Ernest Leonard (Lofty) Coleman

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 09/07/2011 00:35:50

I am the Son in Law of Ernest Coleman who died in 1995. Ernest was a member of No 3 Section, 10 Platoon, X Company, Royal Marines. During the spring of 2007 my late Mother in Law asked me to remove a shed that had partially collapsed, while clearing the shed I came across some papers, on examination it transpired that they were a manuscript of Ernests war time exploits including his incarceration in POW camp Milag Nord.
Ernest was on the Dieppe raid, he sailed there on board HMS Locust, he was feet away from his commander when the commander was cut down, he had put on a pair of white gloves to alert other marines to the danger and to turn back, I have quite a lot of information but there are some things I still need to find out.
In the manuscript Ernest mentions he was on board HMS Locust when Mountbatten (now Lord) and R.E.D Ryder VC, ( the VC had recently been awarded) took Ernest by each arm for a photo shoot by newspaper photographers. Ernest unfortunately could not remember the names of the newspapers. Ernest goes on to say that the raid was cancelled and they went on two weeks leave,three weeks later the raid was on again. On my calculation the photo shoot could have taken place in late June early July 1942 If anyone has information on this or any other information on Ernest I would be extremely grateful

This message was edited 7 times. Last update was at 09/07/2011 13:15:21

Hi Johnny and welcome to the CVA

What a great find in the shed of all places! The Dieppe raid, scheduled for the 4th July, was cancelled after bad weather, and then resurrected with a considerable change in the plans, for a later date in August as mentioned. However even earlier there had been a June date for the operation but that in itself was postponed.

The raid on Dieppe is well documented. The incident where the CO of 'A' Commando, of which I believe your father in law's 'X' Company, or 'X' Troop as it became known was a part, is described in the book "By Sea and Land - The Story of the Royal Marines Commandos by Robin Neillands". The CO was Lt. Col. Picton-Phillips and he was killed as he tried to signal the other craft to turn back .

Here is an account posted in the London Gazettes about the raid. It is 1 report on 6 pages. HMS Locust and HMS Calpe are mentioned primarily from page 3826 onwards:

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/38045/supplements/3823/page.pdf

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/38045/supplements/3824/page.pdf

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/38045/supplements/3825/page.pdf

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/38045/supplements/3826/page.pdf

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/38045/supplements/3827/page.pdf

http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/38045/supplements/3828/page.pdf

I would be interested to know more about your father in law and the documents you have found. We only have a few pictures of those who served in 'A' Commando, which after Dieppe became 40 RM Commando, and if you have a picture of Ernest, or any of his comrades, I would be interested in adding them to our gallery should you wish to share them with us. You can contact me either on here or by email on my email address shown below.

Pete Rogers

Hi Johnny,
Welcome to the CVA.
A great find indeed and I can fully understand why that has kindled a desire to find out more about Lofty and his colleagues.
As Pete says A Commando became 40 RM Commando so I thought you may be interested in this link

http://www.isle-of-wight-memorials.org.uk/others/shanklinupperchinerm.htm

Nick