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Hello folks, I'm trying to determine roughly where a letter was written by my Grandfather, Robert Orr Kyle, "Pioneer"/Sapper with the 30th Field Coy RCE, II Canadian Corps. I've attached the letter along with a (rough) transcription, one day *I'd like to stand (in the general area) of where he stood when he saw (and wrote) it. I'd also like to visit some of the (former) sites of bailey bridges he helped build (where bases or footings may have remained after the temporary structures were removed). The interesting part of my Grandpa's family's story is, no one knew how involved he was in the war since he never spoke of it (understandably).

My mother's (Dutch) parents were located in Wervershoof then, surviving the "hongerwinter" or Dutch famine, though it seems they were right in/near the crux of the German blockades. They apparently fared better than those in the cut-off cities, but directly witnessed intense cold, extreme fuel shortages, strict Nazi blockades (and violence), and urban "hunger trekkers" (hongertochten) desperately seeking food from local farmers. They were nearly shot a number of times and my grandpa spoke of them hiding from the SS at various times. They were quite scarred from that (we believe they both had C-PTSD and one later severe OCD and mild hoarding behaviour). They later "forbid" my (Catholic) mother from marrying my (Protestant) father, having no idea that his father indirectly or directly supported their liberation (I'm researching all this before sharing with family, who has no idea). Neither side has awareness of each other's war experience, and my parents met organically in Ontario where they were both raised and attended the same high school!

Here's the letter (I only have images, still trying to determine who has if and if it has been donated to a museum yet--It should be):

And the transcription (please let me know if you spot errors):

"Germany, April 25th (1945).

Dear Sis how are you keeping? I thought I would drop you a few lines now as I have a few minutes to spare. I guess I have been neglecting my correspondence lately but we have been on the jump pretty well, and have not had much time to write.

I was in one of those German's concentration camps yesterday and it sure opened my eyes. I thought I had seen everything pretty well, but I soon saw I was mistaken. I went into one hut and it was lined with beds with patients in them, or I guess corpses you would say. They all weighted about 25 lbs each. They could not speak as they were too far gone but they could move their eyes. They were the only big thing about them.

I tell you sis it was shocking, one girl had her hands nearly cut off. A lot of them were still able to get around under their own power. One told us there was 20,000 killed there in one year. It gives you an idea of what kind of people we are up against.

We attended a funeral service for four Dutch children at another place, the youngest was a couple of months and the oldest was nine years. The SS soldiers shot them for spite, just opened on them with a machine gun when they were playing in a group. Their father sank his boat rather than brave our planes when he had to work for the Germans, they were going to hang him but thought the shooting of the children was a better way to punish him.

Well sis I don't think it will last much longer now and a lot of the criminals will get their due as they sure deserve it. I have received the first lot of cigarettes or did I mention that in my last letter? Thank you for your trouble. I will sign off now, hoping this finds you all in the best of health. I remain your loving brother,

(Robert) Orr Kyle."

With the help of Temujin (a number of years ago on the old forum) I was able to request his service record and am slowly annotating to try to piece together his journey together for family.

Edited to make some corrections, apologies, I have MS, my brain has holes (young) now, lol.

Thank you. I’ll start looking for what I can find for you

Thanks so much for your help Temujin. I can potentially help with a bit of footwork, as I was told to check the war diaries T-18585, T-18586, and T-18587. I found the date in question on page 413 here:

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/ooci ... t18587/413

And I've attached some of his record to help (please DM me if you'd find the whole record helpful as I can send it somehow). The part that confuses me is how I can pinpoint transit/concentration camp locations in relation to the locations provided. AI has been somewhat helpful but somewhat not since it likes to make things up more than not.

And some more (in case it helps, I'm thinking it was Westerbrok transit camp but I can't be certain without help as I just don't know enough about the Canadian army to figure it all out between the acronyms, locations, coordinates, etc):
Plus I also discovered something like 1000 Canadian soldiers (including RCE) were also sent to Bergen-Belsen (unlikely he was there) and several other transit and concentration camp locations to lend aid with bulldozers, sanitation, etc due to the typhus outbreaks and extreme logistics need to support survivors. I think they were also directly through some of the Emslandlager camps.

AI suggested Stalag X-B Sandbostel, but then ruled it out when I made it recheck after feeding it some of the diary entries (that I transcribed), it said (very) slim chance of Bergen-Belsen, more likely Emslandlager camps (Aschendorfermoor (II), Esterwegen (VII) but these were also ruled out after I fed it the entries as that was farther ahead it seems).

And, here's a post-war photo of my Grandpa beside the sister to whom he wrote the letter. He looked so drastically different post-war as compared to his pre-war photo, which I can't find at current but I'll post when I do. Also added a shot of his medals which my dad currently has hanging from a (poorly) colorized photo of him.
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Looks to me that he was attached for all purposes to HQ 2 Cdn Corps Ordnance Field Park Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps 28 Mar 44. I see no sign of if/when this attachment was ever ended. I would take that as he was under their control rather than 30 Fd Coy for his time on the continent. A quick search at LAC seems to indicate their WDs have not been microfilmed.

Have you found any mention of him in the 30 Fd Coy diaries after that date? That might change my view. OR names are fairly sparse in their diaries so not seeing a mention is not very conclusive.

Temujin, I've searched on here for a 30 Fd Coy nominal roll for their move to the continent, does not appear you've come across it. I've done a dig through June-Sept 44 with no luck.

klambie wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 20, 2026 7:14 pm

Looks to me that he was attached for all purposes to HQ 2 Cdn Corps Ordnance Field Park Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps 28 Mar 44. I see no sign of if/when this attachment was ever ended. I would take that as he was under their control rather than 30 Fd Coy for his time on the continent. A quick search at LAC seems to indicate their WDs have not been microfilmed.

Have you found any mention of him in the 30 Fd Coy diaries after that date? That might change my view. OR names are fairly sparse in their diaries so not seeing a mention is not very conclusive.

Temujin, I've searched on here for a 30 Fd Coy nominal roll for their move to the continent, does not appear you've come across it. I've done a dig through June-Sept 44 with no luck.