Hi there, I have come to a dead end in my search for my great Uncle, Wilfred Norman fowles who MPK at Normandy on 06/06/44, he was 20 years old. I have found service no: d/JX 368512, unit HMLCA 849. But am at a loss to find anything else such as ship / how he died etc. I have been trying on and off for years but he seems to almost be forgotten and isn't even mentioned on the local monument. Long shot but just thought that I would post to see if anyone can point me in the right direction. Thank you for taking the time to read.
Greeting, Ms South. I hope to help. May I presume W.N. Fowles was of His Majesties forces? Does that make him English? And which branch of the forces? Regiment? MPK -- Missing, presumed killed? To me that says his body was not recovered or identified after battle. I understand that that was not uncommon. Some persons never even made it ashore or their bodies were rendered unidentifyable through explosion -- sad but true. The British forces, if he were one, have rather good records of soldiers, but still in the case of missing men there are errors.
Thank you for getting in touch, Interrogator≠6. Yes, he was in the Royal Navy and was an Able Seaman, indeed English. I really do not know anything else other than his Unit is listed as Quebec which I understand maybe a training camp in Scotland. There was some family speculation that has no doubt changed as time has gone by as to the ship he was assigned to, one being HMS Ceres or SIRIUS but I can't seem to find anything that suggests either of these are true. Do you know where I can get the correct contact for the British forces to ask, I seem not to be able to attain the information? Indeed a body was not recovered to the family knowledge, circumstances regarding his death have never been discussed with the family with is the hardest thing...not knowing. Thank you again for your reply and I hope to keep in touch.
Thank you for the mystery. 1) W. N. Fowles, RN, d/JX 368512 2) HMLCA 849 3) Camp QUEBEC, Scotland? Taking line 3 first: I suspect Quebec was a temporary training camp for the navy, using the Alphabetic letter Q -- for Quebec. It was common for common and temporary facilities to be given a letter of the alphabet, in this case Q. Line 2: I suspect: His Majesties Landing Craft type A #849, but I am only guessing. I am guessing W.N Fowles was an Able Bodied seaman assigned to #849 for the purposes of landing troops on D-day (6 June, 1944). And I suspect his was one of the ones destroyed, possibly by direct artillery hit or a mine. If it were either case there would have been no bodies to recover. HMLCA might also be Landing Craft Armour (carrying AFV). I am doing a lot of guessing, perhaps educated guessing but guessing none the less. I wish one of our Royal Navy experts would speak up.
HM Landing Craft Assault: http://www.scribd.com/doc/198889738/ONI-226-Allied-Landing-Craft-1943 HMS Quebec: http://www.combinedops.com/Training No1 CTC.htm Listed here: Not as casualty on HMLCA 849 http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1944-06JUN1.htm HMS Quebec June 1944: https://archive.org/stream/navylistjun1944v2grea#page/2726/mode/2up
So sorry for the late reply, I haven't been too well and have had trouble finding this thread again with not being familiar with the site yet. Thank you so much for replying and giving me your expert knowledge. I have looked at all the links you have sent and also searched the internet with some of the other information you gave me. I feel like I know a little more now about what was happening and that it all links together better. Thank you so much for taking the time to check all of this out for me, I really felt like I was at a standing stop and couldn't find anything further out. I have shown my family all the information you have given me and they send their gratitude also. There is information here that really has opened our eyes and is helping to try to understand "Norman's" (as he was known as) training days and indeed D-day. I will carry on searching in the hope that more information will be available at some time. I can not thank you enough for taking the time to help us
http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/340417/contribution/inveraray hms quebec/FNLnf_37472/ HMS Quebec - Scotlands History
