59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
Hi, My late father, Philip Ruddy, was posted to the59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment 29th November 1942. He was from in Blaydon, Durham. I'm curious why he was posted to this regiment? Also where did this regiment see action?
If anyone has any information I would be grateful.
Thank you.
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Re: 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
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Re: 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
Hi. My late father, Wilfred Roberts Dawe, also served in the subject regiment. He was born and lived in St. John's in the then colony of Newfoundland. The Royal Artillery recruited for two regiments of artillery in Newfoundland thoughout the war. Originally they were the 57th Heavy and the 59th Heavy, but after the threat of invasion in England declined in 1941 or '42, the 57th Heavy was converted to a field regiment and became the 166th (Newfoundland) Field Regiment. It subsequently fought in Italy.
As to why your father would have served with the regiment, I can't say for certain, but it was fairly typical for units such as this, volunteer and from the Dominion, to have assigned to them British Regular officers and senior NCOs.
The 59th went to France in July or August of 1944 and fought in various locations in North-west Europe - France, Belgium and the Netherlands. There were four batteries in the regiment 20, 21, 22, and 23. Two of the batteries were armed with the British 8.2 inch howitzer and the other two with the American 155mm howitzer. Where your father served would be dependant to some degree on which battery we was with. My father was with 23 battery and they were seperated from the regiment for a considerable time in the fall of 1944 and beginning of 1945 with special tasking in support of Op Market Garden and follow-on operations in the area and then the Battle of the Bulge. This meant that the battery saw considerably more deployment around Europe than the regiment as a whole.
The definitive history of the regiment is a booked entitled "More Fighting Newfoundlanders: A History of Newfoundland's Fighting Forces in the Second World War" by Col G. W. L. Nicholson. It is a very readable history and is very comprehensive. I have seen it available in the UK; you might try Amazon.
Hope that this is helpful.
Keith Dawe Mons, Belgium
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Re: 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
Thanks for the reply Keith, you've provided me with some excellent new information. I've just received my late fathers army service records and I can confirm from these that he; Was trained as a wireless operator (Royal Corps of Signals) Posted to the 59th on the 29th Nov 1942 Disembarked France (NWE) 5th July 1944 (saw service here for 360 days) Back to England 29th June 1945 He then was posted to India Rangoon & Burma (embarking 10th October 1945 returning to England 19th Nov 1946)
There is more information still to decipher !!
I remember he made lifelong friends with several Newfoundland soldiers, one married an English girl and lived in Seven Oaks, Kent.
Thanks for the tip about "More Fighting Newfoundlanders: A History of Newfoundland's Fighting Forces in the Second World War" I'll track a copy down.
Thanks again, Michael
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Re: 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
I've just stumbled upon this thread whilst trying to find out about my father's army career. He was a Post Office telephone engineer in Liverpool until called up into the Royal Corps of Signals. he then spent the rest of the war with Newfoundlanders. The story he told went like this: In 1942 the Canadian troops were stationed in Kent prior to the Dieppe Raid. To preserve secrecy when they were moved to embarkation ports the Top Brass decided that radio traffic should continue in Canadian accents so German listeners wouldn't detect the major troop movement so Newfoundlanders were moved in as replacements. However, Dad's story was that the Newfoundlanders (who weren't at that time actually Canadian) were mainly 'eskimos' and only the officers spoke English. I can't find much evidence of this but that was the story he told. Anyway, there was a language problem or possibly a skills problem so signallers from the Royal Corps were attached to them instead. Dad always thought it funny that the Canadian accents were replaced by Scouse, Geordie, Welsh and Scots! He seems to have spent the rest of the war with them because he recalled going north through Holland and shelling Hamburg right up to the final hours. After that he was posted to Bangalore in India before being de-mobbed and returning to the Post Office. I gather he was also pretty bolshie and was busted back to corporal more than once. Some story about them getting a shilling a day from the Post Office so the army stopped a shilling from their pay. They were the type who could mend anything so they made up the deficit in pay by running a small lucrative business repairing electrical items for the local farmers whilst in Kent.
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Re: 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
Hi,it was interesting to read your message my late Father also served with the 59th his name was William James Barrett and he was from Holborn in London originaly with the ROYAL East Kent Regiment(The Buffs)some of the regiment converted to artillery he was then transferred to the 59th Newfoundland as a radio operator and stayed with them in France Holland and Germany,if you have any more information I would be happy to hear it ,regards Mike Barrett
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Re: 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
Hi, I just discovered this thread. My dad also served with the 59th Newfoundland Heavy Regiment in England before going to France and Holland and Germany. yes, he and his fellow Newfoundlanders may have had an accent, they were not "Eskimos" as someone may hve heard from his father. I am interested in sharing any stories of the "59th" I know many men and their families went back to England in the late 1970s for a reunion. They even met their padre, Father Farrell.
Pat
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Re: 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
At the beginning of WWII, most of the officers of the Newfoundland regiments were career British soldiers. These were newly formed regiments with few experienced soldiers. As time went on many Newfoundlanders become NCO's and a few commissioned.
However the recollection that they were mostly eskimo is totally false. Most Newfoundlands were of Irish,English,Scottish origin and a few French. Yes, there may have been a few first nations people of Newfoundland but they would have called themselves Inuit meaning "The People"...Eskimo was what the Innu (Indians) called them.
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Re: 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
Sadly my father is also not around anymore to ask for details but my brother has accessed his army record and knows the number of the unit. I will check. Your father's route through Europe seems the same though. I do remember my father was particularly moved by the plight of the people in Holland who were undergoing a terrible famine at the time. The last place his unit operated in Europe was Hamburg which is where they were on VE Day.
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Re: 59th (Newfoundland) Heavy Regiment
I have long suspected that my father's story of 'eskimos' was an exaggeration! However, he was adamant that the British signallers were transferred to the Newfoundland outfit in order to 'cover' the withdrawal from Kent of the Canadian troops prior to the Dieppe Raid.
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