SAS diary

Blackjack 34
By James Donahue
If you click on this link.....you'll find out

http://www.saswardiary.co.uk/home/

It is well worth it.....and an amazing book.....

Regards,

Dave
 
this should turn out to be an exciting thread....

anyone thinking of getting this? i've just mentioned it to my better half and there was a sharp intake of breath when i said my christmas present will cost her ?1K!

having spoken to a few other family members of former SAS over the last few years, and seen hundreds of photos, and realised how much info there is at the National Archives, I bet this diary could double/triple in size
 
Hi Tim,
It is a lot to pay, but i saw it as an investment, plus and what is more important, is that some proceeds are going to the Regimental association.Weighing in at 25lbs and very large in dimensions..Superb, very high quailty and standards throughout....(no I'm not on a commission!!)
Hope Santa is good to you??

regards,

Dave
 
its sad that some of us will never see it let alone own it and what a help it would be for research. would love to know if y grandfather is mentioned in it
 
apparently it will be coming to the Royal Armouries in Leeds some time in November. I very much doubt members of the public will be able to thumb through it though as it would get tattered very quickly. I suspect it will be on display in a glass cabinet or something like that.

i had the same thoughts as Phil, would love to know if my grandfather was mentioned.

more importantly, having watched the bbc report on this, it says it documents every operation of the SAS from inception through to the end of ww2. if that means i don't have to go down to the National Archives to read through and scan the entire WO218 series (or even just WO218/176 to WO218/223 for 2SAS) then I would happily pay ?1K for it, especially if there are photographs I've not seen before (there's plenty on here and I've seen many from Operation Archway that the son of a 2SAS member shared some time ago and his father was on the War Crimes investigation team)

In the end, I do wish the National Archives would move into the 21st century and get all these documents online once and for all and available to the public for a small fee.

Having said that, well done to the researcher, the regimental association and the national archives for putting this together, it must have taken a lot of hard work
 
Its a lot of money to shell out but I'm in the process of selling my grandfathers house (2SAS)> what a fitting use for some of the money!If I do then all are welcome to come and see it at Cardiff,

Phil (Geronimo) reckon we could get it at one of the Cardiff museums??
 
mine wont do it as its not of the welsh regiments (QDG and Royal Welsh). probably best to email the publishers to see if there any welsh venues lined up.
 
I might try my boss, but as I say regiments dont tend to showcase other regiments history in their museums. If that doesnt work I might try insole house and see if they want to do it. have to find out what the whole thing entails really
 
My first post here, but very happy to be in the position of having ordered a diary. My grandad served with 2 SAS during the period cover by the diary, hence my interest. I know very little of what he went through, but hope to make some enquiries.
I believe he was in N Africa, and Norway, and my aunt tells me, he had to guard some Italian prisoners. I have photos of him in a jeep, and a group photo the day 2 SAS (HQ squadron) disbanded in 1945. That's about it.
Paul.
 
ohhhhhhhh so jealous!!!!!

anyway, packing up my envy. Have you got hold of his record from Glasgow?
If not go to veterans.co.uk and it will explain how you go about getting a copy
then when you have copy, copy said copy and send the copy of the copy to the sas association (address online from their website) and they should use your copy to find information they have to hand and send you a copy from their copies.

as you may have guessed I sort of enjoyed typing that out
 
it might now be coming to Cardiff on the tour as my boss has shown an interest, so I will leave them to bang out some dates and see what happens

anyone interested in coming to see it if it happens can you let me know so I have an idea on numbers to begin with.

there will probably be a nominal charge that goes to the sas association welfare fund on the day

remember this is in the provisional planning stages so nothing is set in stone but I like to plan ahead
 
Originally posted by paulg
My first post here, but very happy to be in the position of having ordered a diary. My grandad served with 2 SAS during the period cover by the diary, hence my interest. I know very little of what he went through, but hope to make some enquiries.
I believe he was in N Africa, and Norway, and my aunt tells me, he had to guard some Italian prisoners. I have photos of him in a jeep, and a group photo the day 2 SAS (HQ squadron) disbanded in 1945. That's about it.
Paul.
Hi Paul, what is his name and do you know his service number? Have you asked John R to upload this photo to this site?
 
Originally posted by tim4848
Originally posted by paulg
My first post here, but very happy to be in the position of having ordered a diary. My grandad served with 2 SAS during the period cover by the diary, hence my interest. I know very little of what he went through, but hope to make some enquiries.
I believe he was in N Africa, and Norway, and my aunt tells me, he had to guard some Italian prisoners. I have photos of him in a jeep, and a group photo the day 2 SAS (HQ squadron) disbanded in 1945. That's about it.
Paul.
Hi Paul, what is his name and do you know his service number? Have you asked John R to upload this photo to this site?
His name was Alfred Garrad. I don't have his number yet, but my brother told me today that he has a copy of his service record which he will send me. I need to scan the photos I have before I can get them added. I'm hoping his record may show up something that appears in the diary, which would be of great interest to the family.
 
Originally posted by paulg
Originally posted by tim4848
Originally posted by paulg
My first post here, but very happy to be in the position of having ordered a diary. My grandad served with 2 SAS during the period cover by the diary, hence my interest. I know very little of what he went through, but hope to make some enquiries.
I believe he was in N Africa, and Norway, and my aunt tells me, he had to guard some Italian prisoners. I have photos of him in a jeep, and a group photo the day 2 SAS (HQ squadron) disbanded in 1945. That's about it.
Paul.
Hi Paul, what is his name and do you know his service number? Have you asked John R to upload this photo to this site?
His name was Alfred Garrad. I don't have his number yet, but my brother told me today that he has a copy of his service record which he will send me. I need to scan the photos I have before I can get them added. I'm hoping his record may show up something that appears in the diary, which would be of great interest to the family.
I've had a look through the Nominal Rolls of Operations Archway, Keystone and Pistol and didn't find his name there. Hope you find him in this new Diary. Looking forward to seeing some new photos on this site
 
Originally posted by tim4848
Originally posted by paulg
Originally posted by tim4848
Originally posted by paulg
My first post here, but very happy to be in the position of having ordered a diary. My grandad served with 2 SAS during the period cover by the diary, hence my interest. I know very little of what he went through, but hope to make some enquiries.
I believe he was in N Africa, and Norway, and my aunt tells me, he had to guard some Italian prisoners. I have photos of him in a jeep, and a group photo the day 2 SAS (HQ squadron) disbanded in 1945. That's about it.
Paul.
Hi Paul, what is his name and do you know his service number? Have you asked John R to upload this photo to this site?
His name was Alfred Garrad. I don't have his number yet, but my brother told me today that he has a copy of his service record which he will send me. I need to scan the photos I have before I can get them added. I'm hoping his record may show up something that appears in the diary, which would be of great interest to the family.
I've had a look through the Nominal Rolls of Operations Archway, Keystone and Pistol and didn't find his name there. Hope you find him in this new Diary. Looking forward to seeing some new photos on this site
I now have acopy of my grandad's service record, which confirms he was in N Africa, and Norway. It also states he had an Italy Star, so must have served in that area in between. Is there a way I can find out what operations he would have been on? I guess the diary may tell me something!
His number was 4546023.
 
Have been lucky enough to be able to view one of these today for about 3 hours. Quite an impressive Tome but if you are expecting to see every report that the National Archives have, then you'll be disappointed (I suppose that would have been too much to ask for though).

Not every Operation shows a nominal roll. If it doesn't it tends to say something like Major Xxxxx and 8 men, Capt Sssss and 7 British.

Where it has had a Nominal Roll, I have been able to eliminate my grandfather from those but can't come to a 100% conclusion about the others.

Having said all that, it was still very interesting but I won't be parting with ?1000 to get my own copy. Maybe SAS War Diary 2 when it's discovered will include reports from NCOs and other ranks???
 
I agree. I will continue transcribing any reports I have and will upload to a Google Site similar to the Operation Pistol one I've done. I will put temporary links in my Operation Pistol site to these (i did an Operation Keystone one the other night for someone related to Spr Jack Keeble, so I'll get that one up first). I also have some Operation Archway stuff.

After I'd done the Operation Pistol one, a few months later, someone used it to create a Wikipedia page for it (They did credit my site for the info). Maybe this is the way forward????
 
fair play to john he has made a great site but I think we need somthing that allows us to be specific as far as people looking into thier sas relatives. which would be alot faster that trying to bother the association unless we have to
 
Top