Cpl. Daniel Peter O'Connell . British Army 1st Derbyshire Yeomanry from Cardiff From receiving my granddad, Daniel O'Connell's military record from the MOD, we have found out that he served from the age of 17, joining the 13/18th Hussars, and served during WW2 at Dunkirk with BEF and at El Alamein with 1st Derbyshire yeomanry, and Italy with the Royal Armoured Corps.
He was a very gentle man, with a lot of humility and rarely talked about his experiences. We found out from other people that he was very honourable, saved lives at Dunkirk, was blown from a tank, and was the only survivor, and was a PoW only for an Italian to let him go. I can't verify any of this, but I don't know why anyone would lie about it to us.
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P/O J. C. O'Connell . Royal Canadian Air Force 419 Sqd.
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Pte. James Joseph O'Connell . British Army 2nd Btn. Lancashire Fusiliers from Liverpool James O'Connell served with 2nd Btn. Lancashire Fusiliers. He ate the PoW camp cat due to hunger.
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Bdsm. Michael O'Connell . British Army 2nd Btn. Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) from Co Durham (d.11th August 1943) Michael O'Connell was my uncle who unfortunately I never met. His five sisters have now all passed away but we want his memory to live on. We have a photo of his grave in Malaya as our only memory and from which we got his service number and date of his death.
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AC2. Patrick Michael O'Connell . Royal Air Force 278 Sqdn. from Welwyn Garden City Michael O'Connell served in 137 and 278 Squadrons, RAF.
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K. O'Connelley . 102 Squadron
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"Red" O'Conner . US Navy 105 Sqd. Fleet Air Wing 7 This photo is from Virginnia Quaifs's collection, my Mother was the Red Cross Director, assigned to Dunkeswell Navy Base during the last years of the war.
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Thomas O'Conner . Merchant Navy SS Lancastria Tom O'Conner was a Deck Boy, he survived the sinking of the Lancastria.
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F/Sgt. Charles Joseph O'Connor . Royal Air Force 50 Squadron (d.8th Jul 1944) Charles OConnor served as a bomb aimer with 50 squadron.
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Sgt. Eugene Patrick "Connor" O'Connor . British Army 2nd Btn. Sherwood Foresters from 208 Gouleston Street, London
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Pte. Eugene Patrick O'Connor . British Army 2nd Battalion Bedford & Hertfordshire Regiment from Bury St Edmonds Pat joined the 2nd Battalion, Beds and Herts, from the Royal Artillery as Eugene Patrick O'Connell, but was pressured to change his name due to others of the same surname in his battalion. He was, thenceforth, known as Patrick O'Connor and married and had three children with the same surname.
He spent time training in England and saw active service in Italy and Greece. He was asked to go to Palestine as a volunteer service man at the end of the war, but declined. He returned to England and settled down to family life in Sheffield in 1946. He died of natural causes in 1980.
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John "Paddy" O'Connor . Army Ox & Bucks Light Infantry from Dingle, Rep of Ireland My father's name was John 'Paddy' O'Connor. All I know is that my father joined the Ox & Bucks Regiment when he was 15/16 years old in about 1937. He lied about his age (so he used to say!) He came over from Ireland as there was nothing for him there. He said he was at Dunkirk. We have a photo of him, very young, in his uniform but with no insignia - I presume he was a private. Mum said he was a 'valet to the Padre'. He also mentioned being 'in the Gliders'. His only physical war wound was losing his big toenail of his right foot!! My father hardly ever talked about the war. He died over twenty years ago now but as a family we would love to know his history. He was demobbed at the Cowley Barracks in Oxford sometime between 1947 and 1949. Post war he worked as a Brickie, and at Morris' Car Works in Cowley Oxford.
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Pte. John Joseph O'Connor . New Zealand Exp. Force New Zealand Armoured Corp from Wellington, New Zealand I am trying to find information on my grandfather, John O'Connor. He was aboard the Nino Bixio when it was sunk on the 17th of August 1942, he managed to survive. I believe he was injured in the torpedo attack and nearly drowned. I would like to trace his movements, but can find only details of him in the Gruppigano 57.
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Spr. John O'Connor . British Army 719 Artisan Works Coy. Royal Engineers from Castletownroche (d.4th Nov 1942) John O'Connor was the son of James and Hannah O'Connor, of Castletownroche.
He was 26 when he died and is buried in the Ballyhooly New Catholic Churchyard, Ballyhooly, Co. Cork, Ireland.
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Asst. Stwd. Michael O'Connor . Merchant Navy SS Cape Corso (d.2nd May 1942) Michael O'Connor lost his life when the SS Cape Corso was sunk.
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Ord.Sea. Sidney O'Connor . Royal Navy HMS Bickerton from Jarrow (d.22nd Aug 1944) Sidney O'Connor died aged 19, he was born in Jarrow in 1925, son of Andrew and Annie O'Connor (nee Fant) of Jarrow.
He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial and is commemorated on the WW2 Roll of Honour Plaque in the entrance of Jarrow Town Hall.
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Terence Martin "Pat" O'Connor . British Army Royal Army Medical Corps from Catterick My Dad, Terrance O'Connor was in the RAMC, I would like to find out more.
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K O'Dell . Land Army I was a Land Army girl and one memory I have was when my friend and I had a
job to do collecting brussels sprout stalks with a horse and cart and
filling in bomb craters.
The idea was to back the horse and cart to the crater, put the back down and
release the sprout stalks. Being such conscientious girls we pushed the
horse as well as the cart down into the crater - and my friend went down,
too. You can imagine the pandemonium. I yelled for help and eventually some
farm men came running over and.
One had to unharness the horse and another saw to my badly shaken friend
while a tractor pulled out the cart. The dear old horse, Deba, was none the
worse for wear and we carried on with our work, feeling quite sheepish about
the whole affair.
The friend,Vera, still lives in America. She married a GI and moved there
after the War.
It was a great life on the land - hard, hard work, often in the icy cold and
wet, but we did have some lovely summers. We worked till late at night,
cutting corn, stacking sheaves, thrashing, but the worst for all of us was
collecting the ghastly barley chaff with its dirt and prickles in your
clothes in the sweltering heat.
Can any ex-Land Girl remember the lovely harvest teas we had brought out to
us by the farmers' wives? Do they remember cutting the legs off our
dungarees in the summer to get a lovely tan?
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F/Sgt. Peter O'Dell . Royal Air Force 460 Squadron Peter O'Dell served with 460 Squadron.
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Charles Henry O'Donnell . Royal Navy HMS Manchester from Birmingham UK Charles Henry O'Donnell, born 1912 in Ireland, was my uncle. He served aboard HMS Manchester and when the ship was sunk in 1942 he and companions rowed to the North African coast (they were not picked up by any Allied shipping) and were captured and interned by the Vichy French - presumably at Laghouat, although I do not recall Charles ever mentioning the name of the camp to me. He did say, however, that the treatment he and his companions suffered was harsh and cruel. I believe, but have no evidence, that he returned to the Navy after Algeria was liberated.
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F/O David Keith O'Donnell . Royal New Zealand Air Force 214 Sqdn. from Wellington, NZ (d.15th Jan 1943) My mother and I are interested in corresponding with anyone who has any knowledge of the bombing run on Lorient on 15th/16th Janury 1943 by 214 Squadron planes. My uncle was the navigator on Stirling W7637. This was the only Stirling lost that night and missing. My uncle (my mother's brother) P/O Keith O'Donnell was a New Zealander and trained in Canada.
Update: Are you aware of the brief entry regarding the crew of this aircraft in the book Bomber Command Losses 1943 by WR Chorley?
214 Sqn Stirling I W7637 BU-W Op:Lorient
Took off 1826 Chedburgh. Lost without trace. All are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. S/L Carlyon was a Canadian serving in the Royal Air Force.
S/L P.W.M. Carlyon DFC
Sgt C.E.C. Ransom
F/O D.K. O'Donnell RNZAF
Sgt J.L. Kemp
Sgt L. Carr
F/S J.N. Peck RCAF
P/O P.F. Pinder RCAF
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Pte. James "Ginger" O'Donnell . British Army Cameron Highlanders from Port Glasgow My Uncle Jim O'Donnell served with the Cameron Highlanders in Burma. He wouldn't speak of his time there, but he detested the Japanese so much that he wouldn't have anything Japanese in his house
When Hirohito died, Uncle Jim was so disgusted that a member of the Royal Family would be attending his funeral, that he sent his medals back to the Ministry of Defence.
There were stories within the family that Uncle Jim had been a prisoner of the Japanese, and the hatred arose because of the treatment he had received and seen others receiving.
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AC2 John O'Donnell . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from Cork (d.4th October 1944) Aircraftman 2nd Class John O'Connell was the Son of Roger and Elisabeth O'Donnell, of Cork, husband of Mary O'Donnell, of Cork.
He was 25 when he died and is buried in Dunbulloge Catholic Cemetery, Co. Cork, Ireland.
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Pte John "Jock" O'Donnell . British Army 1st Btn Kings Own Scottish Borderers from Portsmouth John (Jock) O'Donnell served with the 1st Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borderers in WW2. He died in 1977.
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Gnr. Joseph Patrick O'Donnell . British Army 152nd (Ayrshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment Royal Artillery from Troon, Ayrshire (d.17th July 1945) Joseph O'Donnell was killed when the army vehicle he was travelling in crashed and overturned.
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Kathy O'Donnell . Timber Corps
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P O'donnell . British Army P O'donnell 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 has lost 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 O'Donnell . British Arny Pioneer Corps (d.16th April 1944) Private O'Donnell was the Son of Fanny O'Donnell.
He is buried in the Conwal Catholic Cemetery, Co. Donegal, Ireland.
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RH O'donnell . British Army Reconnaissance Corps RH O'donnell served with the Reconnaissance Corps 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 has lost 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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F/O Ronald James O'Donnell . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 630 Â Sqd. (d.17th May 1945)
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