Service records and documents: George Norton Barnes Part 1 Army Commandos

markh wrote: He and some other men were flown up to HongKong - a fair distance given the aircraft of the day - and at some point in time he and 3 others were parachuted onto " Kai Tak airport in the afternoon around 2pm". He thought one of the men was called Capt. King -probably the only time he gave me a name.

There was a Capt David King in No5 Cdo - unfortunately I don't know what dates he served with No5...

Nick

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 09/09/2012 19:14:58

NIC wrote:
There was a Capt David King in No5 Cdo - unfortunately I don't know what dates he served with No5...

Lt D.E. King joined the unit on 9 January 1945 and was made an Acting Captain wef 3 November 1945

Thanks Julie,

I knew you'd pick that up...

Well that fits in with George's memories.

Nick

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 27/09/2012 00:10:39

Here is a picture of all that remains of George's Commando shoulder patch. As a kid it was intact. I think it used to say 5 Commando, but I'm not sure. Anybody know which commando this patch would belong to ?

Note this badge was sown onto my army jumper as a kid, so was washed more than a few times. I think it was green, but perhaps not the shade it is now. Thinking back I can't think why my parents let me wear it !

Sadly most of Granddad's memorabilia was apparently got rid of, on orders of my nan, many many years ago, and he apparently used his beret to cover his head while working as a painter!

Mark,
Obviously both the background and the lettering is very faded having been washed so many times. It is obvious that the background in /was green, but on closer inspection the thread which makes up the lettering appears to have a slight trace of yellow.
I copied your photo and, without adding any colour, saturated/enhanced the existing colours...
As you will see the lettering was indeed yellow/gold.

If you look at my avatar picture you will see that No5 Commando did use a gold lettering on a green background at one time, although this is a very early example and by 1944 they were certainly using the red lettering on black/blue background.

Hi Nic, thanks. Yes the yellow lettering triggered off a memory. I Remember the first time the jumper and patch were washed -maybe 1979 - I was really surprised at how the patch became "cleaner" meaning the lettering became whitish.

I checked about the origin of the patch, both my grandmother and mother confirm it was my granddad's however my nan thought it said "40 Commando", my mum couldn't remember. My memory is it used to
read "5 Commando" with the numeral 5 rather than a V, but maybe I'm wrong !

Sadly I don't recall asking my granddad where the badge came from, other than it was his.

From his service record you commented that

George was posted to No5 Cdo and Taken on Strength on 09 Jan 1946 and remained X(i)

So if the patch was of the early form of "V Commando" he would not have officially been with 5 Commando, and not even in the services if the V Commando is early 1940s
If I my memory is correct and it did say "5 Commando" could that be a different patch ?

Mark,

Have a look at the various badges used by No5 Cdo on this page in our gallery
http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/Commando+Badges+and+Memorabilia/5+Cdo/

You'll see both the Arabic numeral 5 and the Roman numeral V were both used in gold on green but, as I said, these were early.

Your example looks quite 'crude' and I'd suggest it was handmade - a common practice amongst commandos - and that your grandfather had it as a keepsake of his time with No5 Cdo.

By the time your grandfather was with No5 Cdo, they were certainly red on blue/black and, later, brass.

40 RM Cdo were red on blue from the offset.

Nick

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 27/09/2012 19:34:36

What a surprise, I had no idea Commandos sometimes made their own badges. I'm speculating, but perhaps in Jan 1946, 5 Commando were winding down, money tight, and the old style badge was all they had in the stores, or perhaps it was made locally in Hong Kong. Ah, I wish I had remembered the badge and asked him about it as an adult. It is nice to have something that was perhaps with my granddad. Sentimental I know.

This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 21/10/2012 11:59:06

Julie wrote

Perhaps they boarded the ship on the 12th but didn't set sail until the 15th

I discovered we can obtain ship's movement cards from the National archives[1]

EMPRESS OF AUSTRALIA (British) would be held in reference BT 389/12

The Empress of Australia is recorded as having arrived at Hong Kong on the 11/11/1946, then sailing on the 15/11/1946 and arriving in Liverpool on the 13/12/1946 which ties in with Larry's service book and George's records for leaving HongKong and arriving in the UK.

From the hand written document I have made out :

Hong Kong 15/11/1946
Singapore 19/11/1946 20/11/1946
Colombo 24/11/1946 25/11/1946
Suez 3/12/1946 3/12/1946
Port Said 4/12/1946
Malta 6/12/1946 did not enter port adverse weather
Gibraltar 10/12/1946
Liverpool 13/12/1946

See [1] to obtain a copy of this document, as the image is copyright

Prior to this the records show that the Empress sailed to from Hong Kong to Shanghai, then onto the military port of Kure, Hiroshima prefecture in Japan for repairs before returning to Hong Kong on the 11th December.
I mention Shanghai as one of George's anecdotes was taking "tall Korean prisoners to Shanghai" and talk about "the bund"[2] , from where they must have returned to Korea. It should be remembered that through occupation, there was the
Japanese Korean Army [3]. As HongKong to Shanghai is only a 3 day sailing, some time prior -he said he never went to Japan - he could have made this trip.

[1] http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/3638.page
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Korean_Army

What a great piece of research. Thank you Mark!

Mark...have you any record of whether George served in the Korean War ?