops moving forward as the fighting moved forward.


The 176 Workshop and Park Company were sent back to the UK towards the end of July 1945 for some leave before returning to Germany in December 1945.


The photo below showing Jack and David was taken on 1st July 1945 in Vilvoorde, Belgium. I thought it would be good to recreate the photo during our meet up in Edinburgh and add in Ron’s daughter Jill (my wife) to complete the story.


Respect goes to all those who fought in the war and supported from back in the UK.

 

The journey post VE Day 8 May 45

176 Workshop and Park Company: Major CT Wade – Major WS Gibson 6 Jul 45 – Captain later Major RB Croft 16 Mar 46
101 CRE Works – Line of Communication 26 Jun 45 – United Kingdom 21 Jul 45 – returns 8 Corps District 1 Dec 45 – CE Hamburg District 15 Apr 46 – disbanded 31 May 46
Goch south-west of Bocholt – J Le Grand Factory Witherenstraat 45, Vilvoorde-B north-east of Brussels-B 26 Jun 45 – Hamburg-Rahlstedt 1 Dec 45 – Hans Still Berzeliusstraße Hamburg-Billbrook 10 Dec 45

21st Army Group later British Army of the Rhine (under construction)

 

Thanks for that Steve.