Dvr A[listair] Kirkman is Top row, 2nd from the R. His late wife, Stella, was my late father's secretary at Perkins Diesel in Peterborough. He gave me the maps that he used in Normandy, and after his decease she gave me his green beret, badges and some photos.
Posted by Dr Ian Frayling on Wed 06 Sep 2023 02:45:04 EDT
210 James Underwood
My brother Jimmy had an original photo of all these brave men who fought in WWII but it was in very poor condition. I am his son Stephen and my wife managed to find this original photo. My father would have been 26 years old at the time this picture was taken. He had 4 daughters and 2 sons.
Posted by Tanya Juttla-Underwood on Sat 19 Aug 2023 02:55:47 EDT
This photo is similar to another one taken by Tom Italiaander in Feb-Mar 1944 at the back of what seems to be one of the Dutch Troop HQs in Eastbourne.
Posted by Duncan Cramer on Sat 12 Aug 2023 05:13:38 EDT
Although not critical, this seems to be the most appropriate place to discuss the labelling of German fortifications on Walcheren which numbered at least (W)289 (Cruq, p. 120) which was for for Westkapelle.Elsewhere in the Gallery on Hans Cramer it is stated that W stands for "Whisky". Whisky is the NATO alphabet code for W which may have been the code used by the RAF to refer to these fortifications. However, it does not explain why W was used. It seems likely, as Houterman and Sakker, have suggested that it stands for Walcheren (p. 237, 501).
Posted by Duncan Cramer on Thu 10 Aug 2023 11:29:29 EDT
Lord Lovat's book "March Past" is freely availble to read o Internet Archive.
Posted by Duncan Cramer on Thu 10 Aug 2023 05:30:04 EDT
Brought up in Eastbourne. Died in Holland in 1945.
Posted by Duncan Cramer on Thu 10 Aug 2023 02:54:17 EDT
Part of a larger photo of Adrianus Hagelaars with Herman de Leeuw taken by Tom Italiaander in August 1944 outside the Dutch Troop HQ in Eastbourne.
Posted by Duncan Cramer on Thu 10 Aug 2023 02:46:33 EDT
It certainly looks like my father. He went to Poona, was attached to McIlroy's 505th PIR Medical Detachment at Groesbeek and 47 RM at Dishoek, Walcheren where he was one of the 7 Dutch commandos wounded. After the war, he joined Unilever, spent 11 years in Trinidad and died in Bromley on 16 May 1971.
Posted by Duncan Cramer on Thu 10 Aug 2023 01:18:00 EDT
Donald Gilchrist wrote Castle Commando which is freely available to read on Internet Archive.
Posted by Duncan Cramer on Wed 09 Aug 2023 19:19:22 EDT
This photo is part of a larger one showing Kieffer shaking hands with General Giraud.
Posted by Duncan Cramer on Wed 09 Aug 2023 19:02:07 EDT