Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Discussions related to the second world war.
User avatar
Temujin
Meritorious
Meritorious
Posts: 2899
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:39 pm
Commendations: 137

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Temujin » Fri Feb 11, 2022 2:24 pm

And another record
4FB1F05D-5659-4B30-9072-59AB00AA0D82.jpeg
4FB1F05D-5659-4B30-9072-59AB00AA0D82.jpeg (222.69 KiB) Viewed 5152 times

User avatar
Temujin
Meritorious
Meritorious
Posts: 2899
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:39 pm
Commendations: 137

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Temujin » Fri Feb 11, 2022 2:27 pm

I JUST REMEMBERED……….somewhere on FOLD3.com…….I had previously found US records, that list EVERY US UNIT and where they were located in England (it was like a contact and telephone book)…….the file was huge……..so now I just have to find it again, and see if these units are on it….my “concern” is the Bomb Disposal Squads were “small units” (about 7 to 10 men with 1 officer)….so they were probably part of a bigger group, so I was hoping to find the bigger group……..

Still on the hunt

User avatar
Temujin
Meritorious
Meritorious
Posts: 2899
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:39 pm
Commendations: 137

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Temujin » Fri Feb 11, 2022 3:50 pm

Temujin wrote:
Fri Feb 11, 2022 2:27 pm
I JUST REMEMBERED……….somewhere on FOLD3.com…….I had previously found US records, that list EVERY US UNIT and where they were located in England (it was like a contact and telephone book)…….the file was huge……..so now I just have to find it again, and see if these units are on it….my “concern” is the Bomb Disposal Squads were “small units” (about 7 to 10 men with 1 officer)….so they were probably part of a bigger group, so I was hoping to find the bigger group……..

Still on the hunt
Still haven’t found this, that’s the issue with Fold3.com…its search engine is good as long as you tell it exactly the right thing, which obviously I”m not.

In the mean time, found more records in the same files that Mark found. I thought “maybe” it was the Bomb & Munitions School, but this was in Bristol.

As the records say, the Bomb Disposal Units stationed in the UK were “attached” to RE Bomb Disposal units……so trying to examine that source also

This record tells when the 29th and the 49th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Units arrived in Europe, so they should have been working in England until they arrived…….so I will try and see if they were attached to a RE unit and location
EE163E95-246D-47F1-A5EC-20126274A4C2.jpeg
EE163E95-246D-47F1-A5EC-20126274A4C2.jpeg (291.83 KiB) Viewed 5151 times

User avatar
Temujin
Meritorious
Meritorious
Posts: 2899
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:39 pm
Commendations: 137

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Temujin » Fri Feb 11, 2022 4:21 pm

OK< finally I was able to “almost” pin this down.

First, I found this order (below) in Fold3.com (I didn’t attach the whole order but its distribution list at the end of the order)

At the end, the “distribution list” included both the 29 and 49 Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squads AND (THIS IS THE BEST PART) gave their APO 646

APO means ARMY POST OFFICE, this was the ARMY POST OFFICE number given to a specific army unit, so their mail would get to the right spot.
6668F720-77D3-48CE-8747-9245F7416EB5.jpeg
6668F720-77D3-48CE-8747-9245F7416EB5.jpeg (278.98 KiB) Viewed 5147 times

Then I got the list of ARMY POST OFFICE numbers for the period 1942 to 1947, and this record shows that APO 646 was WINCHESTER ENGLAND (right beside Worthy Park House (or very close). So I would suggest that BOTH of these units were located at or near Worthy Park House…….

Also note I have outlined FOUGERES…….this is one of the location we KNOW that the 29th OBC Squad was at in Europe (the post office number “follows” the unit wherever they go……..sorry, how do I know the 29th was in Fourgeres), when I found the History of US Bomb Disposal Squads it told me the 29th was in FOUGERES (its in a post somewhere above this)
2D2D626F-AE21-44C9-850A-D11A266895F6.jpeg
2D2D626F-AE21-44C9-850A-D11A266895F6.jpeg (227.54 KiB) Viewed 5147 times
NOTE: It also shows 2 other units at the same APO 646, the 36th BD Squad and the 3rd Platoon, 324 Ordnance Bomb Disposal Company………I’ll now do some searching and see if I can find anything on these two units the MAY help pin this down to Worthy Park House

User avatar
Temujin
Meritorious
Meritorious
Posts: 2899
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:39 pm
Commendations: 137

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Temujin » Fri Feb 11, 2022 4:35 pm

Just found another avenue of search……..the following page from the “distribution list” I post in the previous post, tells us that ALL the units in the Distribution List were attached to either:

6 Bomb Disposal Company, Royal Engineers or,,
7 Bomb Disposal Company, Royal Engineers

So with this we can also see if those two units were located near or at Worthy Park House
4357096A-775C-40C0-85B2-6F95917C4D10.jpeg
4357096A-775C-40C0-85B2-6F95917C4D10.jpeg (330.32 KiB) Viewed 5142 times

User avatar
Phil
Founder
Founder
Posts: 522
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2018 11:19 am
Commendations: 31

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Phil » Fri Feb 11, 2022 4:59 pm

Wow! Top notch work Temujin! I've been otherwise occupied today but I did reach out to a historian, Jeffrey M. Leatherwood, Ph.D., who's written a book on the origins of the U.S. Ordnance Bomb Disposal services to see if he has anything in his records relating to these squads or Worthy Park House.

https://www.ninefromaberdeen.com/officialsite
Phil

WARTIMES.ca
Please consider Donating in order to ensure the continued availability, maintenance and growth of WARTIMES.ca.

User avatar
Temujin
Meritorious
Meritorious
Posts: 2899
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:39 pm
Commendations: 137

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Temujin » Fri Feb 11, 2022 5:04 pm

Phil wrote:
Fri Feb 11, 2022 4:59 pm
Wow! Top notch work Temujin! I've been otherwise occupied today but I did reach out to a historian, Jeffrey M. Leatherwood, Ph.D., whose written a book on the origins of the U.S. Ordnance Bomb Disposal services to see if he has anything in his records relating to these squads or Worthy Park House.

https://www.ninefromaberdeen.com/officialsite
Thanks………Mark put me on the right track with his post……..Fold3 is a excellent resource “IF” you can get it to tell you where the right record is. I find I have to ‘ask it the question” in all sorts of ways until it finally pops out a page that starts to put you in the right area.

So thanks to Mark for his great find on this…..

Cheers
These users commended the author Temujin for the post:
Phil (Fri Feb 11, 2022 6:12 pm)

User avatar
Temujin
Meritorious
Meritorious
Posts: 2899
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:39 pm
Commendations: 137

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Temujin » Fri Feb 11, 2022 7:29 pm

OK, found the records I was looking for in Fold3.com

For future Reference to all, look for:

INSTALLATIONS AND OPERATING PERSONNEL BOOKLETS, ETOUSA


You have to “hunt” thru these, as they are for each month, and they are NOT in order……..

So, I was able to confirm the following:

29th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad - located in Kingsworthy on 1 May 1944

36th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad - located in Kingsworthy on 1 May 1944 (This unit was at Kingsworthy the longest, staying approx 4 months)

49th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad - located in Kingsworth on 1 May 1944

Below are the pages I found for 1 May 44, 1 Jun 44, 1 July 44, 1 Aug 44 and 1 Sept 44

NOTE: I DID find 1 Apr 44, but all 3 units were in other locations in that month. 29th in Lichfield, 36th in Aintree and 49th in Halstead. AND as you can see on the 1 Sept 44 documents again all 3 units were in Europe by then? 29th on UTAH BEACH, 36th in Etampes and 49th in Brest

I could go on, but the info below DOES CONFIRM, the 29th 36th and 49th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squads were located in Kingsworth (albeit a short time period). Please remember these were “very small units”, approx 1 Officer and 6 men each.
ADC2C7F2-C972-4D0F-AD3B-3A1CC466268F.jpeg
ADC2C7F2-C972-4D0F-AD3B-3A1CC466268F.jpeg (220.97 KiB) Viewed 5121 times
20F63580-50A7-4F01-B250-67511A5AB416.jpeg
20F63580-50A7-4F01-B250-67511A5AB416.jpeg (221.61 KiB) Viewed 5120 times
3C5B3E1F-60B4-4DC9-8C50-86BAF867576C.jpeg
3C5B3E1F-60B4-4DC9-8C50-86BAF867576C.jpeg (260.88 KiB) Viewed 5117 times
4AD34CBA-4594-44BF-B8EB-E25C0DA00BB8.jpeg
4AD34CBA-4594-44BF-B8EB-E25C0DA00BB8.jpeg (237.29 KiB) Viewed 5122 times
A9363C49-D3C8-465F-A389-40236F4BC1C7.jpeg
A9363C49-D3C8-465F-A389-40236F4BC1C7.jpeg (208.26 KiB) Viewed 5122 times
3AC969E5-21AC-4FAE-83D3-9FFAEFC191EF.jpeg
3AC969E5-21AC-4FAE-83D3-9FFAEFC191EF.jpeg (217.21 KiB) Viewed 5122 times

Worthypark
Adjunct
Adjunct
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2022 8:59 am
Commendations: 0

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Worthypark » Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:22 am

Thanks to everyone working on this topic. It's good to see factual information rather than local anecdote.
I will try to find out more about any British Army units that may also have been based there.
Derek

User avatar
Temujin
Meritorious
Meritorious
Posts: 2899
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:39 pm
Commendations: 137

Re: Worthy Park House, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Post by Temujin » Tue Feb 15, 2022 11:38 am

Worthypark wrote:
Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:22 am
Thanks to everyone working on this topic. It's good to see factual information rather than local anecdote.
I will try to find out more about any British Army units that may also have been based there.
Derek
I found one article on one of the officer’s, Capt Glenn Miller
755508CD-EDAF-443E-96EE-B8401D653749.jpeg
755508CD-EDAF-443E-96EE-B8401D653749.jpeg (369.67 KiB) Viewed 5064 times

Post Reply