The Wartime Memories Project
The Second World War - Day by Day.

Home>Date Index


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site

please consider making a donation.




    Site Home

    WW2 Home

    Add Stories

    WW2 Search

    Library

    Help & FAQs


 WW2 Features

    Airfields

    Allied Army

    Allied Air Forces

    Allied Navy

    Axis Forces

    Home Front

    Battles

    Prisoners of War

    Allied Ships

    Women at War

    Those Who Served

    Day-by-Day

    Library

    The Great War

 Submissions

    Add Stories

    Time Capsule

    TWMP on Facebook



    Childrens Bookshop

 FAQ's

    Help & FAQs

    Glossary

    Volunteering

    Contact us

    News

    Bookshop

    About


Advertisements











World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

24th June 1944

On this day:





If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.




Remembering those who died this day.

  • Allmand Michael. Capt. (d.24th June 1944)
  • Connolly Gerard Alphonsus. S/Sgt (d.24th June 1944)
  • Connolly Gerard A.. S/Sgt. (d.24th June 1944)
  • Hornell David Ernest. F/Lt. (d.24 June 1944)
  • Jenkins Ivor Bramwell. P/O. (d.24th June 1944)
  • Kyte Ernest Reginald John. Cpl. (d.24th Jun 1944)
  • Loohuizen Alphonso Julius . F/O (d.24th June 1944)
  • Moore William Jesse. Cpl. (d.24th June 1944)
  • Sellman Ernest Leonard. Tpr. (d.24th June 1944)

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List



The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements



  • The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web.
  • 28th March 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263784 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
  • Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's
  • The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.
    If you enjoy this site

    please consider making a donation.


Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text.



We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates.

If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page.


Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home.

If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion
Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.



Want to know more about the 24th of June 1944?


There are:64 items tagged 24th of June 1944 available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.




Stories from 24th June 1944





S/Sgt Gerard Alphonsus Connolly. British Army, Royal Artillery. (d.24th June 1944)

My father, Gerard Connolly, served in the British Army for 20 years. He went in to the Boys Service. He served in India in 1934, where I was born. My mother died three weeks before my father was killed in Italy, he is buried in Assis. They left five children.

Sally O'Hare



Tpr. Ernest Leonard Sellman. British Army, 43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment. (d.24th June 1944)

My uncle, Ernest Leonard Sellman was a trooper in the British Army, 43rd 2/5th Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment. He died on 24th June 1944 when his cargo ship, the Derrycunihy, struck a mine off the Normandy landing beaches (Juno) and broke in two, killing over half the crew. This is all I know of my uncle. I don't have any photos from his military service. I would love to know if anyone has any further information about his regiment or if anyone knew him personally. This would be enormously appreciated as he was much loved by his family and I would like to be able to pass on information to my own family.

Editors Note: The unit was called 43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment (formerly 5th battalion the Gloucester Regiment TA). HQ,A and C Squadrons sailed on the Derrycunnihy. On 18 June 1944 HQ, A and C squadrons embarked at West India Docks, London, aboard Motor Transport Ship (MTS) T72, a general purpose cargo ship named the MV Derrycunihy. T72 joined a convoy off Southend-on-Sea and arrived off Sword Beach on the evening of 20 June. High seas and enemy shelling prevented unloading for three days and it was decided to move T72 to Juno Beach for disembarkation. As the ship started engines at 07.40 on the morning of 24 June it detonated an acoustic or 'Oyster' mine dropped by one of the nightly Luftwaffe raiders. The mine exploded under the keel, splitting the ship in two, and the after part, packed with men of 43 Recce, sank rapidly. Worse still, a 3-tonner ammunition lorry caught fire, and oil floating on the water was set alight. Landing craft and the gunboat HMS Locust quickly came alongside and picked up survivors, most of whom were evacuated to SS Cap Touraine, a former French liner. The Regimental War Diary records that 'Great gallantry was displayed by all troops in the two aft holds' and lists 183 men of the regiment lost and about 120 others evacuated wounded. In addition, 25 of the ship's crew (including Army gunners) died in the disaster, which represented the biggest single loss of life off the invasion beaches. In the days following the sinking, the survivors were formed into a composite squadron and most of 43 Recce's vehicles were landed from the beached fore part of the "Derrycunihy". B Sqn arrived from England, together with the first reinforcements. A complete squadron was transferred to 43 Recce from the reinforcement unit, 161st (Green Howards) Reconnaissance Regiment. The regimental war diary can be viewed at National Archives in Kew. There are a number of websites for the Recce unit. There are family records on Ancestry which seem quite comprehensive.

Ruth Curtin



F/O Alphonso Julius Loohuizen. Royal Air Force, No.320(Dutch)Squad. (d.24th June 1944)

On 24th June 1944 a RAF plane, a Mitchell FR204 NO-S of 320 squadron, was hit by flak in one engine and crashed into the sea 4 miles off the French coast.

Crew members were:

  • F/O Alphonso Julius Loohuizen - KIA - buried in Grebbeberg 8-9
  • F/O Joost Sluis- KIA - buried in Enkhuizen F8-10
  • Sgt Julius Alphons Michel Andries Hielckert - KIA - buried in Grebbeberg 8-10
  • Cpl Henri Johann Keppler - KIA - Buried in Grebbeberg 8-11

S Flynn



P/O. Ivor Bramwell "Taffy" Jenkins. RAFVR, 59 Squadron. (d.24th June 1944)

My uncle, P.O. Ivor Bramwell Jenkins, was pilot of Liberator V H (FL977). It was on patrol on June 24th 1944. He was returning after a 16 hour flight to Ballykelly. The fog was so bad that he tried 3 time to land but crashed into Benvenegah mountain. All on board were killed. The Irish Wreckology world war 2 group built a memorial cross at the site of the crash. As the sole surviving relative of the family, I am most grateful for this. The account of the crash is in the book,"Covering the Approaches" by John Quinn and Alan Reilly.

Update: Taffy Jenkins was the son of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Jenkins, of Blaengarw. He died age 24 is buried at Row G. Grave 23 Pontycymmer Cemetery.

Morton Jenkins



Cpl. Ernest Reginald John Kyte. British Army, 43rd Recce Regiment. (d.24th Jun 1944)

My Grandfather Jack Kyte died when the MTS MV Derrycunihy exploded with huge loss of life. My father and brother visited the British Cemetery at Bayeux several times and found his name on the memorial. We haven't much info about his army career (as my father was only 10 at the time and can't remember so much about him). We are aware of some of the events leading up to the tragedy but little afterwards or whether any items were ever retrieved in the years that followed. I have tried unsuccessfully for many years now to find a copy of the book "Record of a Reconnaissance Regiment, a history of the 43rd Recon Reg (the Gloucester Regiment) 1939-45" but a copy remains elusive. If anyone knows where I could get a copy, my father would appreciate it.

Steve Kyte










Can you help us to add to our records?

The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them


Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area?

If so please let us know.

Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.




Celebrate your own Family History

Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.

Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.














The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.

The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.



Hosted by:

The Wartime Memories Project Website

is archived for preservation by the British Library





Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved

We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.