WARTIMES.ca

Temujin wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:42 pm

Your welcome Lorraine. And it is unusual to find the “EXACT SPOT” that someone was Killed, and get more info on “how he died”. Thank you for taking the time to visit his grave.

Cheers

Hi Temujin,
I`ve done the basic reseach on D 15141 Sgt Paul Barrette area where is was temporarily buried on D-Day.
I assumed that he was either killed by a sniper or booby-trap but still not sure about the “EXACT SPOT" where he was Killed, and even less on “how he died”.
That`s why I`ve joined this Forum and will gladly share any of my findings.
Would appreciate any help you can offer.

Mbarrett, thank you for joining our site.

First, you may note I “split” your request from the original post. This is so others can find this request easily and help respond.

I’ll try to find out or research what I can for you. As I said in the post you originally added to, it is sometimes very difficult to find the exact location or how a specific soldier died, but I’ll take a look.

Also you can download the “Juno Beach Landing Tables” at this link from this website (if you have not already done so) and it “may” help you discover the Landing Craft he arrived on the beach, which could lead to more information on him.

Here’s a link to the file I mentioned above

https://wartimes.ca/wp-content/uploads/ ... -v13.4.pdf

I’ll see what I can find and post it on this thread.

Cheers and Welcome

Temujin

From the link I gave you above, here’s a page that describes the “tasks” of the 16th on D Day.
If you do a “search” thru the Juno Beach Landing Tables (use “16th Canadian Field Company, RCE” as your description) you will find all the various landing crack, LST’s etc etc that the 16th landed on and which craft, etc etc

Still searching for you

Haven’t found “specific” information on him, but will post up info that you can review:


First, War Dairies for the 16th Cdn Field Company RCE for Jun 1 to 7th
Source: https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.108. ... ineers.pdf

Here’s the organization of a typical RCE Field Company and their vehicle organization:

I’ve taken a map, from that time period and percisely located the location where he was first buried, based on the Map Reference from the Graves Concentration form you have

Sgt Barrette’s Regimental Number of D15141 tells us he original Joined in Military District 4 (Western Quebec, HQ Montreal)…….and he original joined the 19th Field Company RCE

I’ve gone thru the information that I gave you the link for (Juno Beach Landing Tables) and copied everything I have on the 16th Cdn Field Company RCE and their landings on Juno Beach. Of course this does not tell us which part of the unit he was with, but if we can find something that does tell us, we then can narrow down the Landing Craft he probably arrived on and maybe other details

First 4 sections were the Assault Sections of No 3 Platoon Remaining 16th Field Company RCE

More information for you. Are you aware that he was on one of the Troop Broadcasts on the CBC.

I would suggest contacting the CBC (they have archives) and see if you can get a copy of the audio

Made an unsuccessful pass through the War Diaries to see if I could find any details. While he's mentioned regularly as Duty Sgt, nothing I could see on which Platoon he was in.

Checked Jan 44-Jun 44 and June 43, Sept 43 (the dates he was appointed A/Sgt and confirmed Sgt).

Might be worth a closer look, especially Pt I Orders where details on postings etc. are usually found. Didn't seem to be a lot of postings between sub-units, so if you can find something even a relatively long time before D-Day, might be useful to narrow things down.

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/ooci ... _t18393/11

That is microfilm reel T-18393, so you can replace '18393' in that url with a different reel # to go farther back.

List of reels and date ranges here:
https://cmea-agmc.ca/sites/default/file ... 20_ver.pdf