John Mavin, 2 Commando, 6 Troop (and 4tp.).

This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 21/04/2011 19:37:37

Good afternoon all.

Firstly, I must say how delighted I am to have found this forum and how pleased I am to have been permitted to sign up to the site.

My Great Uncle, John Mavin, was a Commando who joined in (I believe) 1941.
Whilst planning our annual family visit to Newcastle to commemorate the anniversary of his death, I decided to conduct a quick Google search and after a few pages I was surprised and delighted to view the photos in your gallery. Particularly the excellent quality photograph of John with the Mather brothers.

John returned home after the war to Newcastle Upon Tyne. He never married and had no children of his own, but he was a wonderful Uncle to my Mum and a fantastic Great Uncle to both my younger brother and myself.
The highlight of our Summers was when "Uncle John" would come down to stay with my Grandparents for a couple of weeks or so. My brother and I would go out on small adventures with him almost every day in his Mk 2 Jaguar and have a great time in his company.

He never spoke much about his experiences during the war, and over the years he had evidently disposed of any documentation, as when he passed away around 10 years ago my Mother and I cleared his house but we found nothing relating to his time in the Commandos.

We believe that he took part in operations in Italy, and certainly that would seem to be the case from what I've gathered from reading the operational history of the Commandos.

I may well apply for his service records now that I've learned how to do so from a post in this forum, but I would be delighted to hear from anyone who knew "Uncle John" or indeed the descendants of anyone who knew him.

Kindest regards,

Graham Hearn.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 15/04/2011 19:15:10

Hi Graham and welcome to the CVA

The photo you are referring to is indeed an excellent one and certainly shows the friendship between your great uncle and Fred and his brother Ernie. Sadly Fred passed away last year
( http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/1683.page )

I think you should apply for his service records. You may have read there is a lengthy period between application and receipt now - 9 months or so. In the meantime I will ask Eric Buckmaster who was in 5 troop if he knew of your uncle. I note what you say about when John died and finding nothing relating to his time in the Commandos, so the fact we have a couple of pictures already is even more important. I can add a few words about him should you wish to the photo we already have, or if you have any photo of him at all (pre or post war) that you would like included please feel free to contact me with a view to having it posted in the gallery.

Regards

Pete Rogers

Welcome Graham ,, great photo of yr Uncle

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 15/04/2011 01:55:16

Thank you Pete and Stephen for the welcome!

That's very kind of you to offer the assistance with the photos Pete. I'll have a sort through the family snaps and scan a couple of good ones.

Thank you also for the information about Fred. I had indeed read that thread earlier today, and I was very surprised to learn that his funeral was held at Whitley Bay, as John lived in North Shields, which is just around the corner (About 10 mins. drive) from Whitley Bay.

I would imagine (from the geographical proximity of their final resting places) that the Mathers would have known my uncle possibly even before being selected for the Commandos. It's obvious from the photograph that they were friends as well as comrades. Maybe they even went to the same school, who knows?

Please feel free to use any information I can provide as you see fit and with my blessing. In the space of one day you've managed to increase my knowledge of John's wartime career by about 300%!
I'm very grateful to you and to anyone else whose photos or recollections will help fill in the gaps.

I must admit that it's even more impressive to learn that John was a member of such an elite body of men. He was quite a small, slim and unassuming chap. Always in good spirits and with a great sense of fun. He certainly wouldn't have been the stereotypical image of a Commando!

Ultimately, whether he had been a Commando or a Pastry Chef would have made no difference to the esteem in which he was held by us all. He was a great guy and a major influence on both my brother and myself.
We often think of him, even ten years after his passing, but it's always with a smile and usually a laugh!
Which is how John would have wanted it I'm sure.

Many thanks again,

Graham.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 15/04/2011 19:14:41

Hi Graham

I have a note that Fred and his brother Ernie Mather and your uncle John were all in the Border Regiment before volunteering for the Commandos, so you may well be right about them knowing each other before the Commandos. I'll let you know if I get any positive replies from a couple of enquiries I am making about your great uncle.

Regards

Pete

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 16/04/2011 00:03:26

Thank you Pete!

I've spent some time today going through John's personal effects, and there are about a dozen photos relating to his service in the Commandos, including several group photos from training, on operations in Italy, Sicily, Gibraltar and possibly Yugoslavia.

Most of them were tiny, wallet-sized monochrome images but I've scanned them at high resolution, so once I've cropped and enhanced them a little I'll forward them on to you. Some have handwritten names and dates on the reverse, so I've scanned these also as I'm unable to interpret a few of them.

There's a good, professional one of what I believe is John with the three Mather brothers which was taken in a studio in Whitley Bay in 1937. It looks like they did indeed know each other prior to the Army.

I hope the pictures I can provide may be of interest to the relatives of other members of John's outfit. I'm sure they will be.

Will keep you posted, Gentlemen!

Graham.

Graham, Most commandos were not huge men My dad was quite small slim ,but oh he could pack a punch. You have every right to be proud

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 16/04/2011 16:48:08

Hi Graham

I am replying to your email to me on here for the benefit of other members and so there is a record of what is said. Thank you for all the photos which I am working on at the moment. From the photos you have sent I can see that certainly at some stage John was in 6 Troop of No.2 Commando. The troop photo is definitely 6 troop as there are faces that I recognise and can put names to. There was a reorganisation of troops within the Commando around 1943 with a Heavy Weapons Troops being formed ( the Mather brothers for instance went from 4 troop into the Heavy Weapons Troop). I am not sure whether you spotted in the No.2 Cdo gallery some details I put in from the 2 Cdo Official War Diary. It states ?

An entry in the No.2 Commando War Diary dated 4/12/43 at Molfetta states that Troop Commanders were informed that the Commando would be changing over to new establishment and that 6 Troop would be disbanded and its men amalgamated into 4 Troop ?

. This would make sense with the formation of a Heavy Weapons Troop. I spoke with Eric Buckmaster who was in 5 troop and sadly although he knows the name , he did not know your great uncle. Eric has told me in the past that the troops never really got to know the individuals in other troops to their own. Eric does add that in the photo above of John and the Mather brothers:

The Tam - O - Shanter's and shoulder flashes confirm 1941 /42 membership of 2 Commando

As soon as I can I will post the photos you sent me in the No.2 Commando gallery and post a message here to let you and others know.

Pete R.

Thank you Pete.

I'm afraid I've been out all weekend and as I'm up at 05:30 again tomorrow I'll leave replying properly until later, but I greatly appreciate all the info and I hope my emails didn't overload your server!

Chat again soon,

Graham.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 20/04/2011 22:37:06

Graham, most but not all the photos have now been posted in the No.2 Commando Gallery. Rest will follow:

John Mavin photos:
http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/2/6+troop/mavin/

2 Cdo 6 troop photos :

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/2/6+troop/Group+photo+1+-+No+inscription+copy.jpg.html

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/2/6+troop/6+troop+Sicily+1943.JPG.html

Regards

Pete

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 21/04/2011 18:47:11

Wow! You've certainly been a busy boy Pete. Well done! :D

I'm very impressed by all the names you've been able to assign to the group photo in such a short space of time. Hopefully they may be of interest to the descendants of some of those gentlemen who may be able to add some more names to the captions.

Since registering on the site I've been thoroughly enjoying learning about the history of the Commandos, and in particular I've enjoyed reading the recollections of all those who contributed to the article entitled "History of No. 2 Commando." They certainly had an interesting war!

Some of the feats detailed in there would cause more than a few raised eyebrows if one were to see them in a Hollywood production, so the fact that they all actually happened makes them all the more impressive. They most certainly were brave men.

It's quite hard sometimes for me to relate these actions to the man I knew. John was always such a quiet, unassuming and above all humorous man. Wherever we went with him as children and whatever we did together would always turn into great memories.
Obviously it's sad that he's no longer with us, but I'm eternally grateful that he survived the war and that we were able to spend so much time with him when other families were denied this situation by the unfolding of the events that are detailed so comprehensively in the "history" section of your website.

My parents divorced when I was quite young, so my experiences with John came in very handy when I met my girlfriend. She had two young children, and I had no experience of kids at that time. Whenever a situation arose I would ask myself "What would John do?" I'd do that and it would always be the right thing!
I'm especially pleased that you've managed to include the snap of John from the late 1990's outside his home "Lochnagar" in St George's Crescent, North Shields, as that's exactly how I always remember him.

I'm very grateful to you all for your work and dedication in ensuring that the memory of all these exceptional men will live on indefinitely thanks to the wonders of the Internet.
If I manage to turn up any more documents or pictures I'll be sure to let you know.

Thank you again for all your endeavours.

Kindest regards,

Graham.

Hi Graham

Credit for the CVA history of No.2 Commando must go to the late Bob Bishop MC formerly of No. 2 Commando. We do miss him.

I have added a few more bits of information onto the 6 troop Gibraltar photo:

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/2/6+troop/Group+photo+1+-+No+inscription+copy.jpg.html

Regards

Pete

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 25/04/2011 19:51:39

John White has recognised his father Jack White and Charlie Goff, both of 6 troop, in some of the photos that Graham supplied including this one where John Mavin is on the left, unknown in the middle, and Jack White on the right

Great! That's another piece of the puzzle slotted neatly into place then. Now all that remains is to identify the middle chap in the picture.

That photo appears to have been taken commercially, probably while the three of them were away from operations for a day somewhere in Italy.
The kind of painted backdrop that (I believe) appears in that picture were popular with small town photographers' studios and were often used for portraits and family groups, etc. The original was printed on card, so would have been done professionally, possibly as a memento of that day.

So, the history of No. 2 was the work of the late Bob Bishop MC? Well, he certainly has my (Posthumous) thanks too. It's a great article and an interesting read!

I'll stay tuned and will look forward to more developments.

Kindest regards,

Graham.

So, the history of No. 2 was the work of the late Bob Bishop MC? Well, he certainly has my (Posthumous) thanks too. It's a great article and an interesting read!

Thank you very much Graham. (You too Pete, of course). It was a labour of love for Bob and I thoroughly enjoyed my small part of putting it together.

- Janet Bishop