a wartime Belgian SAS casualty & another 1962

[MerchantSeaman]

Guys, I lied , I do have a wartime example, maybe to a Belgian SAS casualty, is that also S.S.A. ?????

sorry the pic is poor I'll have to have another go.

Jacques-Rene-Gustaaf PICQUART
Oorlogsvrijwilliger
Adjutant bij den Veiligheidsdienst S.S.A. van het Belgisch Leger in Groot-Britanie.
zoon van
Heer Maurits en Vrouw Augusta D-Haene
geboren te Heule 8 Augustus 1921 en roemval
gesneuveld voor zijn Vaderland
in de omgeving van Lessines 7 Mei 1942

It has a badge stamped onto the card in the Belgian colours.

[MerchantSeaman]

and here is the other one, the original pic is excellent and you can clearly see his SAS beret badge


Thierry Calbrecht,
Para-Commando
in bevolen dienst gesneuveld, boven Duitsland op 26 juni 1963

[marc b]

Hi Pete,

Nice Death notice.
I think this is a better scan

He wasn't SAS but more SOE.
I think the card was printed at "Vanmarcke Sanders. Heule" ?

Marc

[marc b]

In 1963 this guy was doing his military service with (Belgian) first para regt.
They were going to make a parajump out of a C-119 in Germany, flew over a military camp at Sennelager (Germany) at the same time as the british army was doing an exercise with mortars.
And can you imagina, one of the mortar bombs hit the airoplane and it crashed at Detmold (Germany), 31 parachutists, 5 airplane members and 4 dipatchers died.

marc

and here is the other one, the original pic is excellent and you can clearly see his SAS beret badge


Thierry Calbrecht,
Para-Commando
in bevolen dienst gesneuveld, boven Duitsland op 26 juni 1963

[MerchantSeaman]

Thanks for that Marc, I had guessed it might be a "roman-candle" chute but thats fascinating to know the real facts.

I see you have a copy of the same card as me (Picquart)
So the S.S.A. is a sort of SOE thing is it, is Adjutant a Warrant Officer rank as in the French & Belgian Army ??
Do you reckon that you could translate a bit of the stuff on his death, was it an accident in England or was he killed "in the field" with SOE.

[marc b]

Hi Pete,
He was killed in action in Belgium. He must have been on a mission.
If he was taken prisoner he would have died in a concentration camp, 50% of the Belgian SOE died ! !
I don't have a lot of info on the Belgian SOE, I know a few veterans personal but they don't know much about their comrades, I mean they only know about their own actions.
I know some of them went to the SAARF (Special Alled Airborne Reconnaissance Force) begin 1945.

Cheers,
Marc

Thanks for that Marc, I had guessed it might be a "roman-candle" chute but thats fascinating to know the real facts.

I see you have a copy of the same card as me (Picquart)
So the S.S.A. is a sort of SOE thing is it, is Adjutant a Warrant Officer rank as in the French & Belgian Army ??
Do you reckon that you could translate a bit of the stuff on his death, was it an accident in England or was he killed "in the field" with SOE.

[Greeves]

Marc and Pete: great stuff - really very interesting.

Thanks!