Glinde

We know that 14AOD went to Glinde after V.E. Day. There was previously a German ordnance depot at Glinde and it would be logical for the British army to take over the facilities there for its own purposes. A search of the web turns up a lot of information about US Air Force bombing missions over Germany.

http://libraryautomation.com/nymas/usaaf7.html
453rd Bombardment Group - 460th Bombardment Group
453rd Bombardment Group
Constituted as 453rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 14 May 1943. Activated on 1 Jun 1943. Trained with B-14's. Moved to England, Dec 1943-Jan 1944, and assigned to Eighth AF. Began combat on 5 Feb 1944 with an attack against an airfield at Tours. Throughout combat, served chiefly as a strategic bombardment organization. Targets included a fuel depot at Dulmen, marshalling yards at Paderborn, aircraft assembly plants at Gotha, railroad centers at Hamm, an ordnance depot at Glinde, oil refineries at Gelsenkirchen, chemical works at Leverkusen, an airfield at Neumunster, a canal at Minden, and a railroad viaduct at Altenbeken.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Old_Buckenham

http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/aprilskies/264/missions.html
This is specific about the date.
MISSIONS FLOWN BY THE 453rd
MISSION NUMBER DATE TARGET
156 10/06/44 Glinde, Germany – Ordnance Depot
(The date is in American format i.e. October 6th)

http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/Oct.44.html
This confirms the date and also tells us the number of B-24s involved, but the reference to a "munitions dumb" (dump?) at Glind appears inaccurate. All other sources refer to it as an ordnance depot.
USAAF Chronology:COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
OCTOBER 1944
FRIDAY, 6 OCTOBER 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown. Mission 667: 1,271 bombers and 784 fighter are dispatched to hitindustrial targets in N Germany; with one exception, all attacks are visual;19 bombers and 4 fighters are lost:
3. 406 B-24s are dispatched to hit Harburg/Rhenania oil refinery (121) withPFF methods, munitions dumb at Hamburg/Glinde (89) and aircraft factories atHamburg/Klockner (79) and Wenzendorf (46); targets of opportunity are StadeAirfield (29), the Hamburg area (8), Nordhoz Airfield (2), Bremervorde (1)and Ottersberg (1); 1 B-24 is lost and 127 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 2 WIAand 10 MIA. Escort is provided by 156 of 168 P-47s; they claim 1-0-0 aircraftin the air; 6 P-47s are damaged.

http://www.lonesentry.com/manuals/tme30/ch6sec2.html
This is taken from U.S. War Department Technical Manual, TM-E 30-451: Handbook on German Military Forces published in March 1945 and details the system of supply within Germany. It tells us specifically that Hamburg-Glinde was an army equipment depot, and such depots did not furnish ammunition.

Google searches also bring up something about Advanced Base Ordnance Depot (Glinde) Hamburg on the Forces Reunited website, but I cannot get in to their system without registering.

"Ralph" in Glinde

The top picture shows Don Mackie with two saxophonists. That's Art Sutton on the left, this time with a tenor. (On the recordings I have, he plays only alto and clarinet.) The altoist does not appear in any of the other photos. On the back of the full-length picture, Don has written "This is Ralph." He is absent from the Arromanches photo and he is not wearing medal ribbons, while Don, Ted and Denis are. This indicates he was not with 14AOD in Caen but joined them only when they reached Glinde. Is he the second saxophone heard on "American Patrol"?

14AOD in Glinde

After V.E. Day, 14AOD moved to Glinde, near Hamburg, to handle returned ordnance. This is a series of informal pictures which I presume was taken in Glinde, as some of the men are wearing medal ribbons for the 1939-1945 and France & Germany stars. We see only five of the members of the band here. These correspond to the quintet heard on one of the recordings and a photo - to be published here later - of the band in performance. I believe these photos were included with letters home from Don to his wife Eileen. Where applicable, I have included the notes he made on the back.





3 Stooges (Arthur - Teddy - DJM)
(Wipe that smile off your face!)


3 Stooges again.
(I'll let you have a better one when we make an enlargement)



3 Heroes.
(That's Denis in the middle - bless his little 'eart)



Inseperables



Just reading through one of your letters here
(That's Eileen in the picture on the window sill.)

What this is all about

During WWII, my father served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. In October 1944, he was posted to Caen in France with 14AOD (Advanced Ordnance Depot). He played guitar and he soon became part of an army dance band "The Band of 14AOD". After VE Day (8 May 1945) 14AOD transferred to Glinde near Hamburg to handle returned ordnance.

Dad brought back with him various records and photos of the band. But he never actually played the records. They lay gathering dust until a couple of years ago when I dug them out and had them cleaned up and transferred to CD. I was interested to know more about the band and its members. I sent a photo in to the Daily Mail's "Missing and Found" column and made contact with relatives of some of the other musicians. Comparing notes with them has enabled me to fill in a lot of the gaps, but I would still like to know more. The band comprised:

Art Sutton - alto saxophone and clarinet. He was originally from Leicester, but later moved to Birmingham. After the war, he developed a successful hosiery business called "Knickers"

Denis Harper - accordion. From Loughborough. He went on to be a successful band leader.

Claude Page - trumpet. From Rothwell, Northamptonshire. He played with a number of bands, including a 40s Big Band made up of veteran performers.

Ted Willmott - drums. From Carshalton.

Bert Hunt - piano. From Aldershot.

Don Mackie - guitar. From Abbey Wood, SE London.

Frank Simpson - bass.

I know that Messrs Harper, Hunt, Mackie, Page, Sutton and Willmott are no longer with us. So far, I have not established any contact with any family or acquaintances of Frank Simpson. But if he is still alive, he will now be in his late 80s.