Dad's discharge mystery

[Nick Thompson]

I am after help again please. I am posting a handwritten account my Dad wrote about his participation on 5th/6th June 1944 D-Day landings. It places him aboard the "Olev" which is at odds with his discharge book which indicates he was on the "Empire Audrey" at the time of D-Day. I believe my Dad's written account is correct and that the discharge book details were entered after the event. Do you think I am correct in assuming this? it's a bit of a puzzle.

Dad's stories_2.jpg

I am not sure if my image has gone through?

[Doc Vernon]

Errors were made on Entries those days , as most all were done by hand of course, so that is a possibility.
Just another question on the Letter i see it has June 1944 but how do you know the actual days! ??
Cheers

Another thing is (But you may have all this ) to apply for the actual Crew List for Empire Audrey 1944

169411; 169412; 169413; 169414; 169415; 169418; 169419; 169423; 169501; 169502; 169504 | The National Archives 169504 Official Number

And the Olev 1944 128889; 128935; 128952; 128966; 129004; 129016; 129038; 129041; 129046 | The National Archives Official Number 129038

[Nick Thompson]

Hello Doc, the list of ss Olevs movements April - October 1944 which I think you provided clearly shows the ship in Seine bay on 6th June and the next movement is Seine Bay to Southend June 8th to June 10th. So I think it's clear that Olev with Dad on board is at Sword beach when the Svenner was sunk by torpedo. Also in his letter Dad says "proceeded on 5th June" so he was sailing to Arromanche with troops and tank equipment, which he explained was fuel for storage. He went to the aid of men from the tug then on to aid the stricken Svenner which was hit by German Eboats., Jaguar and Moewe out of Ouistreham. They were quickly put out of action by the RAF. So I am confident the dates 5th and 6th June are the dates of this activity mentioned in his note. Thank you for your assistance on this.

[Doc Vernon]

So Nick as i said in my #12 reply, the best thing now is to possibly get the NA Docs for the Crew Lists , if you want to ? But other than that we will just have to leave it at that i guess, and make this a finished case ??
What do you think??
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

#11. Nick your dads notes re, the 5/6 June 1944 certainly points out where I was as can remember as of yesterday where I was as a 7 and a half year old boy , which was at the bottom of Richmond Park Road at the junction of which is now the Kingston Bye-Pass watching the continuous flow of armoured personel carriers and tanks mostly manned by GIs and shouting Any Gum Chum? Received plenty of same , probably many were finished with chewing gum as many did not return . Cheers JS.

[Nick Thompson]

Amazing memories J.S. You have a couple of years on me. My wartime memories are concerned with dodging bombing raids. We moved in '42 when I was 2 years old to get away from the bombs raing down on the railway yards in Sunderland only to be caught up in another raid which missed us by 50 yards. Fortune smiles on those who keep moving LOL. Thanks for the reply. Nick

[Nick Thompson]

Thank you for your help Doc. Best wishes. Nick

[j.sabourn]

#16 My wife is a Gateshead girl and she can remember the big gun she says was stationed at Lobley Hill she says was called big Bertha. She was frightened as a kid she says as it would scare all the dickie birds away,she is younger than me. Before living in Surrey and being even younger we lived in Droitwich for a very short time ,where me and my girlfriend who must have been all of 4 ,and me being the big man of 5 ,heard that an aircraft had come down in the nearby park ,so we climbed over the gate to investigate, we found the pilot who had bailed out , but no one had said his chute didn’t open and there he was with his knees through his chest ,we galloped away and I got back over the fence ,the girl got her head stuck in the railings screaming her head off and I kept running , not one of my more salubrious moments . Whether or not the dead body was German or British never really found out. Were told it was German but this may have been to lessen the trauma,Could just as well have been a spitfire pilot. Memory is an unforgiving gift and can be friendly or unfriendly we don’t have much choice in the matter , ask me what I did last week and I probably wouldn’t have a clue .Cheers JS ....

[j.sabourn]

PS the girls name was Angela , some things one never forgets. Took a lot of thinking to remember it though . JS .

[Fouro]

Three noises I shall never forget are the air raid sirens, one for attack, the other for all clear. The other is the drown of the German bomber engines as they flew above the village on there way to Clydebank. Clydebank was raised to the ground after two nights of constant bombing.

Fouro.