I encourage anyone that has more information (Flight Log Book entries) or photos on 112 Squadron please send an e-mail to raf_112_sqdn@yahoo.com before the history is lost.
Ground Crew Photos Page II
None of these men pictured had been assigned to a squadron. The photo was taken at South Shore Car Park, Bathing Pool, Blackpool , we think 1940. Dad remembers this vividly because, in his words, ‘a seagull s….t on my new grey coat!’ Dad has recorded that he joined up in Blackpool Nov 4th 1940 and transferred to Hereford Dec 6th 1940, so the photo would have been taken between these dates.. Photo submitted by Tom Dugdill, bottom left via his son Tim if you have any names please e-mail me as Tom's eyesight can no longer identify the men
Suez – Great Bitter Lake June, 1941, This is the only information Tim has, Top L to R – Tom Dugdill, ’Honest’ Bob Day [a boxer], John Staly painted Pete Brunton's Tomahawk Shark mouth, he used to work for the Manchester Evening News, The ’Baron’ ? Bottom L to R - Jack ?, Paddy ? and ’Spider’ Kelly, from Carlisle. Photo submitted by Tom Dugdill, bottom left via his son Tim if you have any names please e-mail me as Tom's eyesight can no longer identify the men
A popular Middle East Photo Giza Pyramid 1941
L to R [Dad has written his name last, so I’m presuming they are right to left] Jack Eatough, Cliff, Eric Johnstone from Blackpool, John East, Tom Dugdill
Durban 1941, L to R Tom Dugdill, 1021007, Jack Eatough, 1021006, Eric Johnson, 1021001 from near Blackpool, John A East, 1021004,
Note the Service numbers
My tent mates before I came home Top L to R Nat [or Pat] Golden, ’Little’ Smith, ‘Titch’ Gerrard
Bottom L to R ‘Harry’ Harrison from Leeds, Tom Dugdill, ’Spider’ Kelly
Above Photos by Tom Dugdill, bottom left via his son Tim if you have any names please e-mail me
as Tom's eyesight can no longer identify the men
Life in the desert, Tom Dugdill (far right) collection
Tom and Tim Dugdill send in this Military Script used by the men in Bari
Guided Tour Bari, Italy September 1943, note the ( very popular I am sure) tour Guide dressed in white upper right in the photo
Champagne Party Bari, Sept 1943
In the background cropped out of this picture is the Teatro (Theater) Margherita, perhaps seated
somewhere along the street CorsoVitterio Emanuele II
To the left of the viewer is a sign named Bilance Mongelli
L to R Tom Dugdill – Doug – Chalky – Bob Downes – Bob Day – Jim
"Bari - Teatro Margherita, Théâtre Marguérite, Theatre Margaret, Theater Margarete"
Note
the Quay on the right I think we see it again in the picture below near the
sandy area
Bari 1943
L to R Tom Dugdill – George ? – ‘Big’ Smith
Through a tragic coincidence intended by neither of the opposing sides in World War II, Bari gained the unwelcome distinction of being the only European city to experience chemical warfare in the course of that war.
On the night of December 2, 1943, German Junkers Ju 88 bombers attacked the port of Bari , which was a key supply center for Allied forces fighting their way up the Italian peninsula. Several Allied ships were sunk in the overcrowded harbour, including the U.S. Liberty ship John Harvey, which was carrying mustard gas, mustard gas was also reported to have been stacked on the quayside awaiting transport. The chemical agent was intended for use if German forces initiated chemical warfare. The presence of the gas was highly classified, and authorities ashore had no knowledge of it. This increased the number of fatalities, since physicians — who had no idea that they were dealing with the effects of mustard gas — prescribed treatment proper for those suffering from exposure and immersion, which proved fatal in many cases. Because rescuers were unaware they were dealing with gas casualties many additional casulalties were caused among the rescuers by contact with the contaminated skin and clothing of those more directly exposed to the gas.
On the orders of allied leaders: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower, records were destroyed and the whole affair was kept secret for many years after the war. The U.S. records of the attack were declassified in 1959 but the episode remained obscure until 1967. Indeed, even today, many "Baresi" are still unaware of what happened and why. Up to the present, there is a considerable dispute as to the number of fatalities. In one account: "[s]ixty-nine deaths were attributed in whole or in part to the mustard gas, most of them American merchant seamen" [1]; others put it as high as "more than one thousand Allied servicemen and more than one thousand Italian civilians" [2]. Part of the confusion and controversy derives from the fact that the German attack, which became nicknamed "The Little Pearl Harbor", was highly destructive and lethal in itself, apart from the effects of the gas. Attribution of the causes of death to the gas, as distinct from the direct effects of the German attack, have proved far from easy.
The affair is the subject of two books: Disaster at Bari by Glenn B. Infield and Nightmare in Bari: The World War II Liberty Ship Poison Gas Disaster and Coverup by Gerald Reminick.
October, 1943
L to R ‘Little’ Smith – ‘Big’ Smith– Tom Dugdill – George ?