Salen, Fort William, Montrose Mountaineering school, Scotland

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 30/08/2009 21:26:52

My father Richard Hartley Burton was billeted at all these places during WW2. I am trying to trace any veteran who may have known him. He was also called "Dick". Why would anyone be sent to these places, can you help me trace my fathers war record as when I applied for it it said Embarked for France - Returned England with nothing in between! yet I know he was with a family in Hamburg and was on the Maginot line and went to France at least twice!

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 31/08/2009 12:38:32

Hi and welcome to the CVA. You do not say which unit your father served with prior to any special training. Does the service Record not indicate this? I know that there were some troops at the start of the war that went and served in the Maginot Line before withdrawing with the rest of the British Expeditionary Force. With regards to the places you mention, Salen is on the edge of the Sound of Mull, a stretch of water that was used for training by many different sections of the British Forces. I have seen this story from the BBC Wartime memories project about the area:
" I was a young boy growing up in the West Highland town of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull during the Second World War. I remember Tobermory bay being full of ships - mostly British frigates involved in anti submarine training. There wasn't a house in "Tob" that didn't have forces personnel staying with them. The ships' crews would come ashore for "Divisions" (Church parades) on a Sunday and also to have some R and R. The men would play football and visit one of the three canteens that had sprung up to accommodate them. There was the Women's' Guild canteen and the "dry" canteen where you could get a cup of tea or the "wet" canteen where you could get something stronger. One night Lord Lovat's team of Commandos, which was stationed in Lochaber, mounted a mock invasion on Mull as a training exercise and firecrackers and "thunder flashes" were thrown onto the ships. The Navy however thought that it was the real thing and retaliated with live ammunition and hose pipes! "Campbell Lament.
Fort William as i am sure you know is the area where Commando Training Centres were first established but also other units such as the SOE trained there. Montrose had an RAF base there and is about 2 hours from the original Braemar Mountaineering and Training School for Commandos. The very nature of some of these units meant that service records do not reflect their movements accurately, eg. no mention is made on my father's service record of him going on the St Nazaire Raid, yet it is recorded where he went to train for his part in the raid just prior to it. Did your father keep any other memorabilia from his war days. Any papers or certificates that might give a clue. Post war membership of Associations related to his war days also might help. Photos of him in uniform, etc, etc. Feel free to scan and post these on this forum if you wish. Something might give a clue that could assist someone in helping you.

Regards

This is also running on the wartime training establishments page.

suggest we use one or t'other otherwise I get confused!!

Scan of service history will help.

pete