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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945
Those known to have served with
Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps
during the Second World War 1939-1945.
- Atkins C. K.. Pte.
- Barkley Robert W..
- Bloxham Walter. Corporal
- Burrows Stephen Crawford. Pte.
- Field George Arthur. (d.20th May 1940)
- Haynes R.. Lt.
- Irvine John. Pte. (d.17th Jun 1940)
- Jones Sampson. Pte. (d.7th Aug 1940)
- Lee Thomas Vincent. Pte.
- Mason Mervyn Charles. Lt. (d.8th August 1940)
- Morgan Joseph Wilson. Pte.
- Prytherch Emyr. Pte. (d.7th Jul 1940)
- Rubery Henry Joseph. Cpl.
- Scott-Bowden . Mjr.
- Smith Robert. Pte. (d.17th June 1940)
- Taylor Harry James. Pte (d.17th June 1940)
- Wickham Albert Clarence. Pte. (d.17th June 1940)
- Winnals Harry Robert. Pte.
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
Records of Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps from other sources.
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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
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Want to know more about Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps?
There are:1687 items tagged Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps 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.
Pte. Harry Robert Winnals Pioneer Corps
My Grandfather Harry Winnals signed up for the BEF on 3rd of October 1939 and I have a copy of his Attestation certificate showing this. I do not know where he completed his training but I have a B E Follies programme dated Saturday 16th of December 1939 from the Theatre Municipal Amiens so I presume he was in attendance there. According to the Programme there were 26 acts including Bish and His Boys, Bill Cooper The Silent Man, William Shirlaw The Scottish Singer Alec Scougal and RSM Speary and Gibson amongst others.I understand that he drove Petrol tankers whilst in France and never had any sort of firearm. He was captured on his way to Dunkirk I believe. From his many (sanitised for young ears) stories after Sunday dinner he mentioned that he got caught because he reached a river and couldn't swim. He then finally entered up at Stalag XXB but I do not know when. I have a large amount of Postkarte and Letters that he sent to my Grandmother and the earliest one I have is dated Jan 1941 but I'm sure he was there prior to that. He mentioned he worked on a farm as it got him out of the camp and to prove his worth he had to milk a cow after saying he had farming experience. In his own words he said he had never seen a cow let alone milk it. Luckily the farmer's daughter realised this and helped him out thus enabling him to work there.
I know no other information about his stay apart from all his diaries he kept after the war. The only birthday he put in every year was this girls. Whilst a PoW in 1943 his wife (my Grandmother) died of an illness and I have no letters from then. He also talked about being on the long march when the Russians advanced . My Grandfather had a long scar on his nose which he said was when he got caught in a knife fight between 2 Russian PoWs and he said a German guard applied pressure on it until he could receive medical attention. I cannot recall anything else he said and when he came home in May 1945, a few months later, he remarried my Nan Violet who is still alive to this day.
Pte. Thomas Vincent Lee Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps
My father Tommy Lee was born and brought up in Dublin. He was a proud Irishman who joined the British Army at some point in 1939.I know that 10 days after his 20th birthday on 23rd November 1939 he was in France with the Pioneer Corp and was captured at Boulogne on 26th May 1940. They were waiting to be repatriated by boat but Dad swapped places with another man who was desperate to get home (apparently he'd had a Dear John letter) and so Dad ended up at the HQ waiting for an officer to reply to orders when the boats left without them and the Germans marched into the town the following day.
A German solider told him "the war is over for you Tommy" and Dad grinned and thought jokingly how does he know my name, the German looked perplexed apparently. He was marched across France up into Belgium and back down across Germany. He was kept in one prison camp early on and then moved to Stalag III D until the end of the war as PoW No. 6292.
As children Dad never talked about the war but as we his 5 children grow older he would share stories, for instance I happened to say I went on a day trip to Boulogne and he told me that was where he had been captured and the events surrounding it. Peeling potatoes one day earned me a rebuke, the Germans would have shot me for the chip sized peelings I'd made, but lead to the story of how he hurt is ankle playing football and got a few days light duties peeling spuds in the kitchen. He obviously preferred it and changed the end date on his doctors note several times until he was rumbled and thrown into solitary confinement for a period.
He explained how the camp was near a railway station and one of is duties was to unload Red Cross parcels. On occasions the guards would disappear for a short time and this was the prisoners cue to help themselves. He said there were good and bad amongst the Germans and he never held a grudge or spoke about them with any malice. In fact he went on to learn German, read copious amount of German books - so many that the local library had to restock for him and visited Germany and the site of the camp - now I believe an academy or school.
He recalled seeing parachutists being picked off in the sky and being unable to do anything as they fell outside the camp boundaries and Berlin being bombed and the glow of the fires. His saddest recollection was the young German secretaries in the Red Cross office who were still there after the German guards abandoned the camp. They were terrified of the Russian's arrival, they knew how harshly the Russian prisoners had been treated and they feared retribution. They had shown Dad that they had cyanide pills sewn into their clothes and were prepared to take them. He and others begged them not to do it but he never saw them again and said he heard later they did take their own lives and he felt that was the greatest waste of life.
Obviously, my grandmother knew he had been taken prisoner but also had the painful experience of Lord Haw Haw reading out his name and saying the British were sacrificing the young boys of Ireland for their cause.
Just as an aside with my dad in the British Army and his brother James a GI, my Uncle Frankie their youngest brother inquired at the Irish Army recruitment office about joining up. When my grandmother found out she frogmarched him back, dumped the papers on the desk and told the officer "I have one son in the British Army and one in the US Army and you are not having him!!"
Cpl. Henry Joseph Rubery Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps
Henry Rubery served in the South Staffordshire Regiment during 1914-1918. At 49 years of age at the beginning of WW2, he joined the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps on the 25th of October 1939, but was discharged as a Corporal 158 days later on the 31st of March 1940, due to not being able to meet the physical requirements. He died in 1953Christine Fletcher
Pte. Robert Smith Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (d.17th June 1940)
Robert Smith was my grandfather. He died when HMT Lancastria was sunk on 17th of June 1940. Robert enlisted at Paisley in 1925 aged 18 years. His civilian employment prior to enlisting was listed as labourer. In 1927 his battalion moved to Jamaica until September 1929 when the men moved to Northern China. They embarked from China on the troopship HT Neurala February 1933 for the UK for his transfer to the Army Reserve; a reserve of trained and disciplined military personnel for use in an emergency. Robert married Agnes in 1934. Robert's job at the time is recorded as Tramway Car Conductor.In 1939 Robert rejoined the Argylls and was attached to the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps before being sent to France. HMT Lancastria was a Clyde built Cunard cruiser that became a troopship, involved in Convoy Alabaster and Operation Arial, the evacuation of troops from Europe. Bombed off the coast of St. Nazaire, France and sunk in approx 20 minutes. Approx 2500 people rescued. Loss of life estimates range from a conservative 2,500 to 6,000. Robert Smith's body was never recovered and his name is on the memorial at Dunkirk North. Robert died aged 34 years leaving 4 children aged under 5 years. There are now four generations of Robert's descendants in Scotland and Australia.
Audrey Mcneish
Pte Harry James Taylor Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (d.17th June 1940)
Harry Taylor was my grandfather. He served with the Auxilliary Military Pioneer Corps in WW2.All my father knew was that he thought he had died at Dunkirk. It was only fairly recently that we found out that he died on the SS Lancastria. We were able to get his name added to the War Memorial in the Castle Grounds, Guildford, Surrey.
Carol Hoare
Pte. Stephen Crawford Burrows Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps
Stephen Burrows was the son of Stephen Burrows and Agnes Barclay. He was born in 1902 in Kinning Park, Glasgow. He married Elizabeth Kennedy in 1923 and together they had 9 children.Samantha Burrows Collings
George Arthur Field Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (d.20th May 1940)
George Field was my grandfather I never knew. My father said he was killed in action at Arras defending the withdrawal of troops at Dunkirk. His body was never found but he is listed on the war grave at Dunkirk.Reg Field
Pte. Sampson Jones Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (d.7th Aug 1940)
Sampson Jones was 26 when he died and is buried in the Easky (Roslea) Cemetery, Co. Sligo, Ireland.S Flynn
Pte. Emyr Prytherch Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (d.7th Jul 1940)
Emyr Prytherch was the son of John and Margaret Prytherch, of Holyhead, Anglesey. He was 26 when he died at sea and is buried in Doohooma Catholic Graveyard, Co. Mayo, Ireland.S Flynn
Lt. Mervyn Charles Mason Aux. Mil. Pioneer Corps (d.8th August 1940)
Lieutenant Mason was killed after his ship was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland. He was the husband of Evelyn Hester "Eve" Macleod, Baroness Macleod of Borve.He is buried in the Kilmacshalgan (St. Mary) Church of Ireland Churchyard, Kilmacshalgan, Co. Sligo, Ireland.
S Flynn
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