Thank you for the kind words. I have never been able to find out the exact cause of his death, i remember one family member saying the gun exploded and another saying it "back fired".by HetzersGonnaHetz
Thank you for the kind words. I have never been able to find out the exact cause of his death, i remember one family member saying the gun exploded and another saying it "back fired".
Are there Btl War Diaries for WW2 units like the First World War? Perhaps something is listed on that day that he sadly died.
What a great thread!
Here's my 2nd cousin, twice removed. LTC Olavi Alakulppi, recipient of Finland's highest military award, the Mannerheim Cross. He went to later serve in the U.S Army as did his son (Capt. Vesa Juhani Alakulppi), who sadly fell in Vietnam and was awarded the Silver Star for his actions.
You can read more about them here:
Olavi Alakulppi - Wikipedia
TogetherWeServed - CPT Vesa Juhani Alakulppi
Nice to see you posting Alexsander. It's been a while I think.
"Please", Thank You" and proper manners appreciated
My greatest fear is that one day I will die and my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them
"Don't tell me these are investments if you never intend to sell anything" (Quote: Wife)
Harmon Smith WW2.jpg
My grandfather either during or shortly after WW2. He was a cook during the Aleutian Islands campaign, stationed on Adak Island.
I last posted on this thread back in 2016 and since then I've learnt a great deal about my Great Grandfather's First World War service, and realised that back in 2016 I had made a few errors.
Arthur Eli Lewis was born on the 23rd of May 1892 in Leicester. On the 13th October 1915 the 1/4th Battalion Leicesters would go over the top against the Hohenzollern Redoubt at Loos. Of the 650 men in the battalion, all officers were either killed or wounded, and casualties stood 480. It would come to be known as Leicester's Darkest Day. On the 19th of October my Great Grandfather enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment and in April 1916 was posted to the 1/4th Battalion at Maizieres, France, the same unit who had lost so many men on that fateful day in October 1915. Over the next few months the unit would be trained in trench life, and signallers, Lewis gunners, bombers and scouts would all be drilled hard. My Great Grandfather (who I will refer to by name now) was a scout. There is no mention of this in the records, but my Father said his dad always remembered seeing a badge of Arthur's with crossed rifles, the Marksmanship Badge. Must've been handy with a .303. Whether he was a scout or sniper we are unsure, but I assume the awarding of a marksmanship badge would have led to one of those roles. During this training time they were visited by Sir Douglas Haig in the field who congratulated the men on a good turn out.
Gommecourt
On the 1st of July 1916 Arthur's battalion was in the reserve of the 46th North Midland Division's attack on Gommecourt for the Somme Diversion. The attack on Gommecourt was an utter failure and led to nearly 7000 casualties as well as the removal of the 46th's CO. I won't go into more detail but all can be found about Gommecourt in various places on the web. For the rest of his time on the Somme Arthur would be in and out of trench life, training, shelled, shot at and drilled. A soldier's life for him. I've got a day by day run down of his time over these next few months due to battalion war diaries, however it gets lengthy in the word document I have so I've condensed it down massively above. What is interesting about his time on the Somme is that he spent some of it in the line around Monchy, the same place and roughly time as the famous Ernst Junger !! Junger mentions "Hindoostani Leicestershires" being visible opposite his lines from their cap badges, but the timeline in Storm of Steel sometimes fades so dates and times are unclear.
We think that at some point on the Somme he was wounded. All my Dad was told was that he was shot at while working on a trench, by a German Sniper, and the bullet ricocheted and went into his back. The reason I place this as being during the Somme is that his unit is recorded as working on trenches a lot, and by September he was in a new unit (This is all guesswork sadly, but hopefully slightly educated guess work).
Royal West Kents
On the 7th September he joined the 10th Battalion of the Royal West Kents. His unit would be used in the later Somme battles, for example for consolidation of Flers after its capture on the 15th September. I'm still going through war diaries around his service in the RWK so this part will be a bit shorter than the previous paragraph as I've not finished all my research. In short, from the bits I know about this later service, he went on to go over the top at 3rd Ypres, fighting along the Ypres-Comines Canal with 123 Brigade, as well as their other operations in this area during that time. It is equally possible that he was wounded during this time too, due to the nature of heavy fighting his unit took part in, and that he was later transferred to another unit, the 2nd RWK. With the 2nd he saw service in Mesopotamia and later on the Northwest Frontier fighting a tribal rebellion, his war ending in 1919.
When he returned home he got married, then became a fireman and later painted coaches in Leicester. In later life he would take long walks every day, many many miles long. He also enjoyed his sherry, drinking it in pints. My dad remembers him being hard as nails and never taking any grief off anyone. Arthur Eli Lewis died in 1987 at 94 years of age, having spoken very little of his time in the war. I have the honour of being able to call him my Great Grandfather.
Kindest Regards
Harvey
I was hoping somebody on here has access to British army records.
As far as I’m aware WW2 War Diaries are not digitised like their WW1 counterparts and have to be viewed in person at the National Archives. I’ve not done any research into my Second World War relatives as I do not believe I have any direct ancestors who fought in WW2, only Great Uncles and such. Hopefully someone here may have done some research that might be able to help. The only other thing I can think of is contacting the Guards Museum and see if they have any documents or information on him.
Regards
Harvey
On the WW2Talk forum there is someone (Drew5233) who regularly goes to the archives and copies British WW2 war diaries for members (no idea of cost).
I'm back for the third time on this thread, with a third ancestor. Allen Rose Jensen, my Great Great Uncle through marriage somehow (Though I'm not sure how exactly). Born in 1910, born in Belleoram. Missed WWI, joined the Merchant Marine in 1939, returned home in 1945. I think he went to Ottawa at some point in the 1960s and was awarded some sort of award for his service. Lived the rest of his life in peace until dying in 1992(?). I don't know much about him.
Allen Rose Jensen.jpg
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