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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: rsel on Sunday 24 June 07 07:20 BST (UK)
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Hi all,
Does anybody know if any records exist which list/detail the troops who were evacuated from Dunkirk, as i would like to confirm what i have been told about my grandfather ?
My Grandfather, Harold Mons La Bassee Sellens, was in the Royal Sussex Regiment as part of the BEF (he was a Corporal and was a gunner on a Bren Gun Carrier), and was apparently wounded by a mortar round during the retreat to Dunkirk (he was apparently blown out of the carrier and went missing for 3 days). He was eventually picked up by passing troops and taken to a field hospital on the beach, before being evacuated back to England.
Thanks
Richard
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I feel you would have to look at the unit 'WD'(at the 'NA' Kew) to see if it has any info ref: the evacuated soldiers of his unit. You could also try and get his service record from the MOD, cost around £30.
With a name like Harold 'Mons La Bassee', his dad most of been in WW1.
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Hi,
Thanks i was trying to avoid the war diary's as i had heard that whilst very interesting they did not contain many specifics on people, and i would imagine that it was a little bit frantic in France to record the events at dunkirk in much detail. I was also told that his service record would not actually contain much information, so did not think it was worth paying £30 onthe off chance.
His father was in WW1, but that i not why he got his name. The family story is that his 3 brothers that were in WW1 all happened to meet up there, by pure chance and his father thought that i was an event worth recording :-)
Richard
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If you do-not get his Service Record you will never no will you?
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Hi Richard !
I don't know if you have been following this thread, but thought you may find it of interest..
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,240790.0.html
Wendi :)
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Thanks Wendi,
I had not seen that one, it sounds like it might be worth getting the service record on the off chance. I had seen posts in another group which had led me to belive that they would not actually contain much infomation at all, hence my hesitation on spending the money.
Richard
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It is highly unlikely you'll get any information on this. I've just been rereading my dad's memoir and things at Dunkirk were absolutely chaotic. I'm including below a short extract from his memoir, which starts on location in Cardiff, after the troops had arrived by train direct from Folkestone.
"We were at Cardiff .... to be sorted out and sent to our own regiments. I was lucky, as most of our boys had stuck together. We did not have any kit so had to wait until the full regalia of a soldier’s kit was available, so we remained rather scruffy and unkempt.
An officer came round the huts, taking our names and checking identity discs and, of course, our requirements; it was not impossible for an infiltrator to have taken the opportunity to come over with us from Dunkirk. Right now, all different regiments were mixed together, just as we had been on the ships and the train"
If you want to learn more about his memoir, go to www.grimdetermination.co.uk where you can read the first chapter of his memoir, located at Dunkirk. I'm hoping to get the book published next year so, unfortunately, you can't read the whole book but there is plenty of stuff on the site which is still of interest, including lots of photographs.
Kind regards,
Paul
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Thanks Paul
From my grandfathers medical records (which we had to obtain seperatly to his Service record) we have now peiced togther that he must have actual been evacuated the day before the offical evacuation started.
Like you mention i had assumed that some form of roll call was taken of all the returning troops to check for infiltration, and was hoping that might have existed to give confirmation on when a someone arrved back.
Richard
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What did his service history say?
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i assume you mean about when he came back, in which case nothing. It just gave a date when he was admitted into a hospital in the north of England. So i can only assume when he arrived back.
Richard
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Hi this is first time I've been on your forum. I find this thread really interesting. My deceased Grandad was injured at dunkirk and subsequently went on to be one of 25 men who manned one of 3 new "big guns" at dover castle ordered by Churchill. I have been searching for 3 years on ancestry and findmypast, etc but have not been able to find his service record or number. I would love to apply to m.o.d for his service record but don't know his service no. I am actually at Dover at the moment to take some photos of where he served. Any hints or tips on how i can find more info would be most welcome. I contacted the Royal Artillery museum but they said he could have been in the army or navy depending on his unit so don't want to waste £30 asking for details from the wrong service. Many thanks for any help you can give me.
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Hi Cathy and welcome to the forum. It’s funny but I posted here previously at a time when I hadn’t had my dad’s memoirs published nor had I produced a podcast. Yet I’ve now done both and if there’s anything I’d say to you is don’t give up. Your dad’s records are there to be found and you only need the right key to unlock them. You might give the ww2talk forum a try for more advice on this front. But I can assure you there are lots of true Dunkirk stories and beyond which will help you paint the stories that you’re looking for to represent your dad’s war. If you come up trumps tracing his records please do report back to this forum. In the meantime you might like to take a shufty at some of my not for profit podcast Dunkirk episodes which have some great stories sent in by listeners. I hope it’s not spamming the forum to tell you it’s at WWW.FightingThroughPodcast.co.uk. Best of luck with your endeavours! Paul.
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Most of the evacuees from Dunkirk lost their service record book. Not by negligence but for the reason that it was always stored in the right breast pocket of their tunic (Right hand salute Left hand remove record book). So taking a roll call would not be possible as no one could be identified. Most of them either had to wade out to the small craft, usually up to their shoulders so most service records were destroyed. I know my fathers is a true record From about September 1940, It just says before that Record Lost.
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Interesting what you say about the Pay Book. But surely that was just the soldier's own record. Central records were also held, and it's those records that the MoD stores, and can send you (if approved, and paid for). My father's (duplicate) Pay Book has very little, as he did NOT get on the boats at Dunkirk, but spent 4 years PoW in Poland, having been captured at Calais. I'm assuming they destroyed their Paybooks before capture - so that they only gave "Name, Rank, and Serial Number"..