Further information concerning death, burial: Allan's great-nephew did some research, and took some trips, and the picture on the right (taken by the great-nephew) is where Allan died, according to his researches.Allan Boyd Brodie was my father's father's sister's son.
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I knew my great aunt as "Aunt Rene", and she put the "great" in "great aunt". To other branches of the family she was "Granny Nelly". More formerly, she was born Irene Gertrude Boyd, and she married George Herbert Brodie.
Does she look sad in the picture on the right? I hope not. That wasn't what she was like. She smiled a lot. The photo was taken in 1970 or '71.
Irene Boyd was born into a wealthy family. Wealthy, but perhaps not the happiest family.
Can you believe what you read on the internet? In this essay you will find text appearing as the next paragraph does. They aren't really part of the story; they are statements of my reasons for believing things I've included. Some things are just my recollections of things I've heard over the years. I'll try to be clear about what things are that poorly substantiated.
(This is an example of how I will insert justifications for what I've written.)
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Aunt Rene was a lady of great character! She told me she would have been Head Girl at her secondary school if it hadn't been for a little business involving a fire hose on the (flat) roof of the mistress's common room.
In many ways, her life was not easy. Another measure of her character was the way that she dealt with that with great determination and cheerfulness. She may have started life in privileged circumstances, but losing Allan was just one of many challenges she faced, not least long-term terrible arthritis.
I've heard it said that as a young woman, "in society", she let it be known that she would marry the first man who would take her more than 1500 miles from her father.
She married George Brodie, who was 15 or 17 years her senior. He took her to Brazil, I believe. (Being Aunt Rene, nothing's simple. There are conflicting official records for her date of birth!) Though my recollections are fuzzy, I think Brazil was involved for a time.
(The 1939 Register of England & Wales lists George as a "Brazilian Merchant". There's a passenger list showing her arriving from Brazil in May 1938.)
In any case, Irene Brodie bore three children, two girls and a boy.
She and George didn't stay in Brazil. I don't know the details, but England, Menton (France, on coast near Italy), and San Remo (Italy, on the coast, near France) figured in their lives... 1930s? She lived in Farnham, Surrey England for many of her last years.
This page is about the tragic death of her son.
To her dying day, a small table in her sitting room was a memorial to him. On it was her letter from the King, and a photo of Allan.
She had him when she was 30, had him with her for 24 years, and mourned him for 37...
Allan was born in 1920.
He joined the army.
According to a notice in the London Gazette, 5 September 1941, "Cadet Allan Boyd BRODIE (197032), from O.C.T.U., to be 2nd Lt. 19th July 1941."
At the time of his death, he was in the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, part of the Royal Artillery Corps, a cavalry regiment of the British Army. They fought in tanks. The regiment has a valiant history.
He joined the 8th Hussars in August 1943, and saw action in the Western Desert. (North Africa. Rommel.)
(The above information comes from a 1991 letter from someone who was there, then, with him. I've only just seen it. It will add much to this tribute in due course. (Henceforth, I will refer to it as "1991 letter".)
The 8th Hussars, before Alan's time with them, "helped breach the minefields at the Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 4 November 1942) and then joined the pursuit for three weeks. On 9 June 1944..." (AFTER Alan had joined them)... ", the regiment were aboard a convoy leaving Bumper Quay in Gosport at 11am, bound for Gold Beach, Normandy. From 11 to 30 June, the 8th were involved in the advance through the Bocage with the 22nd Armoured Brigade. They were involved in action against the 2nd Panzer Division, with the 8th leading their division out of the bridgehead."
(Quote taken from Wikipedia, and it's article on the Second Battle of El Alamein. Accessed 25 Jul 26.)
D-Day was 6 June 1944.
Alan and the 8th Hussars landed at Arromanche 9 June. Except for the "Specials", they were the first Armoured Division to land.
(All in previous from 1991 letter from a comrade who was there with him.
On 23 July, he was a 23 or 24 year-old lieutenant. He was not far from Caen, France.
He was killed in action when his position was shelled by the enemy, and is buried nearby.
(The 1939 Register of England & Wales lists Allan's date of birth as 11 May 1920, and the England & Wales Births GRO Index gives birth in Apr-Jun 1920, but something like a newspaper obituary gives his age as 23. (That's in the frame with the letter from the King.) The text of the presumed obit is "Brodie- On July, 1944, in action, Lieut. ALLAN BOYD BRODIE, VIII King's Royal Irish Hussars, aged 23 years, only son of Mr. and Mrs. G.H. Brodie, 2(?) Victoria Grove, London, and of Menton, France." (There's a Victoria Grove in London today about half a mile NW of the Natural History Museum.))
A happy youth.
(His great nephew supplied this image to me.)
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Where his mother lived: 1921 England & Wales Census says birth: Tonbridge, Kent, England (Makes sense. Her father had estate there.) Her residence 1921: Granville Hill, 59 Silverdale Road, Eastbourne, Sussex. Living there with husband George Herbert Brodie and children Allan Boyd Brodie, Irene Phyllis Brodie, Catherine Beatrice Brodie. Ages about 5, 3 and 1. The following is her with the children, from about this time. The baby is Allan.
1938: Shown on a passenger list arriving on Avila Star from Brazil with daughter Phyllis and son Allan.
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Further information concerning death, burial: Allan's great-nephew did some research, and took some trips, and the picture on the right (taken by the great-nephew) is where Allan died, according to his researches.
(I think the 1991 letter, or further discussions with it's author were the basis of his conclusion. And or information in the official records of his burial.)
Somehow, the rather mundane place makes the whole thing even sadder for me, even though I find it ridiculous that I even notice such a trivial and not unlikely thing alongside the other emotional triggers involved.
More about the 8th Hussars: Again, from Wikipedia...
"The regiment fought in part of the offensive against the Italian Army in North Africa in June 1940. In January 1941, the regiment captured and occupied El Adem airfield (near Tobruk) and by 8 January 1942 were part of the forces surrounding Tobruk. In February 1941, they were involved in the decisive Battle of Beda Fomm, near Tobruk, which led to the capture of most of the Italian forces in North Africa at the time."
In researching this, and studying the great-nephew's research, I was deeply impressed by the effort that was expended by official bodies to keep track of deceased soldiers. The paperwork is extraordinarily thorough.
You might say, "of course"... but remember everything else that was going on.
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He was buried twice. I presume that was a consequence of the "other things going on". Not remarkable when you think about it, of course, but at the same time not something that I'd ever encountered before: I'm not repulsed, offended, etc... but still, it is... interesting?
In 1944 evac helicopters, refrigerated shipping containers, etc, etc, were not among the army's options.
And they did a great job of coping with what they had.
Alan's final resting place and memorial. There's an inscription low down on the stone, as you can see in the image: "There's some corner Of a foreign field That is for ever England". It is also recorded in another of the documents carefully generated by the people concerned. It is part of the poem by the WW I soldier Rupert Brooke written in 1914... the year before he was killed in the earlier war. I hope the bereaved were able to chose the inscriptions, but I don't know.
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A fellow officer remembers him: This was written in 1991 by someone Allan served alongside from August 1943.
("1991 letter")
Transcription: "He was a very bright young man, very cheery with a great sense of humour- Alas, most of his best friends were also killed in the following few weeks. "I can still visualise him when he smiled- it was big with deep lines in his face, a very catching smile- That's about it- Officers I have approached all in their 70's have difficulty remembering [?] those days 46 years ago- Yet I remember Alan very clearly."
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