Author: Dominic

I like to write. I like to create worlds and mould people. I possibly like the creating and the backstory more than the story-telling .... I also enjoy photography, and am still learning. I prefer 'raw' photographs - I don't feel drawn to any kind of manipulation, but that may changes. My other main passion in life is genealogy.

Vintage Postcards – 3

What says “Happy New Year” better than a bunch of floppy roses and a toy caprid? Nothing, as far as I know – and neither did the maker or purchaser of this particular celebratory postcard.

Sent on le 30 decembre 1911, the card is addressed “Cher Frère et Soeur“, and is from their sibling Marie Baranger. She starts the card breathlessly …

Je m’empresse de vous écrire deux mots a l’occasion de nouvelle annee …

(I hasten to write two words to you on the occasion of new year … )

… but goes on to wish them both good health and happiness for the New Year. There is also mention of “petite Marcelle” who also passes on her best wishes to her godparents, “son parrain et sa marraine“.

Perhaps it was little Marcelle who picked the card …

Vintage Postcards – 2

The oldest postcard from the collection is dated le 31 décembre 1910, and is addressed directly to “ma cher [sic] Amelie“.

The sender, identified as Angele, sends her best wishes but also those of her parents.

Votre amie, Angele

Vintage Postcards – 1

The first postcard I’m posting is undated, but the sender (Paul Aubry) wishes the (unnamed) recipient a happy New Year along with her “petite fille”.

There are a few of these ‘framed winter scene’ cards in the collection, but this is all very jolly and holly and other words ending in -olly.

Vintage – Rescued Lives

A long, long time ago … or at least that’s what it feels like … I picked up two boxes of old postcards when I was in France at a car boot sale (well, the equivalent). I am not a deltiologist by any means, but upon opening one of the boxes I found an old identity card and a lot of old family photos. Perhaps I was feeling particularly sentimental that day but I hated the thought of these going to someone who didn’t care about these people, or who wouldn’t respect that these represented somebody’s life.

Louise Gendron

It then became apparent that a lot of the postcards were written by a French soldier called Louis to someone called Amelie, who would later become his wife. Then there were later ones sent from Louis to his child Louise (chère Louisette). There are cards from uncles, aunts, cousins and godparents – and a number of people whose relationship was so well known that it was never written down – even a card to Amelie from “little Amelie”.

Eventually I was able to piece together that the soldier was Louis Beranger, and the young lady who became his wife was Amelie Doublié.

Is this Amelie?

The collection of cards starts in 1901 and the last date I can find is 1975, and is not limited to those addressed to Louise or her parents.

A gathering in the gateway.

I’m not an expert in dating photographs – least of all French photographs, but looking at Louise’s date of birth (1912), I would imagine that the oldest photographs depict her grandparents, or perhaps even great-grandparents. Unfortunately none of them are named, and the only few with dates on are clearly of Louise as a mature woman, and dated to the 1950s.

Happy bunch …

You may be wondering why, other than curiosity, I’m sharing all of this with you. And you’d be right to ask.

I honestly have no idea what’s going on here, but she’s sassy …

Amongst the postcards are various ones for Easter, May Day and “Thinking Of You” as well as the standard ones of towns and villages, ‘local’ attractions and the like. But there are also various “Happy New Year” ones. It might be worthy of note that in France the sending of Christmas cards was something unheard of until the last few years and the ever-encroaching Americanisation of the country. The standard was sending Bonne Année cards to friends and loved ones. The sending of what we’d call greetings cards is also a rather ‘new’ convention – traditionally it was all postcards. Even now the nicer cards are all in postcard format – with a folded greetings card often appearing, uh, cheap or tawdry, or aimed at small children.

Wistful lady

Possibly a special anniversary?

So, yes, in the upcoming weeks between now, Christmas and New Year, I’ll be sharing some of these cards. The earliest dates from 31 December 1910, and the latest is from December 1921.

Walkers at rest, dated August 1923

Emily Alice Palmer

When does a member of the family become a ‘black sheep’? When they commit a serious crime? Adultery? Murder? A simple elopement? Somehow rebelling against the standards the family has set or the morals they live by? When does not behaving within the bounds of society turn into becoming a black sheep? Its a tough one to call – and not a label that I can easily tag onto one of my paternal great-grandmothers, Emily Alice Palmer, pictured below at the wedding of her daughter, Norah (my paternal grandmother).

Norah & Eddie's Wedding, 1949 — Norah & Eddie’s Wedding, 1949

Emily was born on 26 June 1876 in the Wiltshire parish of Collingbourne Kingston, probably within the village of Brunton (now considered part of Collingbourne Kingston as a whole, Brunton, Aughton and Sunton were all separate villages alongside the village of Collingbourne Kingston). Her parents, Frederick Palmer and Mary Jane Fisher had married in October 1875, and she had an older sister, Sarah Ann Fisher, who had been born in 1874. Frederick and Mary Jane went on to have a further 8 children, all of whom survived to adulthood.

Frosty Collingbourne Kingston (by Anguskirk on Flickr)

The majority of Emily’s siblings remained in Collingbourne Kingston, with a few scattering to other areas of the UK. The youngest, Dulcima Lillian May, emigrated to Australia with her husband, John Bagot Percival, and son, John Sydney Percival, in 1921.

Map of Collingbourne Kingston parish (http://www.british-history.ac.uk/)

Emily first crops up in the 1881 UK census, living at Tinkerbarn, Brunton, with her parents and 3 siblings. Frederick is listed as an agricultural labourer and no doubt worked on the Tinkerbarn farmstead.

In 1891, Emily is still living with her parents and siblings in Brunton:

The next year, 1892, sees the birth of Emily Alice’s first child – Edward Sidney Palmer – on 23 May. (In some later records he is referenced as Sidney Edward, and his family knew him as Sid, but his birth and baptism were both registered as Edward Sidney.) Three years later, Emily has another child, this time a daughter called Kate.

On October 22, 1898, Emily married Arthur Tom Bowley in Collingbourne Kingston. He was a carter on a nearby farm, although born in the village of Ham in the nearby parish of Shalbourne. Between 1900 and 1904 Emily and Arthur would have three daughters – Avaline Ada, Hilda Violet and Winifred Jessie.

On the 1901 census Arthur, Emily, her first two children Edward and Kate (interestingly, although Edward was enumerated with the surname Palmer, Kate was entered with the surname Bowley – was Kate, in fact, Arthur’s daughter despite her birth being registered as Kate Palmer?), and their daughter Avaline are living in the hamlet of Gallowood in Shalbourne.

It is after this point that things get a bit … complicated.

I knew at some point Emily Alice must have married somebody with the surname Murray – but could never find a marriage between a Murray and a Bowley (or a Palmer). Searching for my grandmother in the 1911 census I tracked down the family living in Marnhull, Dorset – and there was Emily Alice living with Joshua Murray.

Immediately, several things leapt out at me:

they stated they were married and had been for 18 years – Emily Alice’s eldest son, Edward, would have been roughly 18 at this time, but in no way had Joshua and her been together this long
various children with the Murray surname – Kate was a Palmer (possibly Bowley, as mentioned above), Hilda & Winifred were both Bowley
Avaline was missing – although the return states Emily had lost two children, and one may have been Avaline
Joshua’s occupation (threshing machine driver) fit with family lore

Using the FreeBMD website, I was able to find 7 children in addition to my grandmother born to Joshua and Emily, and the family settled in the Parkstone area of Poole, Dorset. Norah had actually been born in Collingbourne Kingston, and it was here where she made her home, having her children and then marrying Edward William Taplin in 1949.

Whilst I will come back to the Murray/Morey family in a later post, I should point out here that Joshua Locke Morey (as the name was spelled when he was baptised) was married at the time of … taking up with Emily Alice. He had married Mary Adela Blackmore in 1885, and they had seven children together – the youngest born in 1903. His eldest child with Emily was born in 1906 (her youngest child with Arthur Bowley was born in 1904).

The 1911 census for Mary clearly states she is married (i.e. not ‘Widowed’ or anything similar). I have not made contact with any descendants of Joshua’s ‘first’ family – something that I’ve put off for many years.

That wasn’t the end for Emily Alice, however. Following Joshua’s death in 1933, she married again in the same year to a naturalised Italian. Camillo Antonio Ciotti changed his name to Camillo Antonio Collins in 1941, the following announcement appearing in The London Gazette:

The London Gazette, 24 October 1941.
I, Camillo Antonio Collins of No. 182 Bournemouth Road, Parkstone, Poole in the county of Dorset, Labourer, formerly a head waiter, a naturalised British subject, heretofore called and known by Camillo Antonio Ciotti and that I have assumed and intend henceforth on all occasions whatsoever and at all times to sign and use and to be called and known by the name of Camillo Antonio Collins in lieu of and in substitution for my former name of Camillo Antonio Ciotti. And I also hereby give notice that such change of name is formally declared and evidenced by a deed poll under my hand and seal dated the 8th day of October 1941 duly executed and attested, and that such Deed Poll was enrolled in the Central Office of the Supreme Court of Judicature on the 21st day of October, 1941.

They had no children together and, following Emily’s death in 1949, Camillo married for his third time in 1952 to Winifred Dixon.

(But what of Arthur Tom Bowley? What happened to him? Research suggests that he married again in 1920 and had a further six children with his second wife, dying in Salisbury in 1940.)

Ellis Adams – The Final Chapter (For Now …)

I mentioned a while ago that I’d emailed both the local newspaper in Idaho and the Idaho State Archives requesting any information on Ellis Adams. I had a quick response from the newspaper, who sent the following copy of Ellis’ obituary.

Ellis’ Obituary in Emmett Messenger-Index August 1971

It’s sad to think that he died so young of a heart attack – he was only 47. It doesn’t mention another wife or ‘new’ family – but he’d only lived in Emmett for about 13 years, since 1958. Had he remarried following the divorce from Eva? Did he then leave his family and move to Idaho? Where was he between his discharge from the army and him moving there? I don’t know. The 1950 US census will show that he’s a resident in his brother Willard’s house in Carthage, Missouri. Unfortunately I can’t find an Emmett city directory online for the time period in question! Perhaps an inquiry to the Emmett library may help there …

The Idaho State Archives responded stating that they only had his obituary in their records. I queried if it was the same as the one above, but this wasn’t responded to, but I could have a copy of it emailed to me for a $10 (approx £6) fee. After a few false starts, I had to ring up and attempt to pay over the phone with my credit card. Eventually it all came together (9am in Idaho is 4pm here) and I paid, and the lady sent through a file. A badly fuzzy file. Of the obituary I already had … So that was a bit of a waste of time all round.

The death certificate request was hampered somewhat by me having to prove that I am actually Ellis’ grandson – after a conversation (yes, I rang them up in the USA too) we agreed that my birth certificate and then my mother’s birth certificate would suffice and that I was to fax it over to them. I did want to ask if this was the 1980s but decided against it … Anyway, I have my long-form birth certificate (actually, I have a copy of both long-form and short-form) and ordered a copy of my mother’s (although was a mere 10 minutes late to get it dispatched on Monday!). Following its arrival they were scanned by a friend and then faxed (well, e-faxed) over to Idaho. The same day (Thursday) the certificate was dispatched from Boise, Idaho at around 6pm (Mountain Daylight Time – about 1am here, I think). I think I would probably had it delivered on Saturday if UPS deliver at the weekend. Which they don’t. (Insert rant here about ridiculousness of this.) So today, Monday, I spent every hour eagerly refreshing my UPS tracker to find out when “In Transit” would change to “Delivered”.

It happened, and I came home from work and opened the envelope …

Put it this way, it didn’t tell me anything earth-shattering. He died of “heart failure” at around 4:30am. Listed as divorced, his occupation was farm labourer. He wasn’t under the care of a physician, and the informant was the Emmett Coroner, a Mr. Glenn Beatty. He was buried on 18 August.

Ellis Howard Adams, Death Certificate

The certificate also lists his birth date as 19 April 1924 – no doubt where the information for the grave marker came from – but I’m still happy that it is 10 April – as listed on his Social Security application.

So, all in all I suppose I feel a kind of sadness for Ellis.

Ellis Adams’ Gravestone, Emmet, Gem County, Idaho

The “For Now” part of the title was definitely prophetic … see the latest (as of June 2022) update …

Ellis Adams – Another Update …

A little more digging (and the message boards at the 78th Division Veteran’s Association) turned up something brilliant …

“The story of the 310th infantry regiment, 78th infantry division in the war against Germany, 1942-1945” was published in Germany in 1946 as a regimental history.

The story of the 310th infantry regiment, 78th
infantry division in the war against Germany,
1942-1945

I downloaded it (via the Bangor Community Digital Commons website) and searched for Ellis to confirm that a) an Ellis Adams was part of 310th, and b) that it was ‘my’ Ellis Adams …

Ellis H Adams, Company A Since October 1944

There, listed under the members of Company A was ‘Adams, Ellis H.’ The address listed matches that of the census and discharge papers, and his mother was still living there in 1950.

So that tells me that from October 1944 until his discharge in March 1945 he was definitely with 310th – and I now know the areas and battles that he was involved with (more on that in a moment).

I was still left with the question regarding his wounding in battle of July 1944 if 310th didn’t ship out to Europe until October 1944. Then I read two particular paragraphs that might explain this:

Between the months of August 1942 and March 1943, the Division functioned in the capacity of a replacement pool. From everywhere, thousands of enlisted men came to the Division. Some came from various Infantry Replacement Training Centers, some from service units, all were after further training before going overseas. These men usually arrived with some six to thirteen weeks’ training. The 78th Division would try diligently to give them an additional three to six weeks’ training before their number came up for overseas duty. By March 1943, the Division had trained and processed more than 52,000 soldiers for combat duty with other units. … A New Deal for the Division and the 310th Regiment started in March, 1943. Fresh from Reception Centers came strong, young men, mainly in the 18 to 20 year age bracket. They were excellent recruits to add to our experienced cadre.

Then from January to March 1944 came the Tennessee Maneuvers, but:

Then it happened! The regiment pulled into Camp Pickett, Virginia, on April 1st, supposedly all set for combat duty. Two weeks later all the Privates and Privates First Class left the regiment and were on their way to Ports of Embarkation as replacements. Our “team” was broken up. Most of them participated in D-Day landings in France. The drain on the junior officer personnel was equally heavy. Everyone said, “the 78th Division will never go overseas.” It was a bitter pill to swallow.

So this seems to suggest that upon his entry into active service, aged 19, he could well have been with a different regiment (or even with the 310th), sent off to France and sustained his battle wound there and then rejoin (or be transferred to) the 310th in October 1944.

The book does, however, confirm the date that 310th left England for France:

At 0300 November 21, the 310th went by rail to Southampton, and at dawn boarded HMS Llangibby Castle.

HMS Llangibby Castle

Its still a bit of a fly in the ointment of how Ellis could have left Southampton two days before marrying Eva in Devizes … There’s nothing in the book saying that there was a second ship carrying further troops. Again, perhaps in his service record it may have said something about his marriage.

Route of 310th through France and Belgium

Although we know that he was in Devizes on 23 November to get married, the book (as I mentioned up there) details what else he would’ve done in the war.

He was part of Company A, which made up a third of 1st Battalion. Upon arrival in Genoels-Elderen, Belgium, they were in the Reserve of the US Ninth Army, but were then transferred to the US First Army and committed to action in December 1944. This was in the Roer Valley and involved breaching the Siegfried Line (a defence system stretching more than 630 km (390 mi) with more than 18,000 bunkers, tunnels and tank traps that stretched from the Netherlands border to Switzerland) and capturing a series of dams near Lammersdorf/Schmidt in Germany.

The early morning of the 13th was extremely cold, and the snow which had fallen intermittently for three days, was glazed and deceivingly deep. The troops had spent a miserable night. They were thoroughly wet and chilled by the cold sweat of anticipation. Every man was tense and excited; most were afraid, yet unwilling to show it. There were tears, unnatural laughter, and prayer. Weapons were checked and rechecked automatically. Feet were already half frozen, (there were never enough overshoes or arctics to go around) and fingers were brittle. It was only two months later that infantry troops were
supplied with winterized equipment or white camouflaged suits to blend with the snow. …

Looking east from Lammersdorf, the panorama was beautiful to the eyes; rolling fields with hedgerows to mark property lines, or broken here and there by an occasional farmhouse, cut by ravines and sprinkled by sudden steep pine covered hills. It was all beautiful for the painter’s brush, yet ugly for offensive fighting. This was no time for the aesthetic, not when wooded hill crests made natural strongpoints for the enemy and provided excellent observation of every normal approach.

The Battle of the Bulge (aka Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein [“Operation Watch on the Rhine”], the Bataille des Ardennes [“Battle of the Ardennes”] or the Ardennes Counteroffensive) in December 1944/January 1945 delayed the completion of that initial objective, and it wasn’t to be complete until 08 February. However, to delay the Allied troops in crossing the Roer river, the Germans blew two of the major damn spillways “just right, so as to get the maximum delay from high water”.

In the days that followed:

…[m]en were rotated to the rear for baths, clean clothes and recreation, and limited quotas were sent on pass to Engiand, Paris, Brussels, Huy, Liege and the Division Rest Center at Rottgen. … Men got haircuts too, and learned that sweaters were not an outer garment.

On March 1st the 1st Battalion started its drive to the Rhine and was attached to Combat-Command “B” of the 9th Armored Division.

The journey, and hardships overcome, from the Roer to the Rhine earned Company A a Presidential Citation:

for outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy during the period from 2 March 1945 to 10 March 1945 … extraordinary heroism, endurance and aggressiveness demonstrated by the First Battalion, 310th Infantry Regiment in accomplishing difficult and important missions during this period are in keeping with the highest military traditions.

On 07 March Company A of the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion captured the Ludendorff Bridge (Remagen Bridge) intact, and the First Battalion, 310th Infantry of the 78th Division was to be the first infantry battalion over the Rhine.

Their orders that night were simple: “Cross the Rhine, turn right, and attack!”

Ludendorff Bridge before the collapse

First Battalion was instrumental in creating and holding the bridgehead to the east of the Rhine. On 17 March the Ludendorff bridge at Remagen collapsed, although several other pontoon bridges had been put in place by that time, allowing the Allied troops secure crossings over the Rhine.

Ludendorff Bridge after collapse

The regiment continued north until it reached the banks of the lower Sieg river. It held position here from 22 March until 05 April and was “a heavenly rest”. Or at least for the rest of the regiment.

It was at this point – on 25 March 1945 – that his service in Europe was to come to an end. There’s nothing explicit in the book that mentions anything. Given the cause of his discharge (“anxiety hysteria”) perhaps that final push north and east of the Rhine was too much for an exhausted body and mind.

By 12 May 1945 he was back on American soil and was discharged officially in Brigham City, Utah.

As well as the battle story, there are some amazing sketches …

… and frontline photography …

: “Most Welcome Mail”

: “Beneath the winter wonderland – buried explosives, trip wires, mine fields, booby traps … defensive worker of a satanic genius”

: “Typical pocket village”

… as well as the sketch maps as already exampled.

The credit to those goes to:

T/5 Ralph Delby, a combat veteran from one of [the] line companies drew most of [the] maps and some of the sketches. Pfc. Delby was an art student as a civilian.
Cpl. Adam D. Baron, [a] very able and talented cartoonist. A commercial artist in civilian life, he can portray the life of a combat soldier because he has been there.

I wanted to end this post with a letter/poem Corporal Walter Slatoff wrote to his son and appeared in the New York Times:

MORE TERRIBLE THAN ALL THE WORDS

(An American Soldier writes to his Son.)

MY SON:

War is a more terrible thing than all the words of man can say; more terrible than a man’s mind can comprehend.

It is the corpse of a friend; one moment ago a living human being with thoughts, hopes, and a future – just exactly like yourself – now nothing.

It is the eyes of men after battle, like muddy water, lightless.

It is cities – labor of generations lost – now dusty piles of broken stones and splintered wood – dead.

It is the total pain of a hundred million parted loved ones – some for always.

It is the impossibility of planning a future; uncertainty that mocks every hoping dream.

Remember! It is the reality of these things – not the words.

It is the sound of an exploding shell; a moment’s silence, then the searing scream “MEDIC” passed urgently from throat to throat.

It is the groans and the pain of the wounded, and the expressions on their faces.

It is the sound of new soldiers crying before battle; the louder sound of their silence afterwards.

It is the filth and itching and hunger; the endless body discomfort; the feeling like an animal; the fatigue so deep that to die would be good.

It is battle, which is confusion, fear, hate, death, misery and much more.

The reality – not the words. Remember!

It is the evil snickering knowledge that sooner or later the law of averages will catch up with each soldier, and the horrible hope that it will take the form of a wound, not maiming or death.

It is boys of 19 who might be in the schoolroom or flirting in the park; husbands who might be telling their wives of a raise – tender and happy-eyed; fathers who might be teaching their sons to throw a ball – bright with pride. It is these men, mouths and insides ugly with hate and fear, driving a bayonet into other men’s bodies.

It is “battle fatigue”, a nice name for having taken more than the brain and heart can stand, and taking refuge in a shadowy unreal world.

It is the maimed coming home; dreading pity, dreading failure, dreading life.

It is many million precious years of human lives lost; and the watching of the loss day by day, month by month, year by year, until hope is an ugly sneering thing.

Remember! Remember and multiply these things by the largest number you know. Then repeat them over and over again until they are alive and burning in your mind.

Remember! Remember what we are talking about. Not words; not soldiers; but human beings just exactly like yourself.

And when it is in your mind so strongly that you can never forget; then seek how you can best keep peace. Work at this hard with every tool of thought and love you have. Do not rest until you can say to every man who ever died for man’s happiness: “You did not die in vain.”

Cpl. WALTER J. SLATOFF

Reg. Hq. Co. 310 Inf.

Ellis Adams – An Update

I may have mentioned in my last post about my grandfather, Ellis Adams, that I had a sniff of a lead that he died in Virginia. I asked a … easier to say ‘extended cousin’ as the relationship between he and I works out at about 7th cousin 1 x removed … to order a death certificate from the Virginia Department of Health, giving the place of death as ‘Unknown’. Unfortunately the response was “more information, please …”.

As I had his date of death (August 1971) I thought I’d search on the Find A Grave website. In their own words:

Find a Grave’s mission is to find, record and present final disposition information from around the world as a virtual cemetery experience.

Memorial contributions to Find A Grave should fulfill that mission – registration of the final disposition. If the memorial contribution corresponds with only the main mission, then the memorial fulfills its purpose as part of Find A Grave’s mission.

Find a Grave memorials may contain rich content including pictures, biographies and more specific information. Members can leave remembrances via ‘virtual flowers’ on the memorials they visit, completing the virtual cemetery experience.

Find A Grave is a resource for anyone in finding the final disposition of family, friends, and ‘famous’ individuals.

It was here that I found a picture of a grave located in Emmett, Gem County, Idaho …

Ellis Adams’ Gravestone, Emmett, Gem County, Idaho

It was also the start of a series of questions. Although the name was correct, and the date of death was correct, the date of birth is off by 9 days. “9 days, is that all?” you may ask. His date of birth of 10 April 1924 is stated on both his application for a Social Security number and on the Social Security Death Index. Error on a gravestone? Quite common, in fact, as its information provided by the purchaser and not checked against any other source. I am currently in the process of purchasing a copy of the death certificate through the US provider VitalChek. And what a pain in the ass that is as a non-US resident! And it’ll leave me $60 poorer … (that’s about £37).

As you can see, the gravestone also lists details of his military career. The listing as Private First Class matches his discharge papers, but it also states that he was part of Company A 310th Infantry Regiment. I hadn’t known any details, so this was a definite plus! I started to research the regiment …

310 Infantry Regiment

I learnt that the 310th was part of the 78th Infantry Division, also known as “the Lightning Division” which alludes to the combat record of the division being likened to a “bolt of lightning”.

78th Infantry Division, Shoulder Sleeve Insignia

I then started to research the 310th and 78th in more detail and came across some other details that didn’t quite gel …

Wikipedia (that wonderfully accurate font of all knowledge) states:

…the 78th embarked for the European Theatre from the New York POE on 14 October 1944, whereupon they sailed for England. They arrived on 26 October 1944, and after further training crossed to France on 22 November 1944.

However, if we compare this with dates from Ellis’ life we see that something isn’t quite right.

Ellis’ discharge papers state that he entered service outside of the United States in May 1944 and was wounded in battle in July 1944.
The date of Ellis and Eva’s marriage is 23 November 1944. Did Ellis go later? Was he held back as he was still recovering from being wounded in July 1944? Questions only his service record would have answered!
Given my mother’s birth date, Eva was a month pregnant at the time of her marriage. Using the October arrival date, this gives Ellis a very short window of opportunity to get the ball rolling!

Of course, it may be possible that Ellis started off in a different regiment and was subsequently transferred to the 78th at a later date. The 78th did take part in the Western Allied invasion of Germany (Central Europe Campaign) and were involved in the Battle of the Bulge, and also the taking of the Remagen Bridge (later made into a film starring George Segal and ~~Napoleon Solo~~ Robert Vaughn).

Ellis was discharged in March 1945, so would not have taken place in the battle of encirclement known as The Ruhr Pocket in May 1945.

78th Infantry Division. On parade in Berlin, 8 May 1946

Perhaps once I receive a copy of the death certificate it may lead to some new information regarding a new family in Idaho. In the meantime I have contacted the Idaho State Archives and the offices of the local newspaper, the Emmett Messenger-Index, to see if they hold an obituary for him (assuming that he died in the same town that he was buried). So I guess its another waiting game to see what the Gem State (or Potato State, depending on what you prefer) holds!

Operation War Bride

As previously mentioned, my own grandmother wasn’t able to join her husband in America following WWII. However, Eva wasn’t the only member of my mother’s family to succumb to the charms of an American GI.

Eva’s mother, Edith, was 18 years older than her youngest sibling, Barbara. Barbara Joan Hurcombe was born in a small Gloucestershire village of Tresham in 1920, and was just five years older than her eldest niece, Eva (my grandmother).

Barbara Joan Hurcombe

Where exactly Barbara met her husband-to-be isn’t known at this time, but it would be easy to assume that he was barracked at Le Marchent in Devizes, Wiltshire.

In late 1943, Barbara married Emmet Joseph Ryan.

Emmet Ryan

A few months later, in February 1944, their son, Philip, was born. (Eva would marry Ellis in November 1944, and Veronica would be born in June 1945.)

Barbara (left) with son Philip. Eva (right) with daughter, Veronica

In December 1945 US Congress passed the War Brides Act. This allowed the non-Asian spouses (the race restriction was not lifted until 1952), natural children, and adopted children of United States military personnel to enter the U.S. after WWII. It also promised that their wives and babies would be delivered to their doorsteps free of charge. A military movement which was dubbed Operation War Bride started a few months later, and the first batch of 455 brides and 132 children arrived in New York in February 1946. Its estimated that around 70,000 British women left England to follow their husbands.

The War Brides were gathered from around the country and were taken to:

… a military base used as a bride-processing center in Tidworth, in southern England. The women lived in barracks and took meals served by German prisoners of war in the mess hall.

I don’t know if Barbara traveled to Tidworth to be ‘processed’, as she lived close by.

Queen Mary Passenger List

What I do know is that on 31 March 1946 she left Southampton bound for New York. She and her son Philip were travelling aboard the RMS Queen Mary. They arrived in New York on 4 April 1946.

RMS Queen Mary, New York, June 1945

I have no details on Emmet’s army service, or of their life after the war. In the 1940 census he is listed as a plasterer. They did go on to have a set of twin boys, and remained living in Syracuse, New York, where Emmet had been born and raised.

I was able to share a few letters with Barbara (or Joan, as she was known) before she passed away in 2011. She had been a widow for over 30 years following Emmet’s death in 1978. Unfortunately we were not able to share any details regarding her meeting Emmet or her early years in America.

Hopefully, in time, I can reconnect with her family and find out more details!

Grampy Otto

I have a few overriding memories of my grampy.

The first is that of his sneezes – they came from nowhere and rocked the room, scaring the bejesus out of me as a child.

The second is of my gran calling him “Frizzel” – a term of endearment created from his surname.

As mentioned in a previous post, I grew up knowing that he was German and had been a POW – which is how he’d met my grandmother. I also knew that his family were from what was the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1990 so communication was … limited.

I never asked him about his childhood in Germany, where he was from or what he did in WWII. One of the many regrets that haunt the background of genealogy. “I should’ve asked … Why didn’t I … If only …”

I do have a few bits and pieces, from here and there, that I’m going to share.

As previously mentioned, I had ordered a copy of Otto and Eva’s marriage certificate, and this showed his father was Laudislaus Frysol, a Parish Nightwatchman.

Erich Otto Frysol

One of my uncles has Otto’s Reichspass, and from there I was able to add to what I know.

Erich Otto Frysol was born on 01 March 1921 in Paproc, Poland. Had he been born three years earlier, he would’ve been a subject of the Prussian Province of Posen. It wasn’t until the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 that the area came back under Polish control, and the final borders of Poland weren’t ratified until 1921. Germany once again invaded Poland in September 1939, and he became a subject of the Third Reich.

Two younger sisters were born – presumably also in Paproc: Luise Elfride Gisela Frysol in 1925 and Martha Luise Frysol in 1933.

I wrote to a niece of Otto, a daughter of his sister Martha (known as Luise – Luise was known as Gisela), who confirmed that their parents were Ladislas Frysol and Anna Gleissner. Ladislas was one of four children, and Anna had 11 siblings. She was also able to give me the names and details of her own branch of the family. The elder sister married an older man but never had children of her own.

Descendant Chart for Ladislas Frysol

Knowing that Otto had been a POW in England during WWII, in 2008 I wrote to the International Committee of the Red Cross, asking for their assistance. Unfortunately they didn’t have anything in their files, but suggested I contact the Deutsche Dienstelle (WASt) in Berlin.

They maintain the records of members of the former German armed forces who were killed in action. Formerly called the Wehrmachtsauskunftstelle (WASt) this agency also provides information about the fate of foreign and German soldiers as well as prisoners of war in Germany.

I received a letter back, stating that they had information regarding his military career in the Navy.

Service Period: 15 February 1943 – 08 May 1945 (date of German surrender)

For the first 3 months, he was a recruit, at first in Buxtehude, Lower Saxony, and then at the garrison in Husum, Nord-Friesland. This was for the 2 and then 18. Schiffsstammabteiling (essentially personnel training and depot units, recruits received their basic military and nautical training).

06 May 1943 – 15 August 1943 – Training for the Stützpunktabteilung (“Base Department”) in Cuxhaven, at the mouth of the Elbe River.

16 August 1943 – 26 November 1943 – Harbour Protection Flotilla Gironde. The object of the flotilla was to monitor and secure the coastal zone , such as mine clearance , outpost and escort duties. From mid- 1943, the existing port protection flotillas were resolved to saving personnel.

27 November 1943 – 28 February 1944 – Transferred to “Headquarters Company” in Paris, Personalbereitstellung ‘Porterage Service’.

29 February 1944 – 08 May 1945 – Hafenkommandant St Malo bzw Festung Kanalinseln – which I think (well, Google thinks) translates as “Port Commander St Malo or Fortress Channel Islands”.

Looking at the awards he received, there are two.

The first has no date marked, but was received for: “War Badge for mine detection, U-boat-hunting and security associations”. The second was received on 23 August 1944 and was the Wound Badge (Black).

German Wound Badge in Black

These were awarded when a member of the German Armed Forces was either frostbitten in the line of duty or wounded by enemy action. The badge had three classes: black (3rd class, representing Iron), for those wounded once or twice by hostile action (including air raids), or frostbitten in the line of duty; silver (2nd class) for being wounded three or four times, or suffering loss of a hand, foot or eye from hostile action (also partial loss of hearing), facial disfigurement or brain damage via hostile action; and in gold (1st class, which could be awarded posthumously) for five or more times wounded, total blindness, “loss of manhood”, or severe brain damage via hostile action.

Family lore has it that Otto was wounded whilst in St Malo. Given the dates, it would appear that he was not wounded in the battle for the liberation of St Malo, which was completed on 18 August 1944, but may have been located on Ile Cézembre – a fortified island off of St Malo that was part of the Atlantic Wall. It was heavily bombarded by land artillery, naval artillery, and air strikes, including some of the first uses of napalm bombs. The island eventually capitulated on 2 September 1944.

The letter ends by saying:

Your grandfather became on 08 May, 1945 in British captivity, from which he was released on 31 December, 1948.

Was he captured in St Malo? The date of his Wound Badge seem to indicate he was around that area at the time of the Normandy invasion, and the number of German POWs in the UK increased dramatically at this time, or was he not taken until the end of the war, as the letter seems to infer? Difficult to say for sure either way.

I do know that he was one of the over 400,000 German POWs held in Britain by 1946, and one of the 170,000 POWs undertaking agricultural work. It was through this work, working on farms in Wiltshire, that he first met my grandmother, Eva.

Following the end of the war:

“… many prisoners were soon on their way back home but a programme of re-education was devised to supposedly prepare the prisoners for a new life in a different Germany. The full horrors of the Holocaust were put on show and one prisoner who was at the time a hard-line Nazi remembers that many of his comrades did not believe that the Holocaust had taken place, thinking it was British propaganda designed to shame the German people even more. This process of re-education determined whether a prisoner would be sent home early or not and interviews took place to determine the prisoners attitude. Many who at first showed contempt for the British realised that the war was now over and the only way to secure their release was to change their attitude. Many did and the first repatriations took place in 1946. Some were less flexible however and at these interviews (which took place every six months) would show their loyalty to the Nazi regime by marching in to the interrogation room and giving a Nazi salute to the British officer present which would mean a further six months in captivity.”

The last prisoner repatriations took place in 1949 but approximately 25,000 prisoners decided to stay in Britain where they became known as “DPs” or displaced persons. Others married local girls and stayed in Britain.

Otto and Young Veronica, Easton Royal

Whatever his reasons, Otto also remained in Britain and married Eva in 1953.

Do I wish he and I could have spoken about what had happened to him? Yes.

Do I understand why we didn’t? Definitely.

I’d still like to know more about the Frysol family. The only extant ones with that spelling I can find in records online are all my family. One of the items on my genealogy To Do list is to employ a Polish researcher to find any baptism records for Otto and his sisters to gain a fuller understanding of his family unit, and then work backwards from there.

Until then … this one’s for you, Grampy.