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Besides the 50 US Rangers who officially participated in the Dieppe Raid, how many other Americans were at Dieppe? I found the following on the Internet and was wondering how many Americans were serving in the Canadian units which took part in Operation Jubilee? Just how many Americans joined the Essex Scottish?
"My father, Mason Dobson of the Essex Scottish
Message: My father, Mason Dobson, was one of the many Americans who joined the Essex Scottish Regiment in Windsor. He participated in the Dieppe raid and was taken prisoner there. He spent three years as a POW in Poland and eastern Germany. Near the end of the war, his German captors force-marched his POW group west, away from the Russians and towards the Americans. During this march my father broke his back in a fall, but continued on with the help of friends. The Germans were executing stragglers and so my father was fortunate to survive. After the war he served in the U.S. Foreign Service. Although he seldom spoke of his experiences at Dieppe or as a POW he was in touch with a number of his comrades until his death in 1989. I happened to visit Dieppe on the anniversary of the invasion in 1979. I arrived on the ferry from England, late at night. Having nowhere to stay, I decided to pitch my tent on the strand right in front of the town. I learned later that this was right where the Essex Scottish came ashore in 1942. In the morning, I was awoken by two French gendarmes. They were, not surprisingly, rather perfunctory in indicating that I had to pack and leave. My scruffy backpacking-hitchhiker appearance didn't help. However, when I mentioned that my father had come ashore on this beach exactly 37 years before, their demeanor instantly changed, and I was treated with utmost courtesy and respect. The people of Dieppe had not forgotten the sacrifices of 1942. Andrew Dobson Arlington Virginia."
"My father, Mason Dobson of the Essex Scottish
Message: My father, Mason Dobson, was one of the many Americans who joined the Essex Scottish Regiment in Windsor. He participated in the Dieppe raid and was taken prisoner there. He spent three years as a POW in Poland and eastern Germany. Near the end of the war, his German captors force-marched his POW group west, away from the Russians and towards the Americans. During this march my father broke his back in a fall, but continued on with the help of friends. The Germans were executing stragglers and so my father was fortunate to survive. After the war he served in the U.S. Foreign Service. Although he seldom spoke of his experiences at Dieppe or as a POW he was in touch with a number of his comrades until his death in 1989. I happened to visit Dieppe on the anniversary of the invasion in 1979. I arrived on the ferry from England, late at night. Having nowhere to stay, I decided to pitch my tent on the strand right in front of the town. I learned later that this was right where the Essex Scottish came ashore in 1942. In the morning, I was awoken by two French gendarmes. They were, not surprisingly, rather perfunctory in indicating that I had to pack and leave. My scruffy backpacking-hitchhiker appearance didn't help. However, when I mentioned that my father had come ashore on this beach exactly 37 years before, their demeanor instantly changed, and I was treated with utmost courtesy and respect. The people of Dieppe had not forgotten the sacrifices of 1942. Andrew Dobson Arlington Virginia."
