Looking for Info on 2 Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles pre and post Normandy Landings

Hi

Shot in the dark, but looking for any veterans of 2 RUR during WW11 who can provide details of first hand experience within the Battalion including:

- training in and around Hawick
- D-Day landing at Sword
- Cambes Wood
- Caen
- Belgium
- Holland
- Bremen

My father (M.P.Scanlon or Scanlan in some records) started as a Lieutenant in 2 RUR (possibly D Company) and was trained in Hawick where he met my mum. He later received a promotion to Captain and joined Battalion HQ (I think) staing with the Battalion until he ended up as an acting Major looking after a town in/around Bremen after the war had ended.

Regrettably he passed away a couple of years ago and he spoke very little about his exploits during the war.

I've got details of dates places from "The Rifles Are There" and "History of 2 RUR in Europe" but I am very interested in hearing details from vets who were there and/or knew my dad (or mum for that matter - Anna Reid from hawick who served in the RAMC).

Many thanks.

Paul Scanlon



Image above is officers of 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles with Montgomery (probably Hawick - 1944)

Front Row Left to Right:
Maj. J S C G de Longuevil, Maj J W Hyde, Maj C R P Sweeney M.C. , Capt W E S Sturgeon ; Lt/Col I H Richards, Lt/Col L C Harris, General Sir Bernard L Montgomery K.C.B D.S.O , Maj B J FitzG.Donlea M.C. , Maj W D Tighe Wood , Capt M D G Ryan , Capt J R St J Aldworth , Capt (QM) C H D Henniker

Second Row Left-Right:
Lt G P Flack , Lt L F Laving , Capt J G Guinane RAChD , Capt N R V Watson , Capt H M Gaffikin , Capt K G Perona Wright , Capt C R Gray , Capt J Montgomery , Capt W H Boudains M.M. , Capt A C Bird , Capt C R Wright R.A.M.C

Third Row Left-Right:
Capt H M Sheane , Lt R D Purcell , Lt H Greene , Lt F W McFaull , Lt R C Diserens , Lt R S Hall , Lt E J Bourke , Lt S E Frost , Lt S C N Beavan , Lt R Lyttle , Lt S M Lennox

Back Row Left to Right:
Lt C C Rand , Lt H D D O'Neil , Lt W E Palmer , Lt D H Walsh , Lt D R R Greer , Lt M P Scanlon , Lt J H St.J.Cooper , Capt F Kirk M.C.

 

I was very interested to read your message, though unfortunately I cannot answer your specific questions. My father was Basil Donlea (front row), who sadly died in 1986. I would very much like to obtain a copy of the photograph. I have some other photos, though without names, so they may not be relevant to you. However, I would be happy to send them. I look forward to hearing from you. Patrick Donlea

 

Just a suggestion.....the sound archive and the department of documents at the Imperial War Museum......go to the IWM web site and try the unit title in the search engine.....you never know there amy be some stuff donated to them by veterans who are sadly no longer with us.......

 

There is a dvd available called 'we fought on d-day' all about 1st and 2nd Battalions of the RUR. It contains interviews with many of the lads who were there and is a reet good watch for anyone interested in this regt.

 

Hi Goz

I've Googled/Amazoned for this DVD before but can't seem to find anything on it - any idea where it is available from??

Many thanks.

Quis

 

I sent you a PM QS.

 

Quis,

We have Brian Guy, Sapper of the RE, who landed on D-Day on Sword Beach. His chronicles are at http://www.ww2f.com/honor-service-valor/13272-sword-beach-bremen-veterans-tale-sapper.html

You might find this personal acount insightful on what your Father went through too.

Best Regards,
- JR

 

Hi JR

Thanks for your comment, I've already been through Sapper's thread and found it very insightful, particularly as he cross paths with 2 RUR at various points including Cambes and Holland.

Thanks again.

Quis

 

Did you get a copy of this DVD? I saw it was part of a BBC N Ireland broadcast in jun 2004, but they don't seem to do copies. Maybe someone got a recording from the TV. I would like to obtain a copy if poss.
My father was Albert Colven, 2nd battalion RUR, landed at Sword beach on D-Day, with the intention of pushing on to Caen. He never got there, having obtained a shrapnel wound in the shoulder. Not sure how far he did get as he never spoke in detail about the experience. But we heard stories of having a bicycle which had to be abandoned, and the kindness of the local french. He passed away in feb 2004, so no chance of more stories. I will ask around the family though.

 

For anyone interested, have just seen that "We Fought on D-Day" which is all about the Ulster Rifles is showing on BBC4 Sunday 8 June at 8pm

 

Brilliant. I noticed it in the listings and have now got it recording. My dad's letters home during the first 2 weeks of June 1944 have just been found. I will include some of the highlights on this forum in the next few days. He mentions a comrade 'Boxer' Anderson. I wonder who he was?

 

This might be of interest. 2nd R.U.R were relieved in LONGUEVAL 14th June 44 by 5th Queens Own Cameron Highlanders, After their first attack on St Honorine.
Attached war diary of 5th Camerons. I believe that 2nd R.U.R. had liberated Longueval 7th June.

 

Dad's letters
I have paraphrased these to omit the more personal details

22 May 1944 " ......Just a few lines to let you know I arrived back safe and sound........We had our visit from GR today but I wasn't there to see him and I'm sure he didn't miss me. Apparently he didn't say a single word the whole time he was there, just got out of his car walked round the troops and away he went ......"

27 May 1944 - " The weather seems to have settled down now and I have had some good trips out on the bike during the afternoons and in the evening we generally have a sports meeting or something to pass the time. The other night we had a very good ENSA show which I thoroughly enjoyed and we are looking forward to a few more........If there is a bit of a lapse in my letters in the near future don't worry as I might not be able to write but I shall be all right so please don't worry about me......."

31 May 1944 - " Just a few lines to let you know I'm still ok......The weather has been marvellous and still is, just the sort of weather I've always wanted for my holidays but I shall have to wait a bit for those I suppose.......We had a film show in camp tonight so I went along and saw 'Handy Andy's Doulble Life' and thoroughly enjoyed it. Tomorrow they are showing 'Mr Jordan' so I'm looking forward to seeing that......"

11 June 1944 - from the continent - " Just a few lines to let you know I am well.......As you have probably guessed I am now on the continent and have had quite a hectic week but we are getting a bit settled now. We get a bit of news each day but it's not like seeing the paper so I wondered if you could send me one of the sunday papers each week just to see what is happening.....also a couple of razor blades, I haven't shaved for about ten days not that I'm worrying much about it but I might feel like having one soon..........hope to be writing soon when things have quietened down a bit."

13 June 1944 Field postcard with ticked information
"I am quite well" "I have your letter of 5 June 1944"

(More excerpts to come)....

 

More from Dad'd letters.....

14 June 1944 - " As things are a bit quiet at the moment I thought I would try and write you a nice long letter, so I hope the ink lasts out this time. Things seem to be going pretty well at the moment though we haven’t seen a paper for a few days we get the news taken down from the wireless and one of the chaps types it out and runs off a few copies and they are circulated so we are kept up to date. We had a few papers the other day dated 7th and 8th so we read what they had to say about us but we had to smile at one or two things. For instance one paper said that every invasion troop had chops and roast potatoes before landing, well I’m still looking for mine, but its just as well it wasn’t dished up to us as I was as sick as a dog all morning and I was very relieved to walk off the boat and up the beaches of France, just for the pleasure of keeping my stomach in one place.

The grub continues to be good as we are doing our own cooking, myself and Boxer Anderson are cooks for our HQ , about six of us all together and its quite amusing working out a menu. All the stuff is in tins so it just means putting a few tins into boiling water and opening them up, here for instance was our dinner yesterday, steak and kidney pudding, potatoes and peas with marmalade pudding for afters followed by biscuits and cheese and a mug of tea so you see we don’t do at all badly.

[SIZE=11pt]But today we exceeded ourselves as we purloined a chicken, God knows how old it was but we decided to cook it and chance it. So we put it on to boil at 10.30 this morning and said it would be ready for a 1.00 o/c dinner. Well at 2 oclock we thought it was still a bit hard so we made another steak and kidney pudding dinner and decided to have the chicken later on. So we boiled it again after dinner and had [/SIZE][SIZE=11pt] a sleep. Well it was 6.30 before we woke up and we thought our chicken would have boiled away [/SIZE]to thin air but she was still there, so we put on a tin of spuds and another pudding and sat down to a very nice dinner at 7.30 in the evening and everyone said it was excellent.

Since I’ve been in this country I think I must have dug half of it up with trenches as every time we move away go the picks and shovels, still we’re very pleased to get into them believe me at times.
I hear they mentioned the 3rd Division (that’s ours) on the wireless the other night, well I’ll be able to tell you the story of our doings one of these days and they are well worth recording.

PS There is no need to send me a stamp from now on as the The Post Master General will pay for mail in future."


17 June 1944 - "......The other day Boxer and I had a good laugh, we were going through a village and we halted by the road and there was an old lady there, so we tried to ask her for a drink, after going through all sorts of actions she eventually understood as we thought and pops into her house but comes out with three eggs, so we shook our heads as if to say that wasn’t what we wanted but, holding on to the eggs we went through the actions for this drink. Well she dived into the house again and came out with some artichokes this time so you can imagine the actions we must have been doing, but we shook our heads again still hanging onto the artichokes and started the actions again but we moved on which I think was just as well because I dread to think what would have been brought out the next time but we lost the eggs later on in the afternoon so our energy was altogether wasted.

[SIZE=11pt]When you see the beach landing pictures don’t think I’m one of the blokes wading in from about 2 miles out as I was very lucky and had a perfect landing with our boat as she got right up onto the beach and I just walked off the ramp and out to dry land. I didn’t even wet the soles of my boots so you’ll be able to see how lucky I was. [/SIZE]

This is a very cheap war so far as I have still got 3/7d of English money and 22 francs which I left England with so don’t dream of sending me money (I couldn’t spend it out here any way). The worst thing that has happened to me is that I busted all my 3 pipes that I came into action with as all of them had pretty long shanks so if you could scout round for an old cheap stubby pipe I should be very grateful. At the moment I am managing with a curved mouthpiece and a straight bowl held together with sticky tape so I’m still a smoker but when we hit a town I hope to purchase a few to keep me going.

Obviously I can’t tell you exactly where I am but the papers show you the British front so you’ll know I’m around there somewhere."



22nd June 1944 - Hospital Redirect Card informing of slight wound


23 June 1944 - " ....... there is nothing much wrong with me just a slight wound in my shoulder – they are taking out the bit that is inside me so in a couple of weeks I should be fit again and I hope to get home for a few days.
[SIZE=11pt]Well I think this is all I can manage now as I can’t move my arm well but I’ll write again when they have taken out this bit of shell. "[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]26 June 1944 - ".......[/SIZE]Well I feel a lot better now since I had the piece of shrapnel taken out of my shoulder, though it’s still a bit of a job to move my arm but I’m managing this letter a lot better than the last. I have been up this last couple of days and been allowed to go out and each day we have had invitations to tea and enjoyed our evenings very much although at the moment we are only allowed out from 1 – 6.30 still it makes a change from being in bed all day.

[SIZE=11pt]The thing that surprised me was the speed with which I got back to this country. I was hit at 8.30 at night last Monday (19th)and on Tuesday afternoon was flown back to England by plane and arrived about 5 o/c Tuesday evening, if it hadn’t been for bad flying conditions I should have arrived in the morning but we had to wait until the weather cleared up a bit. "[/SIZE]


29 June 1944 Ward A3 Wooloston Emergency Hospital [SIZE=11pt]Newport, Mon[/SIZE]- "....[SIZE=11pt]Well as I said Monday evening I was hit and Tuesday flown home and we went to an RAF hospital just outside Swindon. It was a marvellous place and in no time they had us in bed and we had some eggs and bacon but the thing I enjoyed most was the bread as it was the first I’d seen since three days before D Day and was I glad to get my clothes off as on the Monday it had been pouring with rain all day and I was caked with mud so I thought I was in heaven when they put me in that bed.[/SIZE] On Tuesday afternoon they put us onto stretchers and carted us to the railway station and we were put in a Red X train and arrived at Newport about 9 o/c in the evening where there was quite a large crowd lining the pavements and we had tea and biscuits and cigs. given us, in fact everybody was trying to do something for us, Eventually we drove away in the ambulance and arrived at the hospital (which incidentally was a workhouse until taken over and converted for civilians) and for which I am very grateful although the army are running the discipline and issuing side still to all intents and purposes we are governed by the nurses and doctors.
[SIZE=11pt]We were put straight into our ward and given a meal and thoroughly enjoyed it then the doctor came round and had a look at us. Next day nothing much happened everybody seemed to be just settling down, the Army came round to see what kit we had which was very little and we had people in giving us fags, writing paper and envelopes, stamps and some letter cards and we did very well. On Thursday I had my Xray and they told me I had a bit of shrapnel in my shoulder and would take it out next day then we had more fags etc., in fact I now have 150 cigs, my only bad thought is I don’t know when I shall smoke them all. On Friday they wheeled me in and took out whatever was inside me, we also got pay [/SIZE]from the army so everything was OK. "

Footnote
On 11 July 1944 Dad moved to a convalescent hospital in Lisvane, near Cardiff, and was there till about the beginning of August.
He eventually returned to duties, but completed the rest of his service in the Pay Corps, so did not return to combat.

 

Thanks - that would be nice to see them in their own thread. But include RUR in the title for others to find.

Dad was in the army for all of the war, but strangely - and fortunately - only saw action on D Day. I remember he told us that once he had to escort some prisoners to somewhere, and when he got back to barracks the troops had left! I think he reached Lance-Corporal rank but I'm not sure. I think I may have to try and get his war record.

Yesterday we visited the DDay museum in Portsmouth. Lot of exhibits, maps and details there. I was trying to work out where the 2nd battalion RUR was camped prior to loading for DDay. I think he was in 'S' Company. The museum has a records officer so I may try there.
I also found that the 3rd Division used West Beach at Littlehampton for Exercise Fabius - the last rehearsal on 3rd May before DDay. The beach was 'assaulted' by units of the 3rd; the troops advanced inland, 'capturing' Yapton, Littlehampton and Arundel which represented Caen. Whatever must the locals have thought!

Thanks again.

 

Is this forum still active - looking also for details on Signal Platoon of 2nd Battalion RUR
Fran

 

Hi Fran - What year?

 

Paul

Are you still researching 2RUR? I have information on my grandfather and great-uncle, who were in A and B Company. Would be good to swap what we have.