1 Cdn. Air Support Signals Unit (1 ASSU)

[horseman]

Good Day All
Trying to help a friend. Prior to him have access his fathers records from LAC. Thought I would but out a request here for info.

Gunner, George Joseph MUSSOLUM b: 15 Oct 1924 d: 12 Aug 2011. Service Number A28637 9 (No.1 District Depot London). Said he was found out to be underage (date/year unknown) in London (England) and put on AD (Air Defense ????) duties till he turned 19 yrs. old. Indicated he had worked on 25 pounders and 5.5 Howitzers. I manage to find him in the War Diaries (WD’s) of 7th Med. Regt. RCA as TOS to 7TH Med. on 3 July 45 from 1 Cdn ASSU (Air Support Signals Unit). The Sept. WD for the 7th had a list of every soldier TOS and SOS (even for to/return from courses, hospital etc.) and he did show up prior to July 3 45. So he never was active in the 7th. Also have gone thru numerous Field, L.A.A., and A/T Regt.s detailed Air Defense in England with no luck.
I know 1 ASSU came into its own from Jan 45 to June 45 however, the WD’s are not available on line on the Canadiana Heritage site.

My question to the forum is has anyone ever searched or have a copy of the 1 Cdn ASSU war diaries. If so he may be listed in them as TOS and from which Unit he came from.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

[Temujin]

Good Day All
Trying to help a friend. Prior to him have access his fathers records from LAC. Thought I would but out a request here for info.

Gunner, George Joseph MUSSOLUM b: 15 Oct 1924 d: 12 Aug 2011. Service Number A28637 9 (No.1 District Depot London). Said he was found out to be underage (date/year unknown) in London (England) and put on AD (Air Defense ????) duties till he turned 19 yrs. old. Indicated he had worked on 25 pounders and 5.5 Howitzers. I manage to find him in the War Diaries (WD’s) of 7th Med. Regt. RCA as TOS to 7TH Med. on 3 July 45 from 1 Cdn ASSU (Air Support Signals Unit). The Sept. WD for the 7th had a list of every soldier TOS and SOS (even for to/return from courses, hospital etc.) and he did show up prior to July 3 45. So he never was active in the 7th. Also have gone thru numerous Field, L.A.A., and A/T Regt.s detailed Air Defense in England with no luck.
I know 1 ASSU came into its own from Jan 45 to June 45 however, the WD’s are not available on line on the Canadiana Heritage site.

My question to the forum is has anyone ever searched or have a copy of the 1 Cdn ASSU war diaries. If so he may be listed in them as TOS and from which Unit he came from.

Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Let us take a look for him and the WD and see what we can find. Of course his records would give us a more complete picture of his service history (units etc) and he really should apply for them. it does take over a year to get them, so starting the process now is important.

Again, I’ll see what I can find

Cheers

[Temujin]

I’m looking. You can order a copy of the War Diaries from LAC Ottawa if you wish. Link below to the LAC info and “copy” info at the very bottom (in the fine print)

https://recherche-collection-search.bac ... ies&ecopy=

[Temujin]

Some Info:

Three Air Support Signals Units were established to support operations in NWE. They were 21 A Gp ASSU (21 Army Gp), 1 Cdn ASSU (First Cdn Army / 84 Gp RAF) and 2 Br ASSU (Second Br Army / 83 Gp RAF). The units provided dedicated air request/information links from brigades back to Army HQ and on to the Wings/Airfields. 21 A Gp ASSU provided an inter-HQ set of links.
Although an RC Signals unit, 1 Cdn ASSU was assigned an Arm of Service marking consisting of a white 439 on a black rectangle for its vehicles. This is detailed in a HQ First Cdn Army document with 1 ASSU's War Diary confirming the number 439.

[Temujin]

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[horseman]

Temujin

Thanks very much for the all information. Your right about having him access sooner than later as we are all getting up there in age, the longer we wait the less chance we'll be around when it arrives .

Haven't requested anything from LAC in years not sure what the cost per/page is or if they even send hard copies now for War Diaries. As you know there can be at least a couple of hundred pages for each month especially during the 1944, 1945 years.

Appreciate the Windsor Star article and the Queen Elizabeth Repat info it is an added bonus to the info I have. Checked the Directorate of Movements and found the QE Repat convoy on reel C-5642.

Thanks again for the help, and if you find anything else it would be great.

Jim