Hi Ethicsgirl,
I saw your post while looking around for information on my grandfather's time during WW II. He was an officer in the Belgian merchant navy and an officer on the ship your grandfather was on. The name of the ship is in fact Jean Jadot and it was hit by a torpedo fired by the German U-boot U453 at 4.33pm on 20 Jan 1943.
I don't have much info regarding the battle at Sidi Nsir and I'm sure you can find plenty on that yourself but I do have a few bits and pieces on the Jean Jadot. If you're interested I can send you some links.
Cheers,
David
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Originally Posted by Ethicsgirl
I've just stumbled across the site while trying to research some information on my grandfather, FWA Osborne. I have some brief notes I made years ago when I was a schoolgirl from conversations with him and the elements that led me here were the fact that he was on the ship Jeanne Jadot that was torpedoed on 20 January 1943 and was picked up by the destroyer Verity and that he was involved at Sidi Nasir.
My mother is very sketchy on his military career. We know he was a surveyor (he trained at Larkhill, having previously worked for the Post Office) and we have his medals and a Royal Artillery badge. We also believe he was with the Hampshires. So far I have not had any luck locating him in military archives but everything he told me about where he was posted during the war suggests he was with the 5th Hampshires (Tunisia and across North Africa, Italy, Greece, back to Italy and finishing in Austria).
Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might find out more about his career? I didn't understand the significance of Sidi Nasir when he was alive and I wish the internet had existed then as he was very reticent about what he did and saw. The only anecdote I have about his career is him being the leading driver in a convoy that was billeted at some kind of race track in North Africa and leading them all in a lap of the track when they first arrived.
Any additional information on how I might piece together his story would be much appreciated.
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