Vets Dottir's relatives who served ...

[Vets Dottir]

You asked for it

 

 

 

Well, people here have expressed interest in knowing something about my relatives who

 

Served … here is a little basic info. I have service records for all but Uncle Philip Genaille

 

And have yet to sort through them all.

 

 

Some of my relatives, FALLEN in WW2 and WW1.

 

For the record, I didn’t learn most of what I know about our maternal side fallen soldiers

from my family … I learned it mostly from people helping me find information online and other ways. I am so forever grateful for all the wonderful people who helped me with informations, service records etc etc etc … the list goes on!

 

I haven’t added my Dad’s side, but for the record, my Dad served at home in Manitoba,

Canada, as a Sargent with the P.P.C.L.I. as he could not go overseas due to feet problems.

He trained soldiers at home, and also, as my Aunt put it something like this, “He had the dubious distinction/duty? of escorting German POWS in Canada” … my Dad passed away in 1972 of cancer, at age 52. Very young, and I was 18, so I never got to hear all of his stories.

 

My dad: Sergeant JOHANNES HAFSTEINN (Joe) JONASSON P.P.C.L.I.

 

 

I think that the thing about digging in the roots of family trees is that not only do we get to understand our family history, we also learn how we got to where we’re at, and

we learn about the world and how the world got to where it’s at … a bigger and

deeper appreciation of our personal family and our world history … lest we forget

and so we can learn what’s important, and what isn’t, about living now and tomorrow.

Nothing comes for free or easily, relatives of the past sacrificed, toiled, and paved the way for us newer generations to carry on, the good and the bad, with the good always outweighing the bad. People amaze me. I certainly appreciate my relatives who served,

And those who didn’t, in very individual to them and personal ways, in ways I never did before I started learning about them ……… precious stuff to me!

 

Rifleman Edward Smith H/42084 Royal Winnipeg Rifles aka "Little Black Devils" executed by Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) 8 June 1944, at the young age of 21. (Mom’s brother)

 

 

 

Philip A. Genaille H/100967 Royal Winnipeg Rifles aka "Little Black Devils" 6 June 1944. Died of wounds on D-Day in Normandy, France. Son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Genaille; husband of Anna (nee Smith) Genaille, of Beaconia, Manitoba (Mom’s brother Inlaw … married to her sister Anna) Uncle Phillip Genaille, who was married to my Mom’s sister and left her and their son Bobby (Philip Jr) My grandfather was older when he went overseas, was wounded, survived and came home from the war.

 

Grandpa: 1072219 Pte JOSEPH SMITH C.M.R. C.E.F. -250th Btn wounded

survived war died 1945 Balsam Bay Mb … Grandpa Joe was married to

Mary Ellen Viznaugh, Louis and William Hector her brothers, Archie and William

Her first cousins. (Mom’s Dad)

 

 

 

721173 Pte Louis VIZENA 108th O.S. Btn KIA 22 Oct 1918 RAISMES

267962 Pte William Hector VIZENA -214th Btn CEF KIA 30 Aug 1918 SUN QUARRY

 

71963 Pte Archibald VIZNAUGH MIA 15th Sept 1916 -27th Bn. VIMY MEMORIAL (96th)

151311 Pte William VIZNAUGH -79th 1st Btn CMR KIA 15th Sept 1916 BAPAUME

Edited October 24, 2008 by Vets Dottir

[Vets Dottir]

Hmmmm ... well THAT didn't work! There were pictures but they didn't

copy ... will figure it out tomorrow as must try and sleep now.

[Tony B]

Which beach did Phillip Genaille land on? I will be at Goldbeach next year for the 65th anniversary, also have friends who live in area.

[Vets Dottir]

Which beach did Phillip Genaille land on? I will be at Goldbeach next year for the 65th anniversary, also have friends who live in area.

 

He landed at Juno Beach. Phillip is at rest in Beny Sur Mer:

 

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem/Detail&casualty=2059133

 

 

It was on the coast just to the north that the 3rd Canadian Division landed on 6th June 1944; on that day, 335 officers and men of that division were killed in action or died of wounds. In this cemetery are the graves of Canadians who gave their lives in the landings in Normandy and in the earlier stages of the subsequent campaign. Canadians who died during the final stages of the fighting in Normandy are buried in Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery. There are a total of 2048 burials in Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery. There is also one special memorial erected to a soldier of the Canadian Infantry Corps who is known to have been buried in this cemetery, but the exact site of whose grave could not be located.

 

[Tony B]

Our base will be at Ver sur Mer about 5 miles west of Berbieres Sur Mer. The picture is of my dodge WC51 on the beach at Ver sur mer on 6th June 2005, the 60th anniversary. The memorials and cemetires in the area are always beautifuly kept and honoured by the local people.

[Tony B]

This is the Newfoundland meorial near Baupaume, 1st July 2006. Ninteth anniversary of the First Day of the Battle of the Somme. Try reading a copy of Digging the trenches by Andrew Robertshaw and David Kenyon.

 

Also http://goldbeach.org.uk/ & http://www.actofwar.co.uk/essex/

[Degsy]

Tony, they landed on 'Mike Red' and 'Mike Green' just West of Courseulles.

[Vets Dottir]

Our base will be at Ver sur Mer about 5 miles west of Berbieres Sur Mer. The picture is of my dodge WC51 on the beach at Ver sur mer on 6th June 2005, the 60th anniversary. The memorials and cemetires in the area are always beautifuly kept and honoured by the local people.

 

The Dutch people are amazing in how they care for our fallen in Holland and remember them all year round, even to school children tending graves. What wonderful attitudes!!!!

 

Is that close to Juno Beach, the beach where the Canadian 3rd Division landed? I forget the span and order of the beaches and who (what countries) landed where, except for always remembering Juno and our Canadians. (that's ok, I can look it up ... )

 

It's very nice to hear the cemetaries are kept nicely. I know, through photos, that Beny Sur Mer Canadian war cemetary certainly is kept beautifully. I know people who also attended the 60th and visited my Uncle Ed's grave on my behalf, planting a flag and a little memorial for me on behalf of me and my family. Beautiful!!! That would be Uncle Ed's first visitor from home (Canada) on behalf of family, paying repects right where he is. That still moves me no end!!! Thanks for your part there Hanno ... again!

 

Regards our relatives at rest in Normandy, and who stormed the beaches, but mostly for those at rest there, it's somehow very nice to know that although very far from home, they lay beside their buddies and comrades, but they lay in soil of a country where some of our ancestors came from. For some reason, that feels very nice having them there, in my mind, they were there to help the country they are rooted from!!!

 

:tup::

[Degsy]

Ver sur Mer is only about 6km west of Courseulles so quite close to where the Royal Winnipeg Rifles landed.

[Tony B]

Tony, they landed on 'Mike Red' and 'Mike Green' just West of Courseulles.

Thanks Degsey, I'll try and get that way next year!:tup::

[Tony B]

It is very moving to go to any of the Commonwealth War graves Cemeterys, or any of the national cemeteries. One of the most moving trips I've been honoured to do with my Dodge is take the Great Great Newphew of E Hanmore, a private in the Royal Suusex Regiment, who died of wounds on 3rd August 1917, to vist his Uncle's grave. The date of the visit was 3rd August 2007.

[Vets Dottir]

Ver sur Mer is only about 6km west of Courseulles so quite close to where the Royal Winnipeg Rifles landed.

 

Oh wow ... that IS close

 

I haven't had an update about this for a long long time, but apparently there is (was?) absolutely NOTHING to mark the spot where my Uncle Ed along with about 35 other Canadian soldier POWS were executed. Their names are on memorials (Audrieu for one ... can't recall the spelling) but as to mark the spot for family and other visitors, absolutely nothing. Some people were agitating making that happen. It's "just a field" to see and

no plaques. I'll have to find out if there's been any progress about that.

 

I think I would be so extremely emotional to visit there and to visit Beny Sur Mer and other places where relatives are. One of the "Viznaugh"

boys was MIA/KIA and is listed on Vimy Memorial. Someone gave me a scan of his name!!! It would be emotional if I didn't have relations there! Cemeteries are so sacred feeling to me, always.

 

I've seen a lot of movies and a lot of film clips of the actual landings, and photos of course. There's one of the Canadians storming the beach and dropping ... one shot in particular really gets me every time ... it could have been Uncle Philip as well as any other who fell on the beach that day. The scene is like a belly punch when I see it, every time ......... I think of him going down, and I think of Aunty Annie, his wife ... and "Bobby" their son, who always grieved that he never got to meet and be raised by his dad. Both Aunty Annie and Bobby have passed on, but I still remember them, and all that.

 

A picture, an image, really is worth a thousand words ... like no other written or spoken word can do ................................... it's "show me".

Whump!

Edited October 25, 2008 by Vets Dottir

[Degsy]

Although in a lot of documents the village is referred to as le Mesnil-Patty I think it should be le Mesnil-Patry, there is a memorial there to the Queens Own Rifles who were heavily engaged there on 10th/11th June but I can find no reference to a memorial to the massacre of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles although there are many references to the actual event.

It may be worth contacting the Juno Beach Centre,email contact@ junobeach.org the website is http://www.junobeach.org

[Degsy]

Thanks Degsey, I'll try and get that way next year!:tup::

 

 

 

I only wish I could be there with you.

[Tony B]

I only wish I could be there with you.

I hope you might yet make it! It seems to be shaping up to quite an event. The French authorities are on our side and the people of Ver Sur Mer and tremendous. The Home Front re-enactors will be there as well, I did think this odd but the Commune are over the moon about the idea, to be able to get an idea what life was like in Britan. The next thing is to try and persuade a French team to set up a parralel display.

[Vets Dottir]

Although in a lot of documents the village is referred to as le Mesnil-Patty I think it should be le Mesnil-Patry, there is a memorial there to the Queens Own Rifles who were heavily engaged there on 10th/11th June but I can find no reference to a memorial to the massacre of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles although there are many references to the actual event.

It may be worth contacting the Juno Beach Centre,email contact@ junobeach.org the website is www.junobeach.org

 

I remember it referred to as "Mesnil Patry" ... and there is a Memorial at Audrieu listeing all the soldiers that fell June 8 beside my uncle, but as mentioned, nothing "marks the actual spot where it happened". Also as mentioned, I think something to mark the spot is "in the works" but will have to find an update about that before I can say for sure.

 

Here is a little bit that I wrote to someone else about my understanding

of some of the happenings that day, mostly from Conduct Unbecoming Chapter 9:

 

Here is my own little understanding from what I read from that chapter. I do hope I got this correct. If not, I hope someone notices so that I can correct the information:

 

"The group of 40 prisoners were held in the barn of the “MOULIN” farm where they had been given water and first aid for the wounded soldiers (2 stretcher cases?) and were held for a few hours, until they were brought to the front of the Moulin farmhouse, then formed into columns, under guard and escorted/marched up a footpath to within sight of the Caen-Fontenay Road. They were halted at a road junction just NE and less than a mile from the Village of Fontenay-le-Pesnel. At that point they soon were ordered (Mohnke’s orders but this was never proven for sure that he was the one who ordered it) marched to a grassy area by a grainfield, ordered to be bunched together and all sitting in the field, facing East, the wounded on stretchers in the middle. They weren’t there in the field very long (minutes?) before they were faced by aabout eleven? SS execution troops with “machine pistols” … and fired on, all but five men murdered.

 

Five men at the rear of the group were able to escape during the shooting, but they were soon re-captured by German SS and taken to POW camps, where they were held for months before they were repatriated from POW captivity and were able to tell their stories of what had happened."

 

I find it especially hard to read some details from the book, and from other places of witness statements (the 5 survivors) about those moments. It’s hard knowing details of what the last horrifying and painful moments of my Uncle, and the other men, were like. They were originally being led to be held as POWS, but along comes Mohnke in a raging snit and orders them executed at once, enmasse. Why? I’ve heard it was to teach the Canadian’s a lesson for what will happen for not talking when interrogated.

 

Mohnke was never brought to trial for these murders. He lived free of accountability for the murders. His death recently at age 91. SS-Brigadefuhrer Wilhelm Mohnke, March 15, 1911 – August 6, 2001 "

[Degsy]

Thanks for that link to the book Carman, found it on the web, that is the most complete account of the events that I have read. What I can't understand is the failure to bring Mohnke to book for the (alleged) crimes.

[Vets Dottir]

You're welcome!

 

I'm no expert on history and writing but others who are have remarked on how complete and well done a job Howard Margolian did with it. The book blew my mind

for the info, details and resources he used and listed. An incredible book, in my

non-expert opinion. I have a copy

 

I also have a copy of a video done by Cliff Chadderton (of Waramps) who was a Royal Winnipeg Rifle ... the video is this one:

 

Some transcript of the video TAKE NO PRISONERS:

http://www.waramps.ca/military/video/wwii/pdf/tnop.pdf

 

SO many people helped me in my research about my Uncle Ed and it's still

mindboggling to me, the lengths that people will go to help other people

who care enough to research their relatives, especially thier Fallen ...

I have SO much information, all quite disorganized still, and I would have

to review a lot to remember a lot of details, but being in here is motivating me

to get on with it, and I finally acquired a working printer yesterday (it prints,

scans, and copies!!!) I can start to do notes and begin to organize the info for

all my relations ... to begin some little writeups. (I was without a working printer

for more than 3 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGH!)

[Vets Dottir]

PS: I don't really "get" how Mohnke was able to slide by either

[Degsy]

That transcript is very interesting Carman, thank you.

[Vets Dottir]

You're welcome Degsy. The video is really something too. WarAmps sent

me a complimentary copy, which I thought was awesome of them to do!!!

They are sold for about $12 through the WarAmps site (as are a whole lot

of other videos about wars and history. Quite an amazing list of them.)