Tracing History of my father, Richard Hartley Burton (Dick)

D.O.B. 5/3/1917 Army No. 1910295,665 Artisan Works Company, Royal Engineers. Enlisted Yorkshire 1/1/1940.
Was in Salen, Fort William, 9/1/1940 Elgin,4/2/1941 Montrose mountaineering school. Evacuated Dunkirk, Expiditionary force, went to France more than once.Was on the Maginot Line, Stayed with a family in Hamburg.Military record says medals 1939/43 star AC1/450 PT11 856 GH12 2 .....21AG. F germany star. Defence medal. 102/47 ....
Operator Excavator B111
Completed Course No 5 Field Engineering
Posted overseas
BEF 23/1/1940 - 30/5/1940
NWE 10904/44 - 29/8/1944

Working through the details...

He enlisted on 1st January 1940, into the Royal Engineers.

On the 9th January he was posted to Fort William - probably for his Initial Training Course (he joined a Corps, not a Regiment, so didnt attend an Infantry training centre).

On 4th Feb 1941 he was posted to Montrose (mountaineering?)

He was part of the BEF in France, and evacuated via Dunkirk.

He was awarded to 39-43 Star (this later became the 39-45 Star).

He was trained in filed engineering (including diggers)

He returned to Europe for the invasion (the NWE reference) I dont know what 10904 means but he appears to have returned to UK in 29/8/44 (I am assuming he survived as his Defence Medal was issued in 1947, my apologies if he was KIA).

Theres no indication he was attached to a Commando unit, everything there points to the Royal Engineers.

If he was with an Artisan Unit he was a skilled man - nowadays he would be called a Combat Engineer......you may find more about that unit if you contact the RE Museum.

http://www.remuseum.org.uk/corpshistory/rem_corps_part16.htm

Let me know if i've got any bits wrong!

Regards

Pete

Not so sure about the Fort William entry. Salen was the location of one of the Combined Ops. training centres - it is described as having lots of man-made obstacles - as he was RE I wonder if he was responsible for constructing the place?

I have found details of the association.

http://www.reahq.org.uk/

Regards

Pete.

How can I thank you for your help, I have struggled for so long!
A bit more info.
As he was billeted with civilians on a farm in Fort William I have been led to believe that only the commandos did that as the main body of men were billeted close by.
He was billeted with a civilian at Salen as she continued to contact us until her death in 1983.
Why would he have 'photo's of a German family?
He did survive the war.

It was indeed normal for commandos to be billeted away froma barracks, I doubt they would be the only troops ever to be billeted like this though.

I am still puzzled as to why his records dont appear to show a period of training - I think the RE Museum may be able to tell you if Salen was an RE training centre.

The family in Germany were possibly has landlords there!

I'm not suggesting he wasn't a Commando, but I think RE is more likely.

For him to be a commando, he would have served with a corps or regiment, then been interviewed after volunteering, and it would show on his service record - troopers did not go straight into a commando unit from joining.

If you can, scan his service record and post it here, sometimes seeing things can focus one's thoughts!

Regards

Pete