My father, Don (John Donihee) Mateer, RCE

[Helen Henson]

It (he?) says...

"Served with 9 Squadron 4 Division in France, Belgium and Holland till wounded by a mine."

Could he have been with them without actually being taken on service? If so, maybe the war diaries, which my brother has ordered, will help.

Thanks,
Helen

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally Posted by Helen Henson

It (he?) says...

"Served with 9 Squadron 4 Division in France, Belgium and Holland till wounded by a mine."

Could he have been with them without actually being taken on service? If so, maybe the war diaries, which my brother has ordered, will help.

Thanks,
Helen

Hi Helen;

From what I've found, your father's Struck-off-Strength (from 10 CBRB) to the 9th Cdn Fd Sqn date of 10 Sep 44 is accurate. On approx 7 Sep 44, Lieutenant R.B.W. Pyke of the 9th Cdn Fd Sqn was wounded and evacuated, this is probably the officer casualty that your father replaced, there was not another officer casualty that required to be evacuated suffered by the 9th Cdn Fd Sqn until early on the morning of 14 Sep 44, by which time your father would have already have been with the Squadron. At this time (approx 7 to 10 Sep 44), 9th Cdn Fd Sqn were located in the area of Moerbrugge, Belgium, engaged in bridging the canal at this point (Moerbrugge). The 9th Cdn Fd Sqn had crossed into Belgium on the morning of 7 Sep 44. Why the entry of his Taken-on-Strength of 9th Cdn Fd Sqn says 'France', I have no idea, because the 9th Cdn Fd Sqn had been in Belgium (approx. 7 Sep 44) since before his SOS date from 10 CBRB of 10 Sep. You father did indeed serve in FRANCE, BELGIUM and HOLLAND (where he was wounded), but he served in France with 10th Canadian Base Reinforcement Battalion, No. 2 Canadian Base Reinforcement Group and in Belgium and Holland with 9th Canadian Field Squadron, R.C.E., 4th Canadian Armoured Division.

I'll do some more digging and let you know where 10 CBRB (and your father) where located from landing on 6 June to your father being sent forward to the 9 Fd Sqn, on approx 10 Sep 44. I know were they were from mid July onwards, but from 6 Jun to that point ... I'll have to look ...

Cheers

[Helen Henson]

Actually the entry that says he was transferred to X3 List (Hospital) on Sept 30 has a ditto mark indicating that transfer happened in France too. That entry, and the two above it are typed, the only typed lines in the series. Maybe done later by an overworked and harried clerk with a lot of papers to transcribe?

However we are very grateful for the records. We had no idea Dad landed June 6.

Thank you so much for helping us understand that part of our father.

Highest regards,
Helen

[Helen Henson]

He was transferred to X3 List in Fd. Sorry.

Helen

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally Posted by Mark W. Tonner

Hi Helen;

From what I've found, your father's Struck-off-Strength (from 10 CBRB) to the 9th Cdn Fd Sqn date of 10 Sep 44 is accurate. On approx 7 Sep 44, Lieutenant R.B.W. Pyke of the 9th Cdn Fd Sqn was wounded and evacuated, this is probably the officer casualty that your father replaced, there was not another officer casualty that required to be evacuated suffered by the 9th Cdn Fd Sqn until early on the morning of 14 Sep 44, by which time your father would have already have been with the Squadron. At this time (approx 7 to 10 Sep 44), 9th Cdn Fd Sqn were located in the area of Moerbrugge, Belgium, engaged in bridging the canal at this point (Moerbrugge).

Hi Helen;

In regards to my previous post, with his SOS date from the X4 List being 16 Sept 44 and his TOS date to 9 Fd Sqn being 17 Sept 44, this means that your father joined the Squadron while "the 4th Armoured Division worked along the edge of the flooded area, which was more or less bounded by the Leopold Canal, and around behind the Braakman, an inlet west of the Ghent-Terneuzen canal. Several bridges had to be built during this period, (which was from 16 to 21 Sep 44) the most important being a pair by the 9th Field Squadron across locks at Sas van Gent. The spans were 60-foot double-single and 110-foot triple-single and they made possible a junction with the Polish Armoured Division, which had just cleared the south bank of the Scheldt from Antwerp to Terneuzen.

Cheers

[Helen Henson]

I had no idea how much I wanted to know that... until I read your post.

Thank you very much, Mark. A wonderful thing you are doing.

Helen