Hello Everyone :)

**RosyRedd** · 06-28-2010, 05:56 PM

Hello everyone

I have been looking at stories posted here and have been fascinated by them and I have joined the community in the last day or so to see if anyone would be able to help me with mine.

I am researching my Great Uncle John whom I have heard spoken of since I was a small child. He was very much loved and I wanted to see if I could piece together his last few movements during the last few months of his life.

His name was John Hughes Jacques and was a private in the Northamptonshire Regiment. His number was 4987503.

He volunteered to join the army but I don't know when - can anyone point me in the right direction on how to out find that information and where I could get a copy of his Enlistment Notice?

I assumed from the stories that I had heard that he was in 'Signals' but there seems to be some confusion as to whether he was a signaller or not. I also understood that he was in 2nd Battalion but on one of the letters that I have he has written No3 Batt. on the return address. Could anyone help me out with that please?

He was killed on Saturday 30th October 1943 aged 19 and his body is at rest in Monte Cassino War Cemetery. We are not sure however whether he was killed and buried there or whether he was killed somewhere else (Anzio?) but buried there. My mum went to see his grave a couple of years ago and says that there were several young men killed on the same day on either side of his grave.

My last question, which is perhaps a bit strange is, does anyone know what the weather was like where he was on the day he was killed?

I hope that someone will be able to help and I am going to try to attach some bits which I also hope are of interest to you too.

Many thanks.

Julie

**Keith** · 06-28-2010, 07:58 PM

Hi Rosy Redd,
I would suggest the first place to try would be the Northamptonshire Regimental Association.
If you can contact them on the net I am sure they will do all they can to help.
You may get help on www.steelbacks.org.uk
Cheers
Keith DCXIV

**RosyRedd** · 06-29-2010, 04:15 AM

Thanks Keith. I have sent them an email and hopefully I will get some info back. Anything really would be brilliant. I noticed after I had posted his picture that the name of the photographer and the town were printed on the back. Would it have been normal for a photograher to go to the troops to do the photo or the troops to go to him? The photograher was in Troia.

Jules.

**spidge** · 06-29-2010, 06:51 AM

If you are the NOK you can apply to the MoD for his Army records, which in the UK costs about 30 pounds.

This information should answer most of your queries.

In Memory of
Private JOHN HUGHES JACQUES

4987503, 2nd Bn., Northamptonshire Regiment
who died age 19
on 30 October 1943
Son of Joseph Wilson Jacques and Olive Jacques, of Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
Remembered with honour
CASSINO WAR CEMETERY

Cheers

Geoff

**Kitty** · 06-29-2010, 03:49 PM

Hi Rosy.

At the time the troops would probably go to the photographer to get an official portrait done to send home. and at this time all photographers put their name/address on the back of the photos.

As to being in the signallers, he probably was but attached to a different regiment as part of their comms teams. He may not have been a signaller as such himself, but he could have been one of the techies who helped set up and run all of the equipment. Signals wasn't like the compact backpacks the boys use now, we are talking things like vans with their own generators to power the radios.

It isn't unusual either for men to move between battalions, especially in war time. If your uncle was a specialist, as in signaller, then he would probably have been moved where needed. If 3bt lost their man and needed someone urgently, then your uncle could have been sent to replace him.

Unfortunately there isn't much more we can do until we get his service record. When you apply ask for a full photocopy of his records, NOT the written summary which doesn't give you everything. i am also afraid you will have to wait a number of months for these records as veterans of all conflicts are automatically put at the head of the waiting list ahead of NOK.

**RosyRedd** · 06-29-2010, 04:00 PM

Thanks Spidge! I just have to get my great aunt to sign the consent form for the MoD. I'm hopeful she will want to know where her brother was...

Do you still need photos for your project? I'm in Southern Germany. Are there any this way that you are looking for? I might be able to help.

**RosyRedd** · 06-29-2010, 04:10 PM

Thank you Kitty. You have given me a much clearer picture of what they would have been doing at that time. Also if the soldiers went to the photographers then he probably was in Troia and that gives me a better idea of where he was. He sent his picture with his final letter home just 8 days before he was killed.

Also thank you for the note about the photocopy! I am on a sharp learning curve here and any information is a real help.

**DavidDavy** · 06-29-2010, 11:16 PM

Hello dude,
I'm David from Singapore. I'm newbie. Nice to meet you.

**spidge** · 06-30-2010, 04:22 AM

Originally Posted by RosyRedd

Thanks Spidge! I just have to get my great aunt to sign the consent form for the MoD. I'm hopeful she will want to know where her brother was...

Do you still need photos for your project? I'm in Southern Germany. Are there any this way that you are looking for? I might be able to help.

Hi Rosy,

Although Australia was 12,000 miles away, the losses of Australians in the RAAF/RAF (Bomber Command) over Germany were the greatest. Besides those buried there (1,401) there were hundreds more listed on the Runnymede Memorial as their bodies were never found.

I have the following:

Becklingen (80)
Berlin 1939-1945 (231)
Cologne (3)
Durnbach (263)
Hamburg (46)
Reichswald Forest (334)

The ones I do not have:

Hanover (130)
Kiel (33) north
Parchim (1) Special Memorial to the crew of the Halifax http://www.cwgc.org/CWGCImgs/Parchim%20Cemetery.jpg
This is the one on the CWGC site however it is a very low res photo.
Rheinberg (244)
Sage (34) north
Schoenau (1) I know this is France but it is closer to someone in Germany.

If one of those cemeteries with one in it is close to you that would be great.

Cheers

Geoff