I'm looking to find out where exactly my grandad went during the war. I'm hoping to get hold of his records but have not done so as of yet so in the mean time im doing my own little search, for acouple reasons 1st so i have a full story to tell my children about there great grandad and 2nd i'm hoping to build my own little memorial to him using the pictures and medals and a cap badge topped of with a model of the type of truck and gun he would have used, GEORGE R PASHEN 1139939 ROYAL ARTILLERY (DRIVER) he enlisted on 26-2-42 aged 26 at bulford and was discharged to T.A.reserve in march 1946 i have his dogtags and service pay book, on paybook it has him as a gnr, but cant realy find any info in that to tell me where he had gone it has field stamped in large letters at the top of the first page of his paybook i dont know if this means anything, so i have no idea what unit he was in, i remember him telling me acouple storys but im not sure how they fit into things, 1st was his convoy was attacked by a fighter and his co-driver was hit in the head, 2nd was that his unit was camped up in a forest and a young girl from a farm in the valley would bring up fresh eggs to them every morning (i remember this story as i could tell by his face he remembered this young girl very well) the 3rd was he had to transport a band up a very bad mountain road for a show that was being put on for the troops, the thing is i'm sure he said these things happened in the holland area, but unless he was moved around alot this does not tie in with his medals, he had 5 medals the war medal, defence medal, africa star, italy star and another star, so the africa star and italy star puts him in southern europe and his storys put him in northern europe, it says in his pay book he was awarded the africa star on the 22-5-44 under that it says pt2 order 94/3 dated 6-2-44 with 1st army clasp. i have here a few pictures of him during the war, im hoping someone maybe able to recognise someone in them to help me pin point a unit. pops (the face on the far right in the middle edge of this pic) pops in the middle (told me that was his truck) pops back row second one in on the right pops looks like a number 2 on the ribbon dont know what that means. many thanks for reading mark
Welcome to the forum. looks like a number 2 on the ribbon dont know what that means. No that's the 1st Army clasp on his Africa Star ribbon you mention. under that it says pt2 order 94/3 dated 6-2-44 with 1st army clasp. Africa Star - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Gun looks to be a 7.2 inch howitzer like these . THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45 | Imperial War Museums 7.2-inch howitzers being brought up to fire in support of the Rhine crossing, 21 March 1945. THE BRITISH ARMY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE 1944-45. © IWM (B 15776)
Hi Mark - nice photos. Can you scan / photograph the paybook and his dogtags (and maybe even his medals) to see if there are any extra clues we can use..... cheers & good luck Dave
Hello and welcome-sounds like you need at apply for a copy of his service records to ID the Regts he served with. If you find out this info you can see his units war diaries. Cheers Andy
Possibles are: 54 Heavy Regt 56 Heavy Regt 58 Heavy Regt Hopefully I didn't miss any. 56 Hy Regt also served in NW Europe, so that could account for the Holland stories. Can you describe or post a photo of the other star to see if we can narrow it down a bit.
The artillery tractors look to be U.S. built Lend-Lease Mack NM5s. On the right is, I think, a straightforward Bedford GS 3 ton 4x2. This link shows a restored 7 1/2 ton Mack NO rather than a 6 ton NM but it gives an idea of what they were like on the move. WW2 Mack Gun tractor towing Longtom in Sussex - YouTube
Only two Heavy Regts served in Italy & N.W. Europe 44-45 56 Heavy - 1 Cdn AGRA 32 Heavy - 17 AGRA As the pic shows Mack Towers, it rules out the 56th as they only had Scammels thoughout the war. of cource he could have been posted over to another Hvy Regt already in N.W.Europe. Best Rob
thanks everyone for the replies I have still not got his records yet my mum lives 5 hours away and is unsure how to do it so I will have to do this when I next visit my auntie holds the medals for me so no pictures but the other star is the 39-45 star I now know he was in Egypt and Austria Austria being were the young girl story comes from, also found out the young girl gave my granddad a fork with a swastika on it but this went missing just before he died. I was told his lot were the only ones using all Yank stuff but unsure if this is right or means anything. its looking and sounding like he was with the 32 so I'm now going to look in to that possibility. thanks again mark
Hi Mark Download the forms and complete them for your Mum and post them to her for a signature - Just a thought to make things easier for you. A
