90th (City of London) Field Regiment

Discussion in 'Royal Artillery' started by oates, Dec 11, 2012.

  1. Vectic

    Vectic New Member

    Hi "Guppy"
    I believe my father ( d. 2016 ) conveyed your father to Gold beach Normandy on H.M. LCT 857 , and I have have extraordinary hand-written letter dated 30th June 1944 from Lt Harry Wood which you would be interested to see. My father was the 23 yr old officer in charge, landing on time on Gold Beach for the Initial Assault on 6th June 1944 carrying your Father's 25lb SP guns, and the letter heading has 465/90th Field Regiment RA , BWEF . My father and LCT 857 next arrived on 18th June with the "special stores" for Omaha and Port-en-Bassin , so I am sure Lt Wood is referring to his passage on the 6th June.The original Naval message from F.O.33 referring to slip at 1820hrs on 3rd June states 1st Division, 631,718,897,719,720,857,7008,7009. Orders to carry out Operation Neptune Force G had H hour 0725 hrs for 6th June 1944. I have often wondered, and hoped , that your father survived and delighted only today to see from this forum that he did survive. I have many war time papers, which I am planning to give to the D-Day museum in Southsea. I wonder if you have any photos of LCT857, or the crew ? My browser etc flags up this website as insecure, so I would prefer initially to communicate by email, if you know how to do that. Very best wishes , "Vectic"
     
  2. guppy

    guppy Member

    Hello Vectic , somehow I missed this message and have only just come across it (10 years late!!) Wonderful to make the connection with your father. Dad often spoke about the run in shoot and how it was "hairy" trying to fire the guns in the choppy seas. I have Dad's map of the Gold Beach defences (Creully) that he carried with him on the day and would be delighted to send you a photocopy if you like. Unfortunately I do not have any other photos so cannot help you there.
    If possible I would love to see the letter that Dad sent to your father. My email is chriswood1946@yahoo.fr
    All the very best
    Chris Wood (guppy)
     
  3. guppy

    guppy Member

    Hello Vectic , please ignore my "10 years late" remark above , I was looking at the date of the original dicussion posted by Oates. Think perhaps I must have been having a bit of a 'senior moment ' there!!
    All the best Guppy
     
  4. guppy

    guppy Member

    Hello PeterB , the officer in the photo is definitley my father Lt THG "Harry" Wood, many thanks for the post. We were never sure of what his ocuppation was, now we know he was a GPO , regards Guppy
     
  5. PeterB

    PeterB Junior Member

    Hello Guppy, I'm pleased you got something out of the post and photo. A few weeks back my wife and I went to do some research on the 90th at the Royal Artillery Museum and Archives in Wiltshire. They have the war diaries of the regiment there along with some interesting notes and copies of the '90 News', a pamphlet newsletter produced by the regiment, mainly from the war end. There are lots of fascinating details in these pamphlets, particularly of the issues facing the regiment in Germany in maintaining civil order after hostilities ended and the repatriation of members of the regiment as soldiers were sent home. During the visit we were shown a letter in 1985, from Sgt. Robert Scott to a senior officer describing in some detail the conditions in his LCT of the run-in shoot on June 6. My father had often talked about the conditions but I had not written down his experience. Sgt. Scott has described the run-in well. Contact at the RA archives is through this e-mail address enquiries@royalartillerymuseum.com Regards Sandboy
     
  6. guppy

    guppy Member

    Many thanks for that. I'll make a point of visiting the museum when I next pass through. kind regards Guppy
     
  7. Some pics of LCT 857:

    During Exercise FABIUS II, on 4 May 44:
    A70 14-7 - 1944-05-04 - Walter - Ex FABIUS II - 50 Div (Part 4) - 05.21 - LCT 857.jpg
    Source: IWM A70 14-7

    With other craft before the invasion, probably on (or around) 31 May 44. Her LTIN/Serial 2145 is visible just left of the rectangle:
    [​IMG]
    Source: IWM A23731

    Used by US LCI(L) 502 (between between 1040 and 1141 hours on D Day) as a debarking ramp while broached to opposite WN35 at the Western end of KING GREEN Beach:
    857 LCT(4) - 180862_html_28912ae1.jpg
    Source: US Landing Craft Infantry (Large) 502; D Day

    Aerial view, shot in the same time bracket:
    LCT 857 - US7-1733 8092, 6 Jun 44.jpg
    Source: Sortie US7/1733 Frame 8092

    Michel
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2022
    guppy likes this.

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