Harry Marsden. Any information please.

[Tony Marsden]

My Father Harry Marsden, Grenadier Guards, any information please, came up from North Africa through Sicily and up through Italy (Monte Casino) and ending up in Austria. Any information.

[Frank de Planta]

Tony.

There were three battalions of GREN GDS in Italy.

3 GREN GDS were in 1 Guards Brigade and were in the Cassino area from Feb 44 where they held horrible pieces of ground like Monte Cerasola in the dead of winter and were later moved into the town at Monte Cassino in Apr-May 44 including the massive Fourth Battle of Monte Cassino.  5 GREN GDS were in 24 Guards Brigade at Anzio in Jan-Mar 44 and 6 GREN GDS were in 201 Guards Brigade who landed at Salerno in Sep 43 and fought north.  In that time, they crossed the Volturno to the north of Naples in Oct 43 before assaulting the awesome Monte Camino in Nov and Dec 43.  In Jan 44, they crossed the Garigliano and helped secure the Tremonsuoli-Minturno- Tufo feature beyond.  It would be interesting to know if you can pin down which battalion he was in.  Regards. Frank

[Tony Marsden]

Frank hi,

Thank you for all that information, that’s more than I’ve ever known. I’m not very military savvi I’m afraid and I can’t find which battalion he was in, I’ve found out he was living at Victoria Barracks, Windsor in 1946 when he married my mum, that’s it, don’t know if that helps. He died in 1954 when I was 4 so I didn’t have the chance to talk to him.

Regards

Tony

[Frank de Planta]

Tony.

You really need to get hold of a copy of his Service Record.

Go to http://www.gov.uk and in the Search box type ‘How do I obtain a Service Record’.  Follow the instructions but do not worry if you do not have all the information being asked for.  Send it anyway.

When you get it back, get hold of me through http://www.cassinobattlefields.co.uk and I will happily decipher it for you.

The Service Record will tell us which battalion he was in and when.

Regards

Frank

 

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