Research Help - Private Emil Ulrich

[karl262]

I'm trying to find information on a relative who served in WW2 and would appreciate some guidance. There's not a lot of info about him in my family except for the points below (he was my grandfathers brother and didn't have children, never married). He pretty much disappeared after coming back home in 1946. He would randomly show up at different times, never talk about what he had been up to, and sort of just vanished.

Here is a summary of what is known:

The only correspondence, which was sparse to say the least, was through the Department of Defense. If you wanted to contact him, you had to write to the military, and his reply would come from the military. This was the case for decades following the war.

He was part of the Dieppe raid, was captured by the Germans, and was a POW in Poland (I don't know where) until it was liberated by the Red Army.

While in the camp, he befriended the camp commander and exploited this relationship to help others escape and to assist the Polish underground movement.

He somehow managed to write letters home while in the camp. They even arrived with Nazi postage. The postmaster in Gretna had no idea how the letters were making their way from Nazi Germany to Manitoba through regular post. I'm trying to track some of these letters down but my dad remembers seeing the letters growing up in the 1950s.

He was awarded the Military Medal in 1946, and could possibly have been awarded other medals as my dad remembers seeing a box of them. The only documents I have found mentioning him are below.

Where/how/when he died is unknown to anyone in my family.

He was alive up to at least 1980 or so, the last correspondence.

Here is the description of the Military Medal award:




The only other mention I can find is this, his name at the bottom right:



There is also this, an archive report whose contents look to be restricted by law, if I'm reading this correctly:
http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_a...813548,3590333

I'm not sure how I can find out more besides what's on the web, which isn't much. Is there any way I can use his serial number to find anything?

Suggestions?

Thanks for reading.

[PIMking]

Dude, I cant help you but your great uncle is a bad ass and I would be one proud man if I were related to him.

[Shawnski]

Have you contacted the Military Museum here in Calgary? They might be able to help.

[sureLoss]

Did you try contacting his former company? Usually they have an association for former members and may be able to guide you in the right direction.

[CaptainCrunch]

You can also get the war diaries for his unit if you know his specific unit and the dates he served with them.

They are usually day to day action reports, so you can usually find not only a ton of info, but clues to other people or units that you can contact.

The government has been trying to electronically store all of the war diaries that they can get their hands on.

[CaptainCrunch]

Queens own Camerons research page

http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-.../index-eng.asp

Maybe send in an enquiry here since a lot of the archives are still DHH

http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/contact.page

[bigtmac19]

My Dad was captured at Dieppe and was a POW in Poland also. He was with The Essex & Kent Scottish. Other regiments that participated in the raid may have names and/or information of soldiers that were together in the camps? As bad as my Dad's memory got near the end of his life, he always remembered the names of those guys he knew back then.

[karl262]

Thanks everyone. This has been extremely helpful. I sent in a request to the Department of Defense historical inquiries and also will be submitting to the access to information coordinator for a couple departments.

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[karl262]

Hopefully I can get his unit number and look into some war diaries, thanks Captain. I only really know of that one specific date that he served and was in combat. Bigtmac19, wow thats amazing. I wonder if they knew each other...

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[undercoverbrother]

I would reach out to his Unit.

You would be surpised what they might know.


Good Luck.

[FlamesAddiction]

You can try filing a request under the Access to Information Act:

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sc/atip/index.shtml

They might be able to provide some documents regarding where he lived and such. They are not always that helpful, but there should be something. I had some luck getting historical addresses of someone using this service before.

Also, try emailing your member of parliament. While it isn't there job per se, most MPs are pretty resourceful and can forward your email on to someone who can help, or provide the name of an agency that helps with these matters. Don't expect this process to work quickly though.

[undercoverbrother]

http://www.thequeensowncameronhighlandersofcanada.net/


The website is odd, usually they will list medal winners.

I still think a good bet will be to contact the Regimental Association, this is one of the purposes.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by karl262

Hopefully I can get his unit number and look into some war diaries, thanks Captain. I only really know of that one specific date that he served and was in combat. Bigtmac19, wow thats amazing. I wonder if they knew each other...

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The nice thing about the war diaries is that they are daily entries, so you can go backwards and forwards say a year each way scanning for his name. The war diaries cover casualties acts of bravery right down to the mundane like patrol schedules and results. They are pretty fascinating.


you can also try reaching out to the history departments at major universities. I would also reach out to RMC and talk to their historians to see if they can point you in the right direction.

What are you trying to find out about him? Just military stuff? Just poking around briefly, I found an Emil Ulrich that passed away on Dec 21, 1980 in Regina? This him?
I spent about 6 months researching my family tree, so between my mom and I, we have all the good websites flagged. Let me know what you want and I can try to help. I love doing this stuff.

[karl262]

Wow everyone, I am blown away be the response, there are not enough thanks to go around. I'm at work now so I don't have time to post but will update later on. Blown. Away.

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Buried at Riverside Memorial Park in Regina.
Fought at Green Beach in Dieppe 9th Battalion.
Still working on the other stuff....

[burn_this_city]

Wow impressive find.

[StevenAbootman]

From the 1911 Canadian Census:

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census...ng+Emil+Ulrich

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Puxlut

Buried at Riverside Memorial Park in Regina.
Fought at Green Beach in Dieppe 9th Battalion.
Still working on the other stuff....

Holy ####balls that is impressive

I reckon you owe Puxlut 83 millions thanks.

http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php
Dad's name was Carl (or Karl depending on what page you're looking at..) and Mom was Maria (Goetz or Gaetz... depending on the page.) Sister Pauline and Brother Walter Emil (Guess Karl's dad was Emil?)
Edit:... no, wait. Freidreike was Walters mom... I have to wait for my mom to give me her ancestry password. I get waaaay too addicted to this kind of stuff.