Friday, January 24, 2014

Friday's Faces From the Past ~ Canadian Navy



This group of handsome men is just a sample of what's inside a Canadian Navy photo album from the 40s that a reader found in Plant City, Florida. It is her desire to get this album in the hands of a family member, and it is my desire to help her do that.

This particular photo does has some kind of identifiers written below it.


AT BRIXHAM
South Devon
  1. "RED"
  2. "DINT" WELSH
  3. DURDLE
  4. GREENING
  5. CHRISTOPHERSON
  6. JUCLN
  7. NORRIS
  8. BALENTINE
  9. CHRISTIE
  10. ME
  11.  
  12. POAISR
  13. BLAIS
  14.  
  15. "CHUCK"
  16. WOODS
  17. HIBBARD
  18. MCKENZIE
  19. "CRASH"
  20. SHIPTON
  21. BLONDIE
  22. CHESLEY
  23.  
  24. MILNER
  25. ATKINS
  26.  
  27. LINDSAY
  28. McNEIL
  29. ODEL  NATSHAW
I am assuming that the names are listed from left to right, but there are more numbers than sailors so I'm not sure who is who after the blanks. I am also going to assume that number 10, "ME", was the owner of the album.

There was also an identity card nestled within the pages which may or may not indicate who the original owner was. I am not sure how a German issued Military medical personnel ID card would be with Canadian Navy memorabilia.


As you can see, this document is written in German. With the help of Google Translate we can decipher it a little bit. Here is the original:

Wehrmacht des Deutschen Reiches  den 1.8.1944

Personalausweis

Der San.Maat. Werner Bretschneider geboren am 12.8.22 in Bernsbach/Erzgeb. wird ausschließlich im Sanitätsdienst als San.Maat. verwendet.
Er ist berechtigt, das Genfer Abzeichen  (gestempelte weiße Armbinde
mit rotem Kreuz) zu tragen und steht unter dem Schutz der Artikel 9, 12 und 13 des
genfer abkommens vom 27.7.1929

oberkommando der Kriegsmarine Im auftrage

What Google told me:

Army of the German Empire  the 01/08/1944

identity card

The San.Maat Werner Bretschneider born on 12.08.22 in Bernbach / Erzgeb. is exclusively in the medical corps as San.Maat. be used.
He is entitled to the Geneva badge (stamped white armband
with red cross) to wear and stands under the protection of Article 9, 12 and 13 of the Geneva Agreement of 27.7.1929

Upper detail of the Navy on behalf


If you are curious, you can find the Geneva articles here. According to Wikipedia, Maat is the German military rank of Petty Officer 3rd Class in the Navy. And I believe San. is short for Sanitätsdienst which means medical. So the owner of the ID is Werner Bretschneider, an officer in the Medical Corps.

So, without further ado, may I introduce you to "Me".



If you can provide any clues or information that would help solve the mystery of this Canadian Navy album, I would appreciate you leaving a comment or dropping me a line.


Leslie Ann

2 comments:

  1. What a wonderful find! I hope you can detect some of the other faces, it would be so interesting to hear more about the personal histories.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi

    The crew are from MTB 746 which was a motor torpedo boat with the Canadian Navy which was based at Brixham. Someone else is trying to find out about this photo - maybe you can help?
    http://www.forposterityssake.ca/RCN-SHIPS-COMPANY/MTB746.htm
    There are also a number of photos here:
    http://www.forposterityssake.ca/GALLERIES/MTB746.htm

    Like you mention, the German document was issued to a German Navy Medic as a proof that he could wear the Red Cross armband. It may have been taken off him when he was captured?

    ReplyDelete

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