John Richard Coghlan - 5 then 1/5 commando

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 03/09/2011 11:11:05

Hi guys,

I'm putting together some family history and trying to find some information about my grandfather John Richard Coghlan.
I have a bit of information on his military history but wanted to know more about his time in the commandos, when he was alive i tried to find out as much as i could but as is common among WW2 veterans, was very quiet about his time...

Here's what i do know;

1. He was originally in the black watch and served in Italy then north africa
2. Joined commando's early 1940's and was in 5 commando
3. I know he served in Burma but was unsure whether or not this was with the BW or the Commandos (he NEVER ate rice!!! said he'd eaten too much of the bloody stuff already!!! lol)
4. His release book states that he finished up in 1947 in 1/5 commando
5. THINK he reached rank of sergeant?
6. I know he boxed for the army also! whether it was regimental boxing i'm not too sure

I've trawled through the pics on here in the hope of anything that i can connect him too but can't see anything....if ANYONE can help with any information i would be eternally grateful!

Regards,

Tony Harbour

Hi Tony and welcome!

I?m also researching a member of 5 Commando and have come across a mention of your grandfather in ?The Third Jungle Book? ? a magazine produced while they were serving in India & Burma ? from September 1945. It is under the notes covering 4 Troop and says, ?Johnny Coghlan, the only man to put three bombs down a barrel, is now playing Tinker to Mr Booth?s Sexton Blake and assures us that all Coppers are?nt.?.

What that means, I don?t know, but I?m sure someone here will!

Good luck with your search for more information.

Julie

Hi Julie,

Wow...thanks for that, have NO idea what the hell it means but at least he's mentioned somewhere!! i would love to get a hold of one of these magazines, i saw one sold on Ebay recently but can imagine they are as rare as fairy dust so will have to keep searching!

It's a start though so thanks and now i know he was in 4 troop so that's an additional bit of info i never had!

Now i found out he was part of 4 troop, i had another trawl through the gallery and found a picture of him!! He's the guy on the right in the picture...

I'm so happy to find one of him here! anyone shed any light on the other guy?

Hi Tony

May I also wish you a very warm welcome to the CVA, I was lucky enough a few years ago to be loaned an original copy of the September issue of the Third Jungle Book previously mentioned by Julie. During the time that I had this publication I was given permission by the owner to take it apart (extremely carefully!!) and make an exact copy of it. If you are interested I could run you off a copy and post this out to you, the booklet would be in colour ie capturing the original yellowing of the pages, be stapled and trimmed to be a near perfect copy of the original.
Have you made an application to obtain a copy of your Grandfather's service records, it is a straight forward process and only costs £30, the following link will take you to the section of the CVA forum where the MOD site for making an application can be found and from where the relevant application forms can be downloaded.

http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/service_records.html

Cheers Andy

Welcome Tony .My dad Robert Donnison was in No 5 Commando .He was a bit of a boxer too Maybe they fought each other

Thanks guys...Andy, i'll definately do that, i spoke with my mum last night and she informed me that he still has a medal that he never claimed (i think it was the Burma star but not too sure?) so i'll also try and get that, may make a nice christmas present for my mum!
I would definitely be interested in a copy of the magazine...would you like me to message you my address details?

And Stephen....who knows!! you can probably tell by the picture above that he was a boxer, his nose was all over the place!

Hi Tony

I have now received your address details so I will sort out a copy of the Jungle Books that I have ie July 1944 / Sep 1945 and March 1946 issues, the March issue being the last one that was ever produced.

Cheers Andy

Ps My father also boxed in the Commandos, so maybe he met up with Steve's father and your G'father also!!

Hi tony,
Welcome to the CVA.

With ref to the quotation from the Third Jungle Book supplied by Julie W, my guess would be that it refers to Johnnie Coglan being on the Mortars.
To add credence to my theory, the photo of him that you found was sent in by the family of Sgt Tharme, 6 Troop, No5 Cdo.

6 Troop was the 'Heavy Weapons Troop' and operated Mortars and Machine Guns.
I would guess that having 'put three bombs down the barrel' whilst in 6 Troop he subsequently moved to 4 Troop, probably after a promotion - which was common in the Commandos.

Please also see that I'd already listed him in the No5 Cdo Nominal Roll that I'm compiling and have now amended his entry to reflect his full name.

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/762.page

Nick

tonyharbour wrote: i spoke with my mum last night and she informed me that he still has a medal that he never claimed (i think it was the Burma star but not too sure?) so i'll also try and get that, may make a nice christmas present for my mum!

Tony,

Please see this link for claiming un-issued medals

http://www.veterans-uk.info/medals/medals.html

That's great, thanks Nick....i've been asking anyone in the family what they think it could mean and no one can come up with anything!

He was VERY quiet about his time in the war and didn't speak much about it at all...i only remember one story where he said they were training for jungle patrolling.."we learnt very quickly that you don't patrol in the jungle with bayonet's fixed, the first time we went out, one of the guys tripped and speared the sergeant in the arse..."

I've sent off for his records now and will do the same for the medal...i'm getting a lot of pictures from my mum so will post these on here as soon as i get them!

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 12/09/2011 21:41:52

tonyharbour wrote:...I only remember one story where he said they were training for jungle patrolling.."we learnt very quickly that you don't patrol in the jungle with bayonet's fixed, the first time we went out, one of the guys tripped and speared the sergeant in the arse..."

Another great anecdote.
Although, there's always the possibility the sgt wasn't popular - maybe the commando didn't 'trip'...

Nick

haha that could well be true!!!!!

Tony,
Please have a look at the Cpl, front right on this photo - is this your GF?

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/5/Group+of+No5+Cdo+pals.jpg.html

Nick

that's definately him!