My Grandad and relatives storys

Hi guys,

Since being about 8 or 9 years old (am 26 now) I have always been facinated by the 2nd world war,

My Great Uncle was in the Royal Artillary and gave me all of his WW2 belongings when he was still alive, he was a Hulk of a man at 6ft 4 and really was a gentle giant, His name was Douglas Evan #11000401 , he received his medals a LONG time after the was IIRC it was in the 1990's . he left me his pocket book, his shaving mirror, his Belt, his medals, his lapel, and many other interesting pieces. below

Another member of my family who served in WW2 was my Grand father Arthur Parsons , he died in 2003 IIRC, he served in a secret unit which was not known until 1997 when they were finally awarded their medals for their work, they were called the Home Guard Elite Auxiliary Unit, the unit he enlisted in was based in Cheddar, Somerset . They were draughted in due to the imminent invasion of England by the Germans, his job would be to sabotage German machinery and be a resistance force, they were armed to the teeth with explosives, revolvers, daggers, sub machine guns, Cheese wire, and were taught many skills including how to kill a German using his own helmet in one swoop, Again my Grandfather left me his medals, indentity car and a lot of paperwork and other effects . He is listed in the Book Somerset Vs Hitler (there is also a pic of his unit somewhere)

The last member of my collection is Cpl "Walt" Williams #998022 , He was somehow related to my Grandmother but i never knew how. He was sadly killed in action in the last few weeks of the war, In the letter from his superior it stated he was killed by a German tank, apparently he was in a Mortar crew,
My grandmother gave me all of his effects as she knew my keen interest in WW2 and hated the thought of them locked in the safe,

along with the medals etc , there are love letters, details of his war grave and a copy of the "calling gibraltar" message his wife sent to him.

I have included pictures of cap badges and other items i have in my collection

Hope you like my collection, feel free to ask any questions,if you would like more pictures please feel free to ask and i will post more up and scan paperwork , also if anyone could find out the movements of these relatives during the war i would love to find out,




A Parsons, Unit badge , is there any further info on this?



A Parsons Medal


W Williams Medals




D Evans , Shaving mirror




D Evans medal delivery box


Burial List with W Williams inside






all below are of W Williams
W Williams Unit







W Williams family letter from church


D Evans, royal artillery signals book


Letter of death W Williams












Many thanks

Jim

 

Jim,

Thanks for sharing these treasures, I am sure the Forum Members will appreciate the work you did to post these photos.

Sorry for the loss of Corporal Williams (R.I.P.) and all the men who served.

Please let us know more about the Elite Aux. Guard and Grand Uncle Evan's arty unit. Most riveting.

All the best,

RK

 

Wellcome...Do a search on the auxillery units on this forum. Discssed many times...I am currently researching many local aux units in my area and am finding some astonishing stuff. You should invest in a copy of With Britain in Mortal Danger By John Warwicker. Gripping and informative.

 

The Parsons badge is in the colours of the Aux units corps. Was Parsons the name of the aux unit he belonged to...Most in Worcs area were named after Biblical characters such as Jericho patrol etc. The unit id's were taken from the parent Home guard units to begin with but I've seen various badges like this for Worcs members with their parent hg unit numbers.

 

Thinking about it if the unit was named after your relative then he was the unit commander. Have a look at Coleshill web site and if you want to know more on a particular aux unit you should mail them.

 

Somerset Auxiliary Units - The British Resistance

 

The lapel badge is discussed here...

Coleshill House Auxiliary Unit Forum

 

Thanks for all the replies guys

I have already emailed coleshill to find out any information they have and they confirmed that my grandad was in the Aux Unit, Just trying to find out some more information on anything they were trained in /completed,

as for my Great Uncle Evans, I need his next of kin to sign a form for me so that I can find out his unit history (sadly this is going to be quite hard as we dont speak to his only son) but i may send a letter off just incase I get anything back

for W.Williams, I am also trying to find out what his unit done during the war and in what battle he would have died in, from what my Nan said he died at the very end of the war , would be interesting to find out

I have a newspaper clipping on my Grandad regarding the Aux unit which i will scan up

 

I would like to echo Rick's sentiments to the letter. Thank you for sharing these family treasures. All the best to you in your search!

 

For a good understanding of setup of individual aux units and special duties...thought process etc..get a copy of the Mercian Maquis by Wilkes. Great informative patrol setup read.

 

well i have managed to get the son of Douglas Evans to sign the forum to release his Service record, will post it up once it arrives, I will then be on the hunt for pictures of his unit

 

Thanks for the link, Urgh.

 

i have looked through the link and contacted coleshill, however nothing so far. its a very interesting site though

 

I'll certainly be interested to hear the story of how this one develops! Great photos and thanks so much for sharing them.

 

Thanks for the interest,

I have managed to apply for my relatives death cert , so once that comes back in I will apply for his records,

Since I posted the thread up I have bought The 78th Infantrys Arm Patch, KD Shorts, and KD Shirt, along with a complete set of webbing including map case and grenade pouches, and also 2 x artillery collar badges

next on the list is an RA side cap which "Walt" was wearing in the pics

 

I also managed to get a picture of Walts headstone in the Argenta Gap War Cemetary