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QOR on the Line

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80 years ago today, on D+ 14 (20 June 1944) while in the recently liberated French town of Bretteville-Orgueilleuse, the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada had a war correspondent stop by and take a series of photos that capture the moment in time.

STEN-armed Rifleman R.G. Bodie, Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, on guard in the front line, Bretteville-Orgueilleuse, France, 20 June 1944. 

Lieutenant E.M. Peto (left), 16th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers (R.C.E.), with Company Sergeant-Major Charlie Martin and Rifleman N.E. Lindenas, both of “A” Company, Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, planning where to lay a minefield, Bretteville-Orgueilleuse, France, 20 June 1944.

Rifleman R.A. Marshall, Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, pointing out a hole in his helmet made by a German sniper’s bullet on D-Day. Bretteville-Orgueilleuse, France, 20 June 1944.

Rfn B. Brueyere, Rfn D.J Briere, Rfn W.J. Simpson, and Rfn H.G.Payne interrogating a local

Cpl W. Lennox watching his arcs in Bretteville-Orgueilleuse with the courtesy of a recently acquired second-hand German MG42.

As noted by The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Regimental Museum and Archive, the war diary for 20 June included:

0530 Two bombs are dropped in D coy MR91957180 area and a good bit of concussion is felt however luckily there are no casualties.

0800 3 Cdn Inf Div Sitrep Rep

Patrol report for night of 19/20 Jun 44
Proposed Patrols for night 20/21 Jun 44
Daily Int Summary QOR of C
Int Summ #10 18 Jun 44
Trace of enemy dispositions as soon from C coy

1000 It appears at first sight as though we are being invaded by the Free French Army but it soon develops that they are the French Cmdrs of the district and are putting the regular Gendarmes back into local power. There will be five of them in the town and they will control the local population but will report to us each day for any instructions. We are also giving them transportation to enable them to bring flour into the district as they only have a supply enough to last 24 hours.

1115 Several high officers of the 15 Scottish Div arrive to recce the ground for their attack through us. Put all them together with the French Officials still around it looks like an Army HQ.

Formed on 26 April 1860– predating the Confederation of Canada by seven years– as the Second Battalion Volunteer Militia Rifles, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada (a title it earned in 1882) is the country’s oldest continuously serving infantry regiment, a lineage acquired after 1953 when it was amalgamated with the 1st and Canadian Rifle Battalions to form the current unit. After serving in the Fienan Wars, the North-West Rebellion, fighting the Boer, and earning two dozen battle honors on the Western Front against the Kaiser, the Queen’s Own Rifles got into WWII combat at Normandy.

The QOR, part of the 8th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, hit Juno Beach at Bernieres-sur-mer at 0812 on D-Day, with A Company on the right and B Company on the left in the first wave while C and D companies along with the Battalion Headquarters coming in just eight minutes later, losing 61 men that morning.

In all, they would remain in combat all through France and across Northeast Europe until VE Day, earning 10 more battle honors and paying for them with the last full measure of 463 of the Queen’s Own killed in action and buried in Europe. Meanwhile “almost 900 were wounded, many two or three times. Sixty more QOR personnel were killed serving with other units in Hong Kong, Italy, and Northwest Europe.”

Post-WWII, they saw service in Korea, NATO duty in Germany, UN duty in Cyprus, and more limited deployments to Cambodia, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Darfur, and Sudan.

Today, the Queens Own Rifles are garrisoned in Moss Park Armoury, Toronto, as part of the 32 Bde Group.

The regiment’s motto is In Pace Paratus (In peace prepared).

Just Good Times on the Smoking Deck

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How about this great circa 1988 shot of an unidentified sailor in UDT shorts and a chocolate chip boonie firing from the hip at a target floating behind the wooden-decked Aggressive/Agile-class ocean minesweeper USS Esteem (MSO 438), “somewhere in the Persian Gulf.” The rifle seems to be an XM177.

USN Photo 330-CFD-DN-ST-89-02593 by PH2 Alexander C. Hicks, Jr., USN, via NARA 6443568

The 172-foot Esteem, one of 93 members of her class, was built by the Martinolich Shipbuilding Co. of San Diego in the days after the U.S. Navy had an abrupt experience with sea mines off Korea in 1950 and she joined the fleet in 1955.

After lots of service in the Far East through the Vietnam era (earning six Vietnam Service Medals as well as the Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation), by 1987 she was sent to the Persian Gulf, based in Bahrain with a lot of her sisters to combat a rash of mines left bobbing around in the wake of the Iran-Iraq War, a page in the largely forgotten story of Navy MCM during that period.

Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register on 30 September 1991 after 36 years of service, she was laid up at Bremerton until disposed of for sale in 2000 and scrapped soon after.

Good Luck and Godspeed, Gen. Anders

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Rest in peace, Maj. Gen. (ret.) William “Bill” Anders (USNA 1955), who passed away last Friday in San Juan Islands, Washington state, at the age of 90.

Apollo 8 was the first manned Saturn V mission, and the first to orbit the moon

(27 Dec. 1968) — “The Apollo 8 crew stands in the doorway of a recovery helicopter after arriving aboard the carrier USS Yorktown, the prime recovery ship for the historic Apollo 8 lunar orbit mission. Left to right, are astronauts Frank Borman, commander; James A. Lovell Jr., command module pilot; and William A. Anders, lunar module pilot. Apollo 8 splashed down at 10:51 a.m. (EST), Dec. 27, 1968, in the central Pacific approximately 1,000 miles south-southwest of Hawaii.” (NASA Photo S69-15737 )

Of the Apollo 8 Astronauts, only Jim Lovell now remains.

Born in 1933, Bill began his career as an Air Force pilot and, earning a master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering in 1962, Major Anders was selected two years later to join NASA’s astronaut corps, serving as backup pilot for the Gemini XI and Apollo 11 flights, and lunar module pilot for Apollo 8– among the first man to orbit the moon, which he accomplished as a “space rookie” at age 35.

He later served as chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ambassador to Norway, and served on the board of General Dynamics.

Of the Apollo Astronauts who only flew to the moon, Biloxi’s Fred Haise, and Lovell are the last two among us. Only four moonwalkers are left, David Scott, Charles Duke, Harrison Schmitt, and Buzz Aldrin.

Ad Astra.

A Print Icon Returns…

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Growing up in the 1970s and 80s, my grandfather had lasting subscriptions to three preeminent periodicals that every southern gentleman of the day was familiar with: National Geographic, Playboy, and Field & Steam— and I dearly attempted (and usually failed in the case of Mr. Hefner’s publication) to get my hot little hands on both the current issue and stacks of back issues haunting the ponderosa.

However, print is all but dead. Hefner passed in 2017 (long after he lost control of his magazine), in 2020 Field & Stream (and sister Outdoor Life) ceased publication of its print edition, and Nat Geo followed suit in halting the sale of its print magazine earlier this year.

Well, it looks like F&S at least may be trying to make a comeback.

Hitting the streets this month is a glossy 10×12 160-page print edition of Field & Stream, with a very familiar feel to it.

From the presser:

The inaugural 2024 Field & Stream Journal, officially out on June 5th, features a rich mix of stories, including a horse-packing adventure in British Columbia; personal essays of fathers and sons and their mutual love for wild places; a ranking of the best top-water lures ever; and trout-fishing tips for this summer’s cicada invasion. Eric Church also shares a tale of his own in the first installment of his brand-new F&S column, “Church Country.” His story, titled “Seed Ticks,” recounts the first time he visited the property where he would eventually build a fishing cabin. The humorous—and, at times, nail-biting—yarn takes readers on an outdoor adventure with his wife and father-in-law, complete with a car chase, jungle survival, and a full-fledged war on microscopic bloodsuckers.

For those interested, subscriptions will be a hefty $45 for two issues on a biannual publication schedule (Spring and Fall) or single copies for $25 plus shipping. Digital will be $15.

Omaha Dog White

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The hand-drawn map shows the exit path of the first troops, 0855 hrs, on Omaha Beach, 6 June 1944. This sketch is illustration 19a from the 29th Infantry Division‘s combat narrative by 1Lt. John T. “Jack” Shea.

National Archives Identifier 6922052

The Massachusetts-born Shea, attached to the HHC of the 29th ID, earned a Silver Star on D-Day, hitting a still scorching hot beach with a part of the 116th Infantry Regiment in the second wave, approximately one hour after H-Hour. He was far from alone. In all, the men of the 29th would earn no less than 854 Silver Stars during the war, in addition to a pair of MoHs and 6,308 Bronze Stars. 

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant (Infantry) John T. Shea (ASN: 0-445928), United States Army, for gallantry in action while serving with the 29th Infantry Division. On 6 June 1944, during the initial assault on the beaches of Northern France, First Lieutenant Shea voluntarily joined a reconnaissance party which entered, from the rear, the heavily defended beach exit at Vierville-sur-Mer to determine the enemy dispositions at that place. Although exposed to enemy observation and fire from fortified positions in the hills overlooking the beach exit, and to friendly naval gunfire which was being directed against the enemy positions at or near this beach exit, this patrol accomplished its mission, obtained much valuable information, and captured prisoners. In his active participation in this successful and hazardous reconnaissance, without regard for his own safety, First Lieutenant Shea demonstrated a high degree of courage which reflects great credit on himself and the military service.

D-Day Dress, Platoon Leader. This item is illustration 20a from the 29th Infantry Combat Narrative by Lieutenant Jack Shea.

National Archives Identifier 18558249

Shea was the aide de camp to Maj. Gen. Norman Daniel “Dutch” Cota (the 29th’s assistant division commander) from November 1943 until 22 July 1944 when he was wounded at St. Lo. Cota, never one to shrug off personal combat, is often credited with inadvertently creating the Rangers’ motto, when, bumping into Col. Max Schneider, commander of the 5th Ranger Battalion, on the beach at D-Day, Cota asked, “What outfit is this?” Someone yelled, “5th Rangers!” Cota replied, “Well, God damn it, if you are Rangers, then get up there and lead the way!”

Shea, who had a background was journalism before the war and filed perhaps the most detailed first-hand account of combat from Omaha Beach with the 29th ID, was later attached to the Army’s Historical Division until he left the military in 1947.

He survived the war and passed in 1984.

Of note, the 29th ID suffered 28,776 casualties during 242 days of combat in WWII.

Just a ciggy break and a Schmeisser

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80 Years Ago today. 24 May 1944. Here we see an S&W Victory .38 revolver-armed and cigarette-equipped LT W. Smith, along with platoon Sergeant F.G. White, armed with a captured German MP40 SMG– often incorrectly dubbed a “Schmeisser”– of the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR), taking a breather in Pontecorvo, Italy. The two are clad in denim cotton battledress.

Note the good sergeant also has a Mills bomb at the ready while the fact that both men have field glasses count point to them being members of a recon element. The Canadian troops had entered the Liri Valley city that morning, after the breakthrough of the Hitler Line, and found it completely in ruins.

Canadian Army Photo by LT C.E. Nye, who has some 275 images digitized in the Library and Archives Canada. The above is MIKAN 3202714, PA-144722

Pontecorvo May 24, 1944, Canadian troops enter the ruins of the city after hard fighting. (Canadian Army Overseas Photo)

With a lineage that goes back to the War of 1812 and the Fenian Raids but a name that was only bestowed in 1902 after service in the Boer Wars, the RCR was bled white at the Somme, Arras, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele during the Grear War.

At the outbreak of WWII, the RCR was deployed as part of the 1st Canadian Division, garrisoned England for four years, then finally hit the beach in Sicily (Operation Husky) followed by the amphibious action at Reggio di Calabria on the Italian mainland. The RCR fought up the Italian boot, including key battles around the Moro River valley near Ortona in December 1943, and the battles on the Hitler and Gothic lines in 1944.

Sent in February 1945 to join the First Canadian Army in Northwest Europe for Operation Goldflake, they ended the war in Holland, where they inherited lots more German hardware. 

Privates J.A. Taylor and J.D. Villeneuve of the Royal Canadian Regiment stacking rifles turned in by surrendering German soldiers, IJmuiden, Netherlands, 11 May 1945. LAC 3211669

A common theme that would follow them to Korea in 1951. 

Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment, with assorted captured DP-28 and PPS 43s in Korea.

The Royal Canadian Regiment has been awarded a total of 61 battle honours since 1812, including 27 for its WWII service.

Comprising three active and one reserve battalion today, their headquarters is at Garrison Petawawa in Ontario.

 

Old Crow Flies Onward

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The last American “Triple Ace,” Brig. Gen Clarence Emil “Bud” Anderson passed away yesterday at the ripe old age of 102.

Born in Oakland in 1922, he enlisted as an aviation cadet with the USAAF right after Pearl Harbor and earned both his butter bar and lead wings by September 1942.

After cutting teeth on the P-39, he joined the 363rd FS, in England flying early model P-51Bs in January 1944 and bagged his first (of six) Messerschmitt Fb 109s on 3 March and, upgraded to a bubble canopy P-51D, by the end of the war would add a He 111 bomber and five Fw 190s to his scorecard, ending the war with 16.25 aerial victories spanning 116 sorties.

Both of Bud Anderson’s Mustangs were dubbed “Old Crow” after the rock gut whisky, the later, P-51D-10-NA Mustang, AAF Ser. No. 44-14450 B6-S, seen here.

Post-war, Anderson continued on active service with the USAF as a test pilot, squadron, and wing commander, ultimately logging over 7,000 hours in over 100 types and retired in 1972 as a full bird colonel, later upgraded to a star in 2022.

He earned two Legion of Merits, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star, 16 Air Medals, the French Legion of Honor, and the French Croix de Guerre, among other decorations.

He passed in his sleep at his home in Auburn, California last Friday.

Via the CAF

Happy Mother’s Day from Kwajalein

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Here we see a group of hardy USAAF men clustered in front of B-24J-1-CO Liberator Come Closer (S/N 42-72973) of the 38th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 30th Bomb Group, 7th Air Force, sending Mother’s Day wishes, likely in 1944, where it was stationed from March to August of that year.

For an, um, closer look at the Sad Sack nose art of Come Closer III check out this image of an ordnance crew prepping a bomb load on Kwajalein on 9 April 1944.

The USAAF Nose Art Project details about Come Closer:

Assigned to the crew of John A Runge, this Liberator flew numerous missions to the Japanese bases at Truk and later several missions softening up Iwo Jima prior to the Marines’ amphibious landing.

As noted by a page on Fold3, which lists Come Closer as completing 100 missions successfully:

The new “J” Models first appeared on the line at San Diego in August 1943. They would be equipped with a nose turret as well as other improvements on the D Models which are discontinued—Of the 51 aircraft in this 1st block of J Models, 35 of them were assigned to the newly forming 30th Bombardment Group, the 27th, 38th and 392nd Bomb Squadrons. Another 14 were sent to replace losses in the 11th B.G. which had already been deployed in Central & South Pacific areas. Those squadrons were the 26th, 42nd, 98th and 431st.

According to Joe Baugher, Come Closer III survived the war, is currently owned by Paul Peters, and is under restoration to fly in Chino, California.

Indirect Fire Support, Direct from Anzio

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How about this great series of period photos, all captured 80 years ago today by the same British Army shutterbug, showing 46th (Liverpool Welsh) Royal Tank Regiment tracks in use in the indirect artillery role in the Anzio bridgehead, 5 May 1944. The Shermans look like M4A2 welded hull models with VVS (vertical volute spring) suspension.

Army photo by SGT. Radford, No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit. IWM NA 14603

“Empty 75mm HE shell cases being collected from 46th (Liverpool Welsh) Royal Tank Regiment M4 Sherman tanks, used in the indirect artillery role in the Anzio bridgehead, 5 May 1944. L/Cpl J. Owens– left– of 82 Milman Road, Liverpool, and Sgm E.A. Woolley of 42 Church Road, Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay, N. Wales.” Note Woolley’s ciggy and cross-draw service revolver hanging low and at the ready. 

Army photo by SGT. Radford, No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit. IWM NA 14606

“75mm HE shells being loaded into a 46th (Liverpool Welsh) Royal Tank Regiment Sherman tank, used in the indirect artillery role in the Anzio bridgehead, 5 May 1944. LT D. Bayfield of Hove, Sussex, hands a round through the revolver port. In the background in SGT H.S. McCormac of 34, Munsell Road, Fairfield, Liverpool.” Note the good lieutenant’s RTR black beret and squared-away pistol belt. IWM NA 14605

Formed as the duplicate of the 40th (King’s) Royal Tank Regiment in Liverpool in 1939 upon mass mobilization, the 46th (Liverpool Welsh) RTR, the two regiments joined with the 50th RTR to form the 23rd Armored Bde as part of the 8th Armored Division. Shipping out to Suez in May 1942, where they were given a mix of Valentines and Matildas with which they fought across Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia under Monty.

By the time of the Salerno landings (Operation Avalanche) in September 1943, the 46th had been re-equipped with the Shermans they would use throughout their climb up the Italian boot and their eventual transfer to Greece as part of Arkforce in August 1944, where they would remain through until demobilization after the end of the Second World War.

Welcome back, Awesome Aggie

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Carrying the name of the legendary Greek king, the first HMS Agamemnon in the Royal Navy had earned a host of battle honors when in her prime. By 1805, she was an aging 64-gun third-rate that had seen better days and rightfully should have been condemned. Still, given a reprieve from the shipbreakers to serve as part of Nelson’s weather column at Trafalgar, she closed with and helped force the surrender of the first-rate 112-gun Spanish four-decker Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, complete with the deafened and injured RADM Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros aboard. Her “Trafalgar 1805” battle honor joined a quartet (Ushant 1781, The Saints 1782, Genoa 1795, Copenhagen 1801) she had already picked up.

Incidentally, Agamemnon was one of five ships that Nelson had commanded, and is regarded as his favorite. 
 

An 1807 composite painting by Nicholas Pocock showing five of the ships in which Nelson served as a captain and flag officer from the start of the French Wars in 1793 to his death in 1805. The artist has depicted them drying sails in a calm at Spithead, Portsmouth, and despite the traditional title, two of them were not strictly flagships. The ship on the left in bow view is the ‘Agamemnon’, 64 guns. It was Nelson’s favorite ship, which he commanded as a captain from 1793. Broadside on is the ‘Vanguard’, 74 guns, his flagship at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 flying a white ensign and his blue flag as Rear-Admiral of the Blue at the mizzen. Stern on is the ‘Elephant’, 74 guns, his temporary flagship at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. She is flying the blue ensign from the stern and Nelson’s flag as Vice-Admiral of the Blue at her foremast. In the center distance is the ‘Captain’, 74 guns, in which Nelson flew a commodore’s broad pendant at the Battle of St Vincent, 1797. Dominating the right foreground is the ‘Victory’, 100 guns, shown in her original state, with open stern galleries, and not as she was at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She is shown at anchor flying the flag of Vice-Admiral of the White, Nelson’s Trafalgar rank, and firing a salute to starboard as an admiral’s barge is rowed alongside, amidst other small craft. (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Caird Collection)

The second Agamemnon, a 91-gun steam second rate, added a battle honor to the name in the Crimea.

The third, an early 8,500-ton Ajax class battleship armed with 12.5-inch ML rifles and clad in as much as 18 inches of cast iron armor, spent much of her 20-year career primarily in the East Indies and off Zanzibar and Aden, showing the White Ensign.

The fourth, a more modern 17,000-ton Lord Nelson-class battleship, had the rare distinction of shooting down the German Zeppelin in 1916 and earned a battle honor for the Dardanelles before she was disposed of in 1927 in line with the interbellum naval treaties.

9.2″/50 Vickers Mk XI guns of HMS Agamemnon firing on Ottoman Turkish forts at Sedd el Bahr on 4 March 1915. IWM HU 103302

HMS Agamemnon has her BL 12-inch Mk X guns replaced during a refit at Malta in May–June 1915, IWM Q 102609.

The fifth Agamemnon (M10) was an unsung WWII minelayer, and, since 1946, the Royal Navy has not had the name on its list…well, until now.

The sixth and future HMS Agamemnon (S124), coincidentally the sixth Astute-class hunter-killer, has been under construction alongside sister HMS Anson at BAE Systems’ yard in Barrow-in-Furness, since 2010 and was christened inside the cavernous Devonshire Dock Hall on 22 April.

As noted by the RN:

HMS Agamemnon will act as both sword and protector – able to strike at foes on land courtesy of her Tomahawk cruise missile – and fend off threats on and beneath the waves with Spearfish torpedoes.

“Awesome Aggie” is expected to enter the fleet later this year.

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