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2nd Canadian Pioneer Bn. R.C.E. 1940-45, looking for members of this division

monty

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My father David Montgomery was a member of the 2nd Pioneer Bn. as a carpenter. My father joined in 1940, basic training at Camp Borden in Ontario.My understanding is the group was stationed in south England early 40's, helping build an airport in summerside? I believe among other duties before heading over to France... around July 1944...i believe the battalion worked on the bailey bridges in holland and belgium.

If anyone knows of someone, hopefully still alive,  I  would appreciate a contact name or they can contact me.... My father died before i was born so i am trying to learn anything i can about my father....  thanks
 
I have never heard of the unit but engineers are not my interest.

Some units self-published histories at the end of the war recounting their history.  These were often done while everyone was still in Europe with lots of time on their hands.  I have no clue whether one was done for this unit or where one could be found.

There are probably war diaries.  See what you can find at Library and Archives Canada.  If you can't find anything online you can order microfilms by inter-library loan if you have the microfilm number.

I edited out the link because even though I was searching filtering out everything but 1940s results, it gave me the WWI battalion.  I'll let you do the searching.

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html

I found it.

http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=927308&rec_nbr_list=182616,182579,182542,3524587,927308&back_url=(http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/lac-bac/result/all-tout.php?module=all&Language=eng&FormName=Fed+Simple+Search&SourceQuery=&ResultCount=5&PageNum=1&MaxDocs=-1&SortSpec=score+desc&Language=eng&SearchIn_1=&Operator_1=AND&SearchIn_2=&SearchInText_2=&Operator_2=AND&SearchIn_3=&SearchInText_3=&Sources_1=amicus&Sources_2=mikan&Sources_3=genapp&Sources_4=web&soundex=on&cainInd=&SearchInText_1=2nd+canadian+pioneer)

I suspect the name change is the reason for dead ends.  "2nd Battalion, Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers (formerly 2nd Canadian Pioneer Battalion, Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers)"  There might be more info as this covers only 1940/06-1942/06.

The unit is a battalion which may have had 500 - 1,000 men of mostly similar trade.  A division is a unit that Canadians typically maintained at 15 - 20,000 of all arms and trades.
 
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