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WO2. Edward H. Butler DCM.. British Army Royal Army Service Corps Firstly, I am not a relative of Edward Butler.
I am a medal collector and also mount medals for wear and undertake to frame medals and ephemera for relatives.
I have just completed framing a group of six medals, a photograph, badges etc. and also a copy of the citation for his DCM taken from the London Gazette, October, 1918.
His medals are: Distinguished Conduct Medal,
British War Medal 1914 - 1919,
Victory Medal 1914 - 1918,
Territorial Force War Medal,
Defence Medal 1939 - 1945 and
Territorial Force Efficiency Medal.
He was initially a WO2 with the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry then with the 6th Battalion, Royal Wiltshire Regiment. His Territorial Force Efficiency Medal (GvR) was awarded for service with the R.A.S.C.
His citation reads:
Sjt. E. H. Butler (Warminster)
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion
to duty. After the enemy had succeeded in
pressing back the right flank, he formed
near him into a Lewis Gun team and
covered the retirement of the troops on
the right, and repulsed a frontal attack,
inflicting heavy casualties on the
enemy. By his courage and resource he
saved a critical situation. (3rd Oct 1918)
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Pfc. Edwin James Butler . United States Army Medical Detachment, Corregidor from North Carolina (d.7 February 1945) Died in POW Camp Fukuoka 17 in Japan and was a Survivor of the Hell Ship the Oryoku Maru.
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Fred W. Butler . I was a POW at Stalag Luft 1 Barth from Feb 1944 to May 1945 and was one of twelve "Kriegies" who decided to walk to freedom and out of Germany from North Compound I. I was accompanied by Harry Korger, Bill Reichle and Bill Dallas to name a few. The rest of the names escape me. It was after the Russians had arrived and they helped us by ferrying us to the mainland by boat two at a time. I'm trying to remember the whole story.
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Pte. George James Elijah Butler . British Army East Kent Regiment My father, Private George James Elijah Butler served with the East Kent Regiment (The Buffs. He was captured in Belgium in 1940 and sent to POW Camp Stalag XXA13. His prisoner number was 12556.
In WW2 my father, along with a great many others, was a part of the British Expeditionary Forces that was sent to Belgium to fight the Germans. He was in the Royal East Kent Regiment (The Buffs). His battalion was 20 men over strength making it 1020 men in all.
He told me that he didn't have a tin hat - he only had a beret - and his mate had a tin hat but didn't like it, so they swapped. He went on to say that this helped to save his life, because shrapnel hit the tin hat and made a hole in it. He also was saved by his tin mug and tin plate in his kit bag because they stopped a spent bullet that hit the kit bag. They were sent over to Belgium without adequate weapons or supplies to be able fight the Germans. As a result, 1000 men lost their lives. At the end of the battle the twenty who were left were ordered to surrender. He was captured before the fall of Dunkirk.
When he was captured he, along with a great number of others, was paraded in a large sports stadium. They were being paraded in front of Adolf Hitler and other top Nazis. I remember my father telling me that a German guard told him to stand to attention. He told me the answer he gave the guard and it's a wonder he wasn't shot by the guard.
He was force-marched into Poland via Holland with many other British troops. He ended up in Stalag XXA13 in Poland. He made three escape attempts, but did not make a home run.
On one of the escape attempts he and some of his mates removed some iron bars which were set into a frame that was set into the stone work of a window that overlooked a road and climbed out straight on to the road. Their mates then put the iron bars back in place. They were all recaptured. After they came out of solitary he was told by his friends that the SS came to try to find out how they manage to escape. His mates told him that the SS officer reached up and pulled on the iron bars and the bars gave way and fell on top of him. My father told me that he wished he hadn't escaped that time, because he would have loved to seen the bars fall on the SS officer.
During another escape they removed a large stone block from the wall which was replaced by their mates once they had made their escape.
Another of the escapes was when he was working on a farm. The German sergeant pulled out his gun and told all the prisoners that he would shoot anybody that tried to escape while he was in charge. My father told me that became a challenge to him and his mate. So they both did a bunk as soon as the guard's back was turned.
They were both recaptured by the Polish police and were held at the police station until they could be escorted back to the prison camp. The guard who came to escort them back to the prison camp was the same sergeant who had said he would shoot anyone that escaped while he was in charge. So my father and his mate told the Polish police officer that if they went back with that sergeant he would shoot them before they got back to the camp and they told him what the German sergeant had said to them. So the Polish police officer phoned the prison camp and asked for a German officer to come and escort them back to the camp because the sergeant has told the prisoners that he intended to shoot them.
On one of my father's escapes he was put in a concentration camp when he was recaptured until the camp guards could come and pick him up to escort him back to the prison camp.
He told me how he was put to work on a farm and that the farmer's son was trying to shoot crows for food and that he wasn't a very good shot, so my dad persuaded the farmer's son to let him have the gun to shoot the crows for him. So my father ended up shooting the crows. It was a good job that there were no German guards about at the time. My father was a marksman with a rifle and Bren gun.
The atrocities he saw I cannot put here - there were many of them. He suffered all his life with bad health because of being a POW. He had nightmares most of his life because of what he had seen. He also survived a 600 mile death march.
I am now trying to find out as much as I can about his service record because when he was alive he would not tell me as much as I would have liked him to.
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P/O Harry Albert Clarence "Hac" Butler . Royal Australian Air Force 40 Squadron from Sydney, Australia My father, Harry Bulter enlisted June 42 aged 18 years 270 days. His initial training was at Point Cook, Victoria. He embarked for the UK in July 43 and arrived at 40 Squadron on 27.7.1944. We have a photo of the crew he flew with on his first operational flight, as an observer. The target was Ploesti. The photo clearly shows the effects of anti aircraft fire on the Wellington Mk 10 as it had being picked up by the master beam. My father returned to Ploesti twice more. His best man (Perce Harris) was also a pilot serving in the same squadron and he also completed two trips to Ploesti and his tour. On one occasion over Ploesti my father was attacked by a JU 88 night fighter. His tail gunner was credited with the destruction of the JU 88 and was awarded the DFC. My father completed his tour with his crew and was discharged in 1945.
My father's log book was stolen and on very rare occasions got to learn that it has been auctioned. I understand some pilot from either the Luftwaffe or Romania wrote of their experiences including Ploesti and we (my brother and sister) are keen to get a copy as it cites the action described previously.
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AB Horace Henry George "Lofty" Butler . Royal Navy HMS Penelope from Gravesend, Kent My father Horace Butler was a H.O. rating - joining HMS Penelope in New York 9th August 1942. He was wounded in action on 7th October 1943, in the Mediterranean. He was subsequently hospitalised in Alexandria, Egypt. Failing to recover in time to rejoin his ship, which was sunk in 1944. My father's action station was in a gun turret (presumed 6" turret). Whilst under attack he left a small wooden seat within the turret, when a shell penetrated the turret and hit the wooden seat which my father had been sitting on moments earlier, the shell failed to explode, but flying shrapnel wounded my father, resulting in his hospitalization. My father saw no further action prior to being discharged in 1946.
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Sgt. James Butler . British Army Royal Artillery from Belfast James Butler served with the Royal Artillery.
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Pte. James Butler . British Army 65th Regiment Royal Artillery from Belfast In 1939 in Belfast, my father James Butler joined the Royal Artillery as a gunner. He served in Egypt, Ceylon, and Burma. In 1945, he was mustered to the Royal Engineers. When he was demobbed, he worked in the R.E.M.E. in Hollywood, County Down, Northern Ireland.
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John Butler . Navy HMS Ayreshire My father, John Butler RNVR who passed away in March 2008, was sent to HMS Royal Arthur for his training. He was posted to HMS Ayreshire as a signalman on completion of his training. His most memorable undertaking he related to me came from his ship's part in the north Atlantic convoy PQ17.
The photo is of class 219. My father is in the back row 5 from the left.
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P.O. John William "Lofty" Butler DSM.. Royal Navy HMS Cossack from Copnor, Portsmouth, Hants. My Dad, J.W.Butler joined HMS Cossack in 1938 as an AB and left as Petty Officer, Capt 'B' MTG. He recieved the DSM for action in Second Battle of Narvick, when he was responsible for putting out of action an effective shore battery when Cossack was aground and on fire, his gun crew were dead or injured and he had to move some bodies to be able to fire his gun. Dad was also a member of the boarding party which rescued the British prisoners aboard the Altmark. I am very proud of my Dad xx
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Drvr. John Tyson Butler . British Army 205 Company Royal Army Service Corps from 'The Glen', Seascale, Cumberland Unable to supply personal details as my father-in-law, John Butler did not speak about the war.
All the information is gathered from his army record and other sources.
He was called up on 26th February 1942 and moved with 21st Army Group to France on the 26th June 1944.
I only know the general movements of 502 Coy from a book I acquired, 'D day to VE day with the R. A. S. C.@ by C.J. Tatham, Major, R. A. S. C. which is an account of landing in France and the Journey to Berlin.
- 27th February 1942 TOS of 42 Armd Div Tps Coy RASC.
- 26th March 1942 TOS 10 Armd Bde Coy RASC
- 20th July 1942 unit re designated 30 Armd Bde 502 Coy RASC
- 11th December 1942 attached to 71st Inf Bde Coy
- 1st July 1943 Driver training at Ampleforth House
- 20th June 1944 moved to France with 502 Coy
- Various attachments and assignments
213 Field Ambulance
53 RHV
51 RHV
- 25th August 1945 Retuen UK to C Coy 2H Bn RASC
- 21st Sept 1945 disembarked Bombay
- Various duties until
- August 1946 returned to UK
- 10th October 1946 released from service to reserves
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Aircraftman 2nd Class Joseph Harrison Butler . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from England (d.1st April 1945) Joseph Harrison is remembered on the Nassau Memorial in the Bahamas.
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Sgt. Joseph A. "Gussie" Butler MM.. British Army Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (d.23th Nov 1944) Joseph Butler was a tank comander. He served in the North African Campaign as well as the D-Day Landings and Europe.
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JS Butler . British Army Kings Own Scottish Borderers JS Butler served with the Kings Own Scottish Borderers British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project are no longer in touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Sgt. Lionel Wembley Henry Butler . Royal Air Force 166 Squadron from Edinburgh (d.27th Sep 1943) My great uncle, Lionel Butler, was an air gunner with 166 Squadron according to the Commonwealth War Graves. He died aged 19 in 1943 and I am looking for some more information on his brief time served during the war.
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M Butler . British Army M Butler served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project are no longer in touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Pte. Maurice Arthur "Reece" Butler . British Army 5th Battalion Royal East Kent Regiment from Goudhurst, Kent My father, Maurice Arthur Butler, known as Reece, enlisted at Cranbrook, Kent in the Territorial Reserve on 2nd Feb 1939. When war was declared he enlisted as Private 6287454, 5th battalion, The Royal East Kent Regiment - The Buffs. He was initially stationed at Dover, guarding the Folkstone to Dover railway tunnel although his preference was cooking so he became batman to the company commander.
His battalion left for France on the 19th April 1940 and, although they were a working battalion, they quickly became involved in conflict but it is not clear where he fought. He said, in a roughly typed story he produced many years later, “we were sent to France where we were surrounded by Jerry. Four of us got away and tried to reach the coast. We traveled by night hiding by day in woods (close to) the village of Frevent. We were captured in a wood close to the coast and taken to Lille Prison. From there on to Germany to Stalag VIIIB, from there he moved to Teshen when VIIIB became 344.”
In his belongings was a notebook titled “Poems, collected at Birkental No 36 working party and No 6”. I cannot find any reference to Birkental, so I don’t know what sort of camp this was or when he was there. There are about 18 contributors to the collection, as well as my father: - Alec Wilson,
- George Roast (Hastings),
- Drum Major A Wilson,
- Tich Crane,
- A K Nash,
- W G H Brown,
- Sgt F R Creer,
- L/Cp N Farrar,
- G R Gratton,
- Denis L Hoy,
- Sapper P T Brice,
- Gunner A Maxwell,
- William Mitchell,
- L/CplBetteridge,
- Bernard A Kettle,
- Pte McCready,
- Frank Nicolson
- Maurice A Savill
.
In his time as a POW he spent much of it at a work camp E149 at Buchenlust. Parts of this story are not clear, even though his parents kept nearly 130 letters and cards sent by him from the camp. He became Stage Manager at the theatre (The Teschen Empire) so it is likely he was at Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf, then moved to Techen when it became VIIIB in 1943, and also spent time at E149. His movements are not clear from the letters as they are all addressed from Stalag VIIIB. We have copies of the programmes for the theatre productions and many photographs.
In a very small address book he recorded the last stages of the long march:
April 22nd, Sunday. Crossed the Danube (P)
April 29 Sunday. Released by Yanks. Thank God.
May 7. On air field
May 8. Ditto. Germ plane surrendered. War over. Civvy billets
May 9. Flew to Reims F
May 10. Arrived in England at Ford nr Brighton
He went on to have a long career as a telephone engineer with the GPO. He died after a long illness following a stroke, passing away in 1978.
If anyone can help to fill in the gaps in this story I would be most grateful.
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P/O. Murray Anderson Butler . Royal Air Force 42 Squadron from Newcastle, Ontario, Canada (d.21st June 1940) Pilot Officer (Navigator) Murray Butler was the son of Floyd Allison Butler and Isabelle Mignonette Butler of Newcastle, Ontario, Canada.
He was aged 27 when he died and is buried in the Hajaardemaal Churchyard in Denmark.
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N Butler . British Army Sherwood Foresters N Butler served with the Sherwood Foresters British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project are no longer in touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Pte Patrick Butler . British Army 2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers from Manchester Patrick Butler joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1944. He trained in India and fought in Burma 1945. He transferred to the 2nd Battalion and served as part of J Force the first units in the Japanese occupation forces based in Kure, Japan 1946.
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Sgt. Richard William Butler . Royal Air Force 106 Squadron from Bedworth, Warwickshire (d.26th Jul 1942) My father was a Lancaster pilot with 106 Squadron, based finally at Coningsby in Lincolnshire. His squadron leader at that time was Guy Gibson. My father and mother both volunteered in 1939, my mother joined the WAAF and at the time of my father's death was also based at RAF Coningsby. My father was trained as a pilot in Medicine Hat in Canada, then at OTU Kinloss. He was lost on a bomb laying operation in the Bay of Biscay at the mouth of the Gironde River near Bordeaux. Only two of the crew survived, Adams and Church, the rest were killed when the plane was shot down by a flack ship. Coningsby was the last posting for my mother as she left the WAAF on compassionate grounds because she was pregnant. Prior to that she had been based at Stafford and occasionally used to commute (beyond the permissible distance) at weekends to visit my father at RAF Kinloss. RAF Conningsby was their first posting together.
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Ronald John Butler . Royal Navy HMS Mauritius from Forestgate My grandad Ron Butler was on HMS Mauritius during World War 2. I loved hearing his stories. He told me a story that he snuck up on deck for a crafty cigarette and when he came back his bunk had been bombed, the cigarette saved his life. He promptly lost most of his hair due to the shock. I lost my grandad in 1999 aged just 73. So much love and respect for this man.
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TF Butler . British Army Royal Engineers TF Butler served with the Royal Engineers British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: Unfortunately The Wartime Memories Project are no longer in touch with Dan, his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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L/Cpl. Thomas William Butler . British Army 5th Btn. C Coy. East Yorkshire Regiment from Deptford My father Tommy Butler, was in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry but transferred to the 5th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment and served in Austria. He also talked of a best mate called Arthur Smith from Doncaster, who he believes went on to serve in the Police force. I would like to find any information about him.
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Sergeant W J Butler . RAF 59 Squadron
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Cpl. William Patrick Butler . British Army 2nd Btn. North Staffordshire Regiment from Chesterton, Newcastle-under-Lyme My Grandad, Bill Butler, joined the North Staffs Regiment in the early part of WW2. He served in the North African campaign and was wounded and taken prisoner in an attack near Medjez on 23 April 1943.
Grandad was reported missing presumed killed in action. A requiem mass was said for him at the local Catholic church in Chesterton.
Grandad always said that the attack was against Longstop Hill, and I would like to know if anyone knows where the North Staffs were on 23 April 1943.
He said he and his mates advanced but the tank support never arrived and they were wiped out by a German attack supported by tanks. I have recently checked the CWGC website for burials of North Staffs soldiers in the Messicault Cemetery and 24 are recorded as killed on that day.
He was captured by the Germans and operated on by German surgeons who sewed up his wounds (they left a rifle bullet in his chest which stayed there for 40 years until removed in the 1970s). He remembered recovering in Carthage Cathedral and then spending time in a military hospital in Tunis. One day a German medical officer came through the doors of the ward and announced: "Gentlemen, I have a visitor for you: an officer of your 8th Army". Tunis had fallen to the Allies. Grandad was repatriated to the UK and invalided out of the Army because of the injuries to his arm.
Grandad was not one for military reunions, but he told me a lot about his wartime experiences. He seemed to have enjoyed his time in the Army, though I was never too sure quite how his experience of the fighting had affected him. He had seen his friends killed in the attack in which he was wounded and he was quite matter of fact about the deaths of young men around him.
He had a lot of respect for the Germans as soldiers and he himself had been very well treated after he had been wounded. He recounted patrolling against German paratroopers and his sadness at seeing dead Germans who from their photographs were clearly family men like himself.
In 1994, we took him and my Grandma to Tunisia to visit Messicault. He had done a bit of research on where his friends were buried. It was a very moving visit. One particularly sad moment was that he discovered the grave of one friend who he thought had survived. A strange coincidence was that this chap was buried next to distant relative of mine from my dad's side, somebody we had no idea about, also from the Potteries but in the Reconnaissance Regiment.
He died in 2003 aged 90. The priest made the point at his funeral that there are not many people who have had 2 requiem masses said for them. We often think that he was so lucky to have made it to the other side of the hill and a further 60 years of life. His friends weren't so lucky. It is a beautiful cemetery, but a sad and distant place.
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Pte. William Patrick Butler . British Army 1st Battalion Beds & Hertfordshire Regiment from Watford (d.3rd Sep 1944) Bill Butler is buried in the Florence War Cemetery.
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Cpl. Leslie James Butt . Australian Army 2/11 Battalion Stalag 8b
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Dvr. Roy "Buttie" Butt . British Army Army Fire Service Royal Army Service Corps
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Guy L. Buttars . US Army My father was captured around Thanksgiving time 1944 I think. His name is Guy L. Buttars. He was captured with about 4 others I think. If anyone remembers him, I would like to here from them. He speaks of those he was with often.
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