Dad's 11th Birthday Post Card

This is an interesting post card with quite a history. It was sent to dad on his 11th birthday which was on the 11th March 1942. The front of the post card reads:

To Greet Your Birthday
This is to send you a Birthday wish.
A wish that the years may bring
just heaps and heaps of happy returns.
And the best of everything.

The post card is yellowing very badly now but has been kept for many years in an old envelope with lots of photographs and this is where I am returning it now.


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The rear of the post card reads:
To Ronnie wishing you many happy returns of the day.
Hoping you live to see many more happy birthdays.
From Auntie Jennie & Uncle Fred
xxxxx xxxxx xxxx
& Freddie

The post card was addressed to:
Master Ronald Fry
To 5 Fern Villas
Flinton Street
Hessle Road
Hull

The post mark clearly shows:
Hull Yorkshire
9.30am
11 Mar
42


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Mum tells me there's a story behind this post card. When it was originally written dad's Auntie Jennie and Uncle Fred forgot to add the name of their son Freddie to the bottom of the card. Freddie had a mental illness and reacted very badly to this omission. As a result he threw himself from the Porter Street Bridge and committed suicide. The post card shows "& Freddie" added to the bottom in pencil where the rest of the card is written in ink. Apparently after Freddie's death his name was added to this card in memory of him.

Empire Fowey Postcard

This is an interesting post card which shows the vessel Empire Fowey with a cross marked on the photo over the location of a specific cabin.


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Written on the back of the post card is "The cross marks my cabin". This post card was found with many of the photographs shown in earlier posts. I do not know if my father travelled on this ship or if this is his hand writing.


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Empire Fowey Reference Material
Ships of the Hadj
Specifications
Built 1936 by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg
19047 GRT
History
This ship was built as the "Potsdam" for the far east service of North German Lloyd. During the Second World War, she was used as a troop and accommodation ship. She was seized by the British occupying forces in May 1945 at Flensburg. Re-named the "Empire Fowey", she was re-fitted by Harland & Wolff, Belfast and used as a troopship under P & O management. In 1960, she was sold to the Pan-Islamic Shipping Co of Karachi, Pakistan, for use on the pilgrim service to Jeddah and was renamed "Safina-E-Hujjat". She was broken up at Gadani Beach in 1976.

UPDATE (8/3/2005): Bernard phoned on Monday evening after seeing this photograph of the Empire Fowey. Apparently he and other members of the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars sailed to Korea on this ship in the early 1950's. The soldiers returned on the vessel Windrush. It's quite possible that a friend of my fathers went to Korea on this ship and posted back the card to show dad where his cabin was. The post card is not addressed so it may have been included with a letter.

Soldier and a dog

This photograph of a soldier and a dog was found with the last batch of photos uploaded onto this web site.

A clear difference between this picture and the others is that it's printed onto a post card type backing obviously designed to allow it to be posted to friends or family. I have a number of old photographs ranging from the beginning of the centuary which are printed on similar post card type material.

No dating or location evidence is written on the rear so if anybody has any ideas please let me know.


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Unknown soldier at Catterick 1949

I do not recognise this soldier as my father so if anybody can identify him please do let me know.


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Group Photo at Catterick 1949

This photo shows a group of 8 soldiers at Catterick in 1949.

The rear of the photo mentions both A Squadron and C Squadron and the soldier at the front left of the photo appears to be Jim who is shown on other photos on this web site.


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There is a reference to Fuller on the rear of the photograph which could mean just about anything. Some of the soldiers can be seen wearing a type of belt or strap around their necks.


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This photo is showing its age being discoloured and faded in places.

UPDATE (4/3/2005): Bernard tells me the soldiers often wore their belts around their shoulders or under their eplets to reduce the chance they got dirty and therefore making the belt one less item that needed to be cleaned.

Norman and Alf at Catterick 1949

This is a photograph of Norman and Alf taken at Catterick in 1949.

These two gents are wearing the same type of overalls dad is shown wearing in various pictures taken at Catterick and Leicester in the same time period. Norman's beret can be seen tucked into his left eplet on this photo.


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If anybody knows or knew Norman or Alf please get in touch.

UPDATE (4/3/2005): Bernard mentioned in our phone call last night the overalls Norman and Alf are wearing which are the same as ones dad is seen wearing in several pictures. Apparently these are a two piece arrangemant unlike modern overalls. They consist of a top and trousers and the top is tucked into the trousers making them look like one piece overalls.

Ray Gardener Electrician

This photograph states Tillshead (Tilshead) 1950 Ray Gardener Electrician on the rear and shows Ray leaning on a car.

The car's registration mark is HOU 789 (Can you imagine how much the car and it's registration mark would be worth if you owned it now!) and the car is displaying the original chrome plated Automobile Association badge on the front grille and the hole for the cranking handle is visible in the lower centre section of the grille.


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In the left hand rear of the photo an army vehicle is parked and a soldier is seen obviously talking to a group of others and at the very left hand edge of the photograph what may be the arm of another soldier can be seen standing next to him. The number 329444 is painted on the left hand side of the army vehicle with possibly the letter I and a dot between the letter and numbers.


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Once again if anybody can identify these vehicles or knows Ray Gardener please get in touch so I can gain a better understanding of the context of this photograph.

UPDATE (4/3/2005): Bernard once again came up trumps last night on the telephone with a lot of information about this photograph. The army vehicle shown in the rear of this photo is a Daimler Scout Car and possibly, although I'm going to get some professional clarification on this, a Daimler Mk.IB 'Dingo' Scout Car.

Daimler Scout Car Reference Material
Daimler Mk.IB 'Dingo' Scout Car UK
Daimler Scout Car on display at Lancer Barracks
Daimler At War
Some references are made on these sites to the Daimler Ferret Scout Car. The Ferret is the predecessor to the Daimler 'Dingo' Scout Car and was developed from the WW2 Daimler Scout Car, the first versions were delivered in 1950.

Tilshead 1950

This interesting photo states Tillshead 1950 on the rear but I believe it to be a spelling error on the part of my father and the correct location is in fact Tilshead.

Tilshead is located on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, a well established training ground for the British armed forces and a place I know dad exercised during his army days. I also have a number of photos from Tidworth taken at about the same time and Tidworth is (or was) the main army camp on Salisbury Plain. (I'd appreciate some clarification as to the status or purpose of Tidworth and Tilshead if anybody knows)


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I wish I had known this photo existed when dad was alive as I could have got some information from him. The military vehicle seems to be integral with the tented structure to its rear. I wonder if this vehicle's purpose was to deploy this structure in the field.


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There are a number of interesting features on this vehicle. Firstly it appears to be four wheel drive or all wheel drive as there's a differential in the front axle assembly. The radiator (It appears to be a radiator grille) is located high on the vehicle's structure with a shelf like arrangement placed above it which may be there to deflect steam from obscuring the drivers' vision if water hit the radiator. There is a lot of ground clearance on this vehicle making me believe it is designed for off-road terrain. The door mounted rear view mirrors pertrude approximately 12 inches from the side of the vehicle making me believe the load was far wider than the cab.

If anybody does know what this vehicle is, what the tented structure is or has any other information please comment this post or contact me as I'd like to do some research on this and later add the information to this post.

UPDATE (5/3/2005): Bernard tells me this vehicle is a "Mashy Wagon". It contained equipment such as drills, a lathe, benches, a generator, hand tools etc. and acted as a field workshop.

Field Workshop Vehicles Reference Material
REME Museum of Technology
The Royal Army Service Corps During WW2
Mobile Workshop Vehicles
The concept of a mobile workshop following the armies whilst on a campaign dates back at least to Roman times. By the 19th Century, in the British Army, horse drawn forge wagons provided a mobile metal working facility. Before World War 1, trailer mounted workshops drawn by steam tractors existed and soon after, motor trucks with workshop bodies appeared. Generators providing electric power for machinery were also in use by this time. By the outbreak of World War 2, most of the armies of industrial nations had complete mobile workshops capable of repairing the whole range of military equipment.
Trailer Mounted Equipment
REME has always used a number of trailer mounted workshop installations including machine shops, stores trailers and generators. Lightweight machinery trailers for use by Airborne Forces were developed in World War 2 and similar equipment has evolved since.

UPDATE (8/3/2005): Paul has posted the Mashy Wagon photo on a specialised web site seeking some clarification as to the make and model of this vehicle. The replies suggest this vehicle is a Ford WOT6 3 ton all wheel drive vehicle.
Bletchley Park Museum - Military Vehicle Group
Danish Army Vehicles - Ford WOT6
Oldtimers picture Gallery
The last 2 sites listed above include specifications and information on the Ford WOT6.

Jim in London 1951

This is a photo of Jim taken in London in 1951.

I cannot identify the location in London (If you have any ideas please let me know or comment this post) although the structure in the background with the flag on top is quite interesting and makes me wonder if this is something to do with the Festival of Britain which was held between May and September 1951.

I have posted a photograph of dad's 1935 Rover 12 here with a Union Flag pendant on the bonnet which dad's younger brother Tom tells me was placed there to celebrate this festival.


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A Different View of Tidworth 1951

This is a similar photo to one shown earlier at Tidworth in 1951. The camera angle is panned down slightly but those shown are the same.


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UPDATE (5/3/2005): Bernard thinks the soldier shown on the right of this photograph is called (Robert) Bob Glover.

Jack 1949

This photo shows Jack in 1949 but no other information.

The gentleman shown looks very similar to Sgt. Maw shown in an earlier post at Leicester in 1950 which can be viewed here.


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UPDATE (5/3/2005): Bernard told me last night that Jackie Maw is still alive and lives in the south of the country. I look forward to receiving Jack's address so I can contact him and forward copies of the photos my father kept of him.

Jim Catterick 1949

This photo shows Jim at Catterick in 1949.


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Tidworth 1951

Three soldiers pictured at Tidworth in 1951 as shown by the reference made by my father on the rear of the photo. I do not recognise my father as one of the three shown.


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UPDATE (5/3/2005): Bernard thinks the soldier shown on the right of this photograph is called (Robert) Bob Glover.

AB64 Pt1

I found this receipt inside the Permanent Pass book shown in the post below.


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It states:

This to certify that No 22149561 Rank TPR Name Fry AB 64 Pt I. is held in the Sqadron Office, for documentation.

It is signed by OC "HQ" Sqn. 20 Armd Bde.

The date stanp states:

H. Q. SQUADRON
20th ARMOURED BRIGADE
10 APR 1951

After a search on Google I have found one other reference to a AB64 Pt.1 which appears to be a Soldiers Service Book.

Permanent Pass

I've found yet another large stash of old army photographs and documents in a draw in the spare bedroom. One of the items is dad's old army Permanent Pass issued by the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars firstly on the 1st April 1950 then revalidated on the 11th May 1951 (Close examination of the date stamp used shows Mai which is French for May.)


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The pass states:

8th KING'S ROYAL IRISH HUSSARS
PERMANENT PASS
The Bearer, No 22149561 TPR FRY R "A" Squadron has permission to be absent from his quarters from AFTER DUTY till 1st PARADE except when on duty.

Signed Lt. Col. Comdg. 8th Hussars.

The pass was printed by Gale & Polden Ltd., Aldershot with the reference number 2735-U