Wartime T16 pictures (#2)

[Hanno Spoelstra]

“American-born members of Support Company, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, South Beveland, Netherlands, 30 September 1944.“

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Steve Guthrie noted:

Either the date or the location is wrong. On September 30 the war diary notes that the Watch was still in Belgium. They fought around Antwerp for a few more days and then had to fight to open the "neck" of the Beveland isthmus and claw their way into South Beveland.
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[Dan Martel]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

“American-born members of Support Company, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, South Beveland, Netherlands, 30 September 1944.“

Not meaning to through doubt on anything, but I think the confusion between the caption for the photo and the war diary may be because I don't think the troops or carrier in the photo are from the Black Watch of Canada. The shoulder patch visible on the the Sergeant to the right is of the wrong shape and there would be no reason to have a Roman numeral XII on the front plate.

But I always am willing to admit that I could be wrong.

[Dave Newcomb]

In my father's written memoirs [Captain- company CO in Patton's 3rd army]. His unit was absolutely forbidden to enter an abandoned town. A commonwealth unit in carriers passed them and went into the town for the evening. That night a large allied air bombing run was made on that town. Dad said it was a sad sight, next day, of carriers blown into houses, even into the second story. Italian campaign. I haven't found his written memoirs yet. Dave N

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Dan Martel

Not meaning to through doubt on anything, but I think the confusion between the caption for the photo and the war diary may be because I don't think the troops or carrier in the photo are from the Black Watch of Canada. The shoulder patch visible on the the Sergeant to the right is of the wrong shape and there would be no reason to have a Roman numeral XII on the front plate.

But I always am willing to admit that I could be wrong.

I agree with Dan's assessment that the badges worn in the photograph do not appear to be the 'barrel shape' used on the shoulder badges of the various 2nd Canadian Infantry Division infantry regiments. Unfortunately the resolution of the image is too low to make an accurate investigation of the badge. I also thought the the Roman numeral XII on the front plate was a vehicle tactical marking and not something directly linked to a specific regiment. The real problem is that determining the facts behind this photograph is little more than educated guessing without any context information. If this is a LAC photograph, then knowing the PA number would be a good start.

[Colin Alford]

Ed,

It appears that the PA number is PA-168677

This link will hopefully take you to 10 images with the date of 30 September 1944: https://recherche-collection-search....d&OnlineCode=1

For someone with better knowledge/ reference material, the reported units and locations may help to determine if the reported dates are correct.

Edit: It looks like the link is providing more than the ten results.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Gents,

Thanks for picking through this. I must admit that I merely posted the photo with the caption provided, plus one relevant response by Steve Guthrie.

Originally Posted by Colin Alford

It appears that the PA number is PA-168677
*snip*
For someone with better knowledge/ reference material, the reported units and locations may help to determine if the reported dates are correct.

Colin has provided the link to the source material in the archives: https://recherche-collection-search....Number=3230698

While the unit may be wrongly attributed to this photo, the "American-born members" are named as: "(L-R): Private R.F. Gallahan, Sergeants F.J. Garvis and A. McGrail". This may be a lead to find out the unit they served in.