Military Chat

Maybe this is a bit of a longshot but can anyone give me an idea of any amount of canadian soldiers who could have been based at Nonsuch Park in 1942.
Even just a starting point to look ?
I was looking at the Dieppe Raid of August 1942 and wondering if maybe any of these could have come from Canada over to England and been based there ?
Absolutely any help is appreciated.

Nadia

Have a look here:-

http://www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/NonsuchPark.html

If you scroll down the page it says that Canadian soldiers camped in the grounds just before D-Day.

This probably doesn't help with what you are looking for.

Kath. x

Thanks Kath

I knew the Home Guard were there and that Canadian soldiers were there.

I've been asked to track down a canadian soldier who was based there in 1942 !

No idea of his name but he came from Sanguenay in Quebec !

If you don't know his name then I don't think you are going to get very far!

British service records from 1942 are still with the MOD and are not online. They have to be applied for.

Not sure where you would get Canadian service records from, but again you would need a name.

Are you trying to track down someone who may have fathered a child whilst over here?

Kath. x

Yes Kath exactly that and you are right it is an impossible task !

Service records would be with the Canadian Archives. However, without a name it would probably be impossible to find with a normal request for a record.

You could contact them to ask if they could recommend a researcher & if the researcher would be allowed total access. Unless the serviceman died in Service, applications to access survivors records have to meet certain criteria.

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services-public/ask-question/Pages/ask-question.aspx

This would be a very long shot, but if you have the child's mother's name, could you write a letter to a local newspaper in Sanguenay in Quebec (google to find the name of a newspaper) and ask them to put a piece in the paper asking if anyone remembers a soldier who might have mentioned the mother's name when he came back from England.

No harm in trying anything however mad it may seem.

Kath. x

Ah thank you I may give these a go. My mother in Law is in Pontiac Quebec maybe she can find someone for me to help.

I have more info on the his name.

Francis Aloysius O'Connell.

Apparently the family were strict Catholics.

Well, he doesn't appear on the CWGC site, so looks like he made it through the war.

Yes I looked at that (CWGC) and also found a family living in USA that appear to have Irish roots. Not sure if it's the right family because I cannot find them in Canada.

I'll keep on searching away but thanks for all your advice everyone.

The only other thing I know is he was also known as 'Frank' by his friends.

In 1921, nominal census day in Canada was 1/6/1921.

I don't see him in 1921. A search for Fran* *con*l got 9 hits in Quebec - 3 were McConnells, and 2 of the O'Connells (and variants) were from Quebec City and the remaining 4 from the Ile de Montreal - none was from the Saguenay valley.

So I presume he was born after the census - but it's another 6 y before 1931 is released.

Hi thanks for that.

We have been in contact with the National Library & Archives of Canada. They found 26 and of those 15 served.

They are pulling out the information but we need to find proof of death etc to match whatever they find.

They've been excellent.

Thanks for your advice and I will be sure to keep you all updated.

Nadia