1983354 L/Sgt George FENWICK, 150 Railway Construction Coy, Royal Engineers: 22/05/1945

My grt uncle l/sgt George Fenwick died May 22 1945 Italy he is buried Forli War Cem. Was wondering if anyone may have War diary - wondering if his death was recorded and circumstances. Would be grateful of any help


https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2206899/george-fenwick/
LANCE SERJEANT GEORGE FENWICK
Service Number: 1983354
Regiment & Unit: Royal Engineers, 150 Rly. Constr. Coy.
Date of Death: 22 May 1945
Age 36 years old
Buried or commemorated at FORLI WAR CEMETERY
Grave Reference: VII, D, 20.
Location: Italy

 

Hello. Did some research some time back on wife's father. He was a corporal in 150 R.C. Company worked on line between Udine and Tarvisio in May 1945. If you get any luck with info. would appreciate. The work they were doing is described on an Italian railway associated website (www.Trenidicarta.it) according to my notes. Sorry have no printed transcript. They formed part of No. 1 Railway Construction and Maintenance Group. Made up of 150 RC coy, 161 RC coy, 46 Mech. Transp. Platoon and 1 Railway Bridging section. If any of that helps.

 

The war diary references at the National Archives are:

WO 167/945 150 Railway Construction Company Royal Engineers, 1939 Sept.-1940 June

WO 166/3636 ROYAL ENGINEERS: COMPANIES: 150 Railway Construction Company, 1940 July - 1941 Dec.

WO 166/8088 150 Company, 1942 Jan.- Oct.

WO 169/10620 150 Railway Construction Company, 1943 July- Dec.

WO 170/1640 Companies: 150 Company, 1944 Jan.- Dec.

WO 170/5181 Companies: 150 Company, 1945 Jan.- Dec.

WO 170/8089 Companies: 150 Coy, 1946 Jan.- May


Lee

 

Hi many thanks for reply did find a little info also on 150 coy, but hope to obtain diary entries for the day of death . Have attached little info I came across
Regards les

 

Thanks very much for information Lee will be very useful regards les

 

This is in Italy with the 150th Railway Construction Company. George Fenwick is second left.

 

Leslee has not logged in for seven years, just sent her a message to return.

David

 

Thanks so much for the excellent photo, did see it in BNA although not this excellent quality- I’m guessing you have enhanced the photo you’ve made excellent job - over the moon many thanks to you also to David for the email as I may not have seen it otherwise!
I did chase up the war diary and found he was killed day before stated on his head stone also must have been loaded on train as he was laid to rest some miles from where he was killed - the sapper to his left was killed with him sapper Anderson he was living Gateshead although born Scotland- have tried to trace relatives to no avail!
Yes many thanks for this super photo
Kind Regards
Lesley

 

In case you have not seen this, his R.E. Casualty card, front and back.

 

Thanks so much for these
I don’t have them - I hadn’t realised George joined up before War - his dad committed suicide 1934 after he was injured in serious motorcycle accident having had plate in his skull suffered greatly. George was very bright academic also very fit good runner. George worked on the local railway Percy Main North Shields before joining up - his brother Frank Fenwick was at Howdon Station now the line managed by Nexus metro service.
Thanks ever so much for this incredible information- another piece of the jigsaw!
Kind Regards
Lesley

 

George Fenwick

 

Thanks and interesting info again. I've got more photos of men from the unit and film of them in Tunisia with my Grandad featuring in it. The photos all have names and addresses in for the men but I've not looked at tracing any though was thinking of sending them to the Evening Chronicle as most are from the North East. They were also torpedoed on the Stathallan ship on the way to North Africa with Eisenhowers hq on board and the photographer Margaret Bourke-white who wrote an article about it for Time magazine though the ship was censored at the time

 

Were the photos and footage taken by your dad or Margaret Bourke white? That’s fabulous!
I didn’t hear any stories re him being on the Stathallan - I think I will have to send for his attestation papers , I know at moment majority of records are in process of being transcribed.
I would love to see photos and footage.
Think it would be marvellous if Chronicle were involved. A few years back they did do a special piece where people could have relatives photos and stories published. I sent photo of George also photo of my grandad he was lost Dunkirk and a wonderful person corrected faults on photo and hunted me down to give it to me. Was an amazing job had photo printed on aluminium for my mam she was over moon.
Thank you so much for getting in touch and sharing the info - would love to see more photos.
Kind regards
Lesley

 

Hi, the footage was a British army film unit sergeant and the photographs the same. I'll have a go at uploading a few and a still from the film footage. That's actually on the imperial war museum site though the original listing didn't mention the unit specifically i got a copy and spotted my grandad straight away. There's also footage from France 1940 but it's not as distinct. The unit was evacuated after dunkerque from cherbourg amd st mall and landed back near Bournemouth. They then worked on military railways around Shropshire till sailing for North Africa in 1942 and being sunk on the way. Fortunately the ship stayed afloat a few days and they were rescued by an array of other ships. I'll add some pictures of that too.

 

Here's on lot from the collection. They're all 150th railway construction company sappers working in Italy

 

That's some pictures of the Strathallan after it was torpedoed at the end of 1942. Several units were onboard along with the 150th railway construction company. It was taken under tow but sank later. Fortunately most troops and crew got off

 

This is a bit of the footage. They're building railways in Tunisia 1943. My grandads the guy at the front with braces on. Be interesting to get names for the rest eventually

 

The British-owned passenger P&O ship SS Strathallan was sunk by a U-Boat off Algiers on 21/12/1942. There are many threads that refer to this and there is a dedicated website: Home Page - The Strathallan Story - The ship that died in secret

That site has a passenger list and at a glance many Royal Engineers aka sappers were aboard, no-one id'd from 150 Railway Construction though.

 

The photos are fantastic- I think the last one of the sappers ending 503 is sapper Anderson sadly he died with George.
I’m unable to open the video footage, not sure why, I’m on iPhone.
It’s so exciting seeing these photos and all the information I’m so grateful- wish my mam was still with us sadly passed last January she would have loved this!