ROLLS OF HONOUR for Army Commandos who were K.I.A. or D.O.W., World War II

Of all the information posted on the CVA site, the Rolls of Honour will surely be the most important tabulation that will be recorded. There is no memory of Commando veterans that can compare with this listing of our men and friends who made the ultimate sacrifice.

At the beginning of October last year, at the request of CVA Member John Mewett and his son, Dan, the Administrator CVA, I compiled the Rolls for all the Army Commando units. This work required much research and verification of existing records, indeed for the entire month of October. I was assisted in this work by many days of computer employment by my wife, Janet. Dan now has our work results and has the task of site computer format to undertake which will result in publication.

I did find this work produced many emotional moments, as in the case of No. 2 Commando (my own unit). As I recorded each name it seemed to conjure up a picture of a young man whom I had soldiered with on a daily basis ? not only No. 2 Cdo, but I had to record other names of boys and men I found in Nos. 1, 4, 6, 9 and 5 Cdos who had served with me in my regiment before we volunteered for Commando service.

The end result of our work produced the numbers of fallen as follows:

No. 1 Cdo. 92
No. 2 Cdo. 140
No. 3 Cdo 180
No. 4 Cdo. 99
No. 5 Cdo. 63
No. 6 Cdo. 118
No. 7 Cdo. 18
No. 8 Cdo. 13
No. 9 Cdo. 92
No. 10 Cdo. 17
No. 11 Cdo. 65
No. 12 Cdo. 15
No. 30 Cdo. 4
Nos. 50, 51 & 52 M.E. Cdos combined 34

I forwarded my listings to our John Mewett and Nick Collins for review and comment at the end of October and I am most grateful for their observance that the official lists which I had used as a basis for the Rolls had not included one fallen member of No. 5 and No. 12 Cdos and that two names of No. 1 Cdo were also not noted in the CWGC Cdo. Casualities.

My visit to the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge followed shortly after I had finished my work on the Rolls of Honour. Of the 500 or so men who passed through the ranks of No. 2 Commando, I found myself to be the only member of No. 2 present at the Remembrance Day ceremonies. Likewise, the other Commando units had very scant veteran representation there. This is, I suppose, due not only to the passage of time, but also the difficulty in getting to the rather isolated location of the memorial which was brought home to me by the round-trip Janet I made to get there (only 7,000 miles) but we hope to return this year.

I feel that the memorial itself is a wonderful tribute to all the names on our Rolls of Honour. I have especial satisfaction that the funds required for its creation came from small subscriptions from just about every hamlet, town and city in Scotland. These good people of Scotland have given our fallen a truly heartfelt commemoration. Thank you so much on behalf of all Commando veterans and their relatives who have visited Spean Bridge.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 13/01/2008 21:15:35

Hello Bob

First off let me reiterate what a great pleasure and indeed honour it was to introduce myself and my family to you and Janet in Scotland last year.

As you rightly say the Spean Bridge memorial is a very fitting, dignified and indeed awe inspiring tribute to you and your kind. I purposely say 'you and your kind' as you always modestly brush aside your own contribution to the now legendary 'Commandos'.

I think I can speak for most sons, daughters, grandchildren and family members who's relative be it father ,grandfather or uncle etc. was a commando soldier in that we can only look back into the history books and feel nothing but pride at the feats of bravery ,courage and heroism that our relations performed at a time of hopelessness and dire need.

The call went out and folk of your ilk answered it with unswerving loyalty and commitment for the cause of freedom and justice.

Our generation owe our todays to your yesterdays and I thank you for that.

One other thing. You will always have another memorial, a living memorial
of your family of friends who will carry your gallant deeds and your memory with us and on to our families, our sons and daughters.

Be assured as with you in the 1940's we will make sure the candle will burn on.

With my gratitude and respect

John M

I would certainly like to echo John's sentiments.
We owe The Commandos, and of course, all of the Armed Forces, a huge debt of gratitude.
Special thanks to Bob and Janet for their sterling efforts in compiling the Rolls of Honour, thus ensuring that those brave men that fell defending freedom and democracy and their colleagues, who survived the horrors of war, will be remembered by generations to come.

They must not be forgotten.

Great words,
Bob, Janet, John and Nic, I would also like to sign on to those sentiments,
and I'm sure the rest of our Clan whole heartedly agree.
Regards Ron

Fantastic work Bob.,

Does your list include those Commandos who died of wounds (recieved during WW2) after 31st December 1947?

Thank you.

Bob, your an absolute wonder
bloody marvelous , if you'll excuse the french,

A question has posed on the forum as follows:

Does your list include those Commandos who died of wounds (recieved during WW2) after 31st December 1947?

In answer to this question, I refer to the caption which appears in the heading of the 92-page CWGC summary which reads:

ALL CASUALTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMMANDOS COMMONWEALTH WAR DEAD 1939-1945

I do not feel that I can improve on this designation. However, I will note that the Rolls do not include names of Commando trainees at Achnacarry who were killed or died of injuries sustained at that facility. The listings I have seen for these accidental deaths seem to vary widely, but the numbers are quite significant. One official position on this matter is that the trainees involved were not posted to actual Commando units and were still on the strength of their parent units and were, thus, not actual Commando casualties.

Casualties in some listings have carried the designation ? 1940 No. 2 Commando ? but this was the parachute formation which had nothing to do with the 1941 raised No. 2 Commando which was in service until disbandment in 1945. Five soldiers were unfortunate enough to suffer death because of parachute failure. Their deaths have been noted by the Parachute Regiment, and not included in the Commando rolls.

Death by suicide is not considered to be as the result of war service, although indeed circumstances might indicate reasoning to the contrary. No Commando who was in this category has been recorded in the Rolls. I am afraid that is the way our masters viewed these tragedies.

I am not too confident in the accuracy of the Rolls concerning the largely-ignored comrades of Nos. 7, 8, 11, 50, 51 and 52, the Middle East Commandos. The records of these units are a shambles, but I did the best I could with what I had to work with.

The Rolls of Honour which we prepared have been passed to the Administrator, C.V.A., so I must ask anyone who thinks he has discovered an error or omission to provide enough substantiated evidence in order that any correction can be made. Such requests should be addressed to the Administrator. My part in the documentation of our fallen is finished. I do have to move on to other things. I have been told that I am the only Army Commando War Veteran on the site. Apart from published messages I receive many requests for information through private box and ?e?mail. All this required-answering weighs heavily on my time. I need time to provide much needed other historical information to supplement the memories of our members whose fathers were my comrades and thus are very important to me.

Janet and I really appreciate the many kind messages we received concerning our work on the Rolls. It was so nice to know that our friends regarded our product with satisfaction.

Best regards to all.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 20/01/2008 11:18:35

The date I have quoted will have no reference in the literature relating to Commando records held by the commission. They assume you realise that after December 1947 WW2 soldiers are not entitled to a war grave even if they died as a result of wounds recieved in combat during WW2.

The is a call to forum members, if anyone spots a private head stone which documents commando service and a date of death in the late 1940's please make a post to this forum. We will then be able to obtain the death certificate and verify death as a result of WW2 military service.

Thank you.

Work on the Rolls of Honour is ongoing despite distractions.

I have forwarded the Rolls to John Robertson, the Special Forces website gentleman in Ayr, who has kindly agreed to check my listings against what information he has. This is much appreciated as we both endeavour to give remembrance to all the Commandos who made the ultimate sacrifice.

John has also advised me that he purchased a publication ?Rolls of Honour of the Commandos 1939 to 1945? by R. Raymond Walsh, 1999, but was disappointed to find out that he (Walsh) had left out more than 100 men!

Mr. Robertson , in his email, noted that he had a copy of the George A. Brown authored book ?Commando Awards for Gallantry in World War II?. Mr. Robertson observed that he ?could not fathom? the reasoning contained therein.

So it would seem that we have to continue to blunder along on our own way to finish the Rolls without the aid from published authors or historians, some of which seem to lack their fiduciary responsibility of giving accurate and diligent information in return for the profit of their commercial ventures.

I do think that my preoccupation with the ?Rolls of Honour? and the ?Also Served? listings is most important. I deeply resent the posting from the one anonymous writer to the site who has characterized some of my work as: ?Those juicy bits of information that you are so interested in?. This rather snide remark has followed a continuous procession of ?talking-down? and criticism of just about everything I have written on the forum, all of these negative remarks coming from the same person.

I much appreciate the messages I have received in the last two weeks from members of the C.V.A. who deplore the obvious lack of respect that this individual displays in his words directed at me.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 11/02/2008 22:26:40

Bearing in mind the comparatively small amount of work & research that I have carried out regarding just two fallen commandos, I fully appreciate the hours of hard work and diligence that you and Janet have dedicated to the compilation of the Rolls of Honour.
I, too, consider your work to be extremely important and think it appalling that, even after the 60+ years since the Army Commandos were disbanded, there is still no definative Roll of Honour - Yet

Keep up the good work Bob, I am proud to have made both yours and Janet's aquaintance on the Forum etc and I look forward to meeting you both in November.

With greatest respect,

Nick

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 12/02/2008 00:28:34

Dear John M.

I am afraid I have some work for you concerning the Rolls of Honour. It would be much appreciated if you would add the additional names that I have listed below:

No. 1 Commando:

Sgt. R. G. LANDER, you may have already noted this N.C.O.

No. 2 Commando:

Capt. J. PIRRIE

No. 3 Commando:

Capt. J. H. THOMAS
Gdmn. H.M. MELVILLE

No. 4 Commando:

Pte. H.A. BENNETT
Gdmn: J. WHITTAKER

No. 6 Commando:

Lieut. J. A. BONVIN
L/Cpl. H.T. BLINMAN
L/Cpl. H. TUNSTALL
Pte. T. KILDUFF he was 18
Dvr. J.M. STEWART
Gnr. E. M. HERSTELL
Gnr. T. PRITCHARD

No. 7 Commando:

Capt. F.R. NICHOLLS

No. 9 Commando:

Lieut. M. SCOTT

No. 11 Commando:

Sgt. J. R. SMITH
Cpl. J. J. BERTIE
L/Cpl. M. McAULEY
Cpl. T. STEVENSON
L/Cpl. J. PURSE
Pte. D. GALLAGHER
Pte. J. MURPHY
Pte. R. THOMPSON

No. 30 Commando:

Fus. C. W. ASHTON

50/51/52 M.E. Commando:

L/Sgt. R. HARRISON

Best regards,

Dear John M:

R.O.H. No. 1 Cdo - On my original submission I sent to you, the name of a casualty was listed as Pte. Lloyd with no initial. This should read

Pte. L. Lloyd

This boy, Leonard (21), died 4-6-42. No description of the operation involved is given.

I would appreciate the necessary amendment to No. 1 Cdo. R.O.H. being made at your convenience.

Thanks

Hi John M,

ROH

Can you include Captain P.A. Ayton of 12 Commando?

D.O.W 29/12/1943 Capt. Ayton was with 10IA Commando when mortally wounded.

Regards,

Colin

To: Colin & Nick

Thanks for your additions to the Rolls of Honour. Every name helps us to come up with a complete roster of our Fallen Commando comrades.

Well Done!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 14/02/2008 18:13:46

Colin Russell wrote:Hi John M,

ROH

Can you include Captain P.A. Ayton of 12 Commando?

D.O.W 29/12/1943 Capt. Ayton was with 10IA Commando when mortally wounded.

Regards,

Colin

Colin,
I presume you know that Capt Ayton, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, was awarded the Croix de Guerre?

Nick