Battle of Normandy casualty records

[Dave Wardle]

Hello all. I'm attempting to find out what happened to my Mum's Uncle Bob. She knew he went to Normandy and didn't come back, and that was about it. I found a record of his grave on the CWGC website, he is buried in normandy, and the record states he died on 6th August 1944, it gives his number as 13038389, and he was with 154 Coy., Pioneer Corps.
Does Coy mean Company? and can anybody tell me who the Pioneer Corps were?
Would it be possible for me to find a record of when his company landed, what they did, and ultimately where Uncle Bob died?
Thanks in advance.

[Treetotal]

Hi Dave...This might be of interest

http://www.royalpioneercorps.co.uk/rpc/history_main3.htm

Carol

[ShaunJ]

This might interest you too:

http://www.fallenheroesofnormandy.org/Servicemen/Detail/14573

[ShaunJ]

"Cpl Ashworth and Pte Boardman killed by mine explosion "


http://www.rlcarchive.org/JournalRan3?b=P01610002

[MaxD]

The war diary for his company is at the National Archives although it has not been digitised:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11150027 although you can see it on the site to which ShaunJ has provided a link.

This allows you to purchase a number of different subscriptions.  The pay per view may suit, £5 gets you 20 page views:
http://www.rlcarchive.org/OrderPrices.  The diary is at http://www.rlcarchive.org/RPCRan.  A much cheaper option than having the diary copied.

Of interest perhaps is that he was first buried in a temporary burial place near to his final resting place.  He was re-buried in December 1944.  This detail is on the "Concentration" tab below his details on the CWGC site.

MaxD

[Dave Wardle]

Hello Carol, Shaun and Max.
Many thanks for your help and advice, very much appreciated, I will delve into the archives and see what I can learn. And thanks Max for the tip about the reburial, I missed that bit when I first went on that site.

[Pelican]

Dave, if it helps those war grave cemeteries are beautifully kept. We went over to France and had a tour of the Normandy beaches. We went into the cemetery at Bayeaux to visit the grave of a relative. It is a lovely place, stunning yet serene and commemorative. It was a very emotional visit.

[Dave Wardle]

I now have the war diary for his company, and from that I now have the details we were looking for. It is of course very sad, but it's comforting to know where he is and what happened. We will be visiting the cemetery this summer. Thanks again to you all for your help, very much appreciated.