Introduction and help.
 

Hi all, I have been working with Ted in trying to find the man who sent my Late Mother a card in 1944. I have since been invited to join the website and post the photos here just in case someone recognizes the sender.

I started to track my Late Father's wartime work after finally being discharged from the Base Hospital following various infections caused by being in some weird places over the years.

Dad joined the Royal Navy in 1942 and he was sent to Scotland to take the Commando Course at HMS Armadillo. After completing the course it gets more difficult to track him as the Royal Navy had him listed as HMS Copra, which was a main Pay Base and Post Office for Royal Navy Commando Groups. That way no one would know where they were and what they were up to.

My younger Sister sent all of the letters between Mum and Dad and I have been gleaning small tidbits from them. Then I found the card that was sent to Mum and shown with this story. it measures 9 inches/23 Cms by 3.5 inches/9 Cms

I did find another card from a German POW Camp, the writer turned out to be an Uncle I never knew about which after a little more research I found three more Uncles. One of them was killed at Arnhem and has no known grave but I was able to furnish the War Graves Commision with a photograph of him for their files.

Regards

For what it’s worth, there were only five members of that Regiment that went by the name of ‘Norman’.

David

Hi David,

That might make it easier.

We have tracked the group to just outside of Brighton at Preston Park just before D-Day.

On with the hunt. Thank you for the tip.

Regards

Hello again, Rick.

I thought I would post the five ‘Normans’ for you that I found in the Manitoba Dragoons. Perhaps the Last names might cross reference with some of the other information you have been able to find in your Mum’s records.

Capt. Norman B. Keith
Lieut. Robert Norman Caswell
Lieut. A. Norman Hurd
Tpr. Norman Budd
Tpr. Norman N. Gooding

That particular Christmas card was (obviously) a Regimental item that would have been distributed to all Ranks. Bear in mind at that time, very little Military Mail (or any other Mail for that matter) was Air Mail. International Surface Mail was the standard and in the Commonwealth, the Royal Mail Ships the top delivery specialists. Even though they were fast, mail still took a while and it is very likely those cards were distributed in October, 1944 in order to be assured a 5 to 6 week delivery time to Family and Friends before Christmas. That would mean your Mum’s and Norman’s paths must have crossed at some time prior to October, 1944,

At that time, the Manitoba Dragoons would have been somewhere in Belgium, having arrived in the coastal area around Ostende around 8 September and eventually working their way to Bergen-Op-Zoom around 28 October. They did not land in NW Europe until arriving at Courseulles, France 8-9 July 1944.

Something to keep an eye out for in your Mum’s things would be a wartime Address Book. These were quite small. Typically 3” x 4” or smaller, often hard bound and were treasured gifts from friends or family. It was the key to your communications while away from home for an extended period. After the war, they would still be in use, commonly getting filled with more family and friends addresses. This often masks the earlier wartime entries, so if you run across one, do take the time to check each name out carefully. They can be goldmine of information.

Good luck!

David

Hi David,

I cannot find any address books but I did come across two photographs which may be the man I am looking for. They are not the best quality but the historic value to me is priceless.

They could also be a waste of time but one thing I have learned in my research is to try everything. For example it took me nearly four years to coax a set of sonar scans of one of the ships from the Royal Navy.

Just a couple of weeks back an Imaging Company sent me the same vessel scans but in glorious colour.

Regards