ATTACHED to a Commando? What does that mean?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 22/01/2008 10:39:36

Can anyone tell me what 'attached', for example 'Grenadier Guards attached to No.2 Commando' means? It seams to crop up a lot. Did these men earn the the green beret?

Thank you.

The commandos drew their men, all of whom were volunteers, from all regiments. Many soldiers joined the commandos upon the unit's formation and thereafter, after the call went out for volunteers for 'hazardous service'. For instance, my father joined the Royal Marines in 1942, and after taking the signallers' course and volunteering for hazardous service, was sent up to Achnacarry to take the commando training course after which he was sent to 'holding' Commando before being attached to 4 Cdo, with whom he remained until the end of the war.

When he returned back to the Marines in 1946 to be demobbed, the RM C/O didn't know where he had been. His RM service record shows a blank for the corresponding period. This is not uncommon. Accordingly, when researching service records, if there is a blank it is often a good indicator that the person was seconded for 'special service' with the commandos or similar 'irregulars'.

Frank

To put it simply, the call for volunteers to be Commandos went out to all the Regts and Corps.
If selected, and on completion of training, the volunteers were only attached (on temporary loan) to the Commando Units - they still 'belonged' to their parent Regt/Corps [hence the reason that most Commando Units didn't have a 'Commando' hat badge, but the individual commandos continued to wear the hat badge of their own Regt/Corps].

When the Commando Units were disbanded, the commandos returned to their parent Regts/Corps until demob...

Nick

Thank you very much for your replies gentlemen. I now understand from your explanations that 'Attached' is another way of listing the parent regiment and these men did in fact earn green berets.

So from that I conclude that the hard and fast rule is you couldnt be a member of a commando if you didnt earn the green beret at Achnacarry.

Thank you.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 22/01/2008 20:29:58

Hi All

In a nut shell :D

Also to the parent Regt. dismay they still paid the individual soldier although they were attached to the Cdo units.

They always remained on the paid strength of the original Regt.

This did not go down very well with the parent Regt. CO's.

Hence the animosity sometimes met for the Commando formations.

Regards
John M

My dad was in the Lincolns . I have one photo of him with them in 1940 Then he volunteered for the Commandos in 1941 because of wanting action . So he was a green beret before Achnacarry opened. I know my mother and the family played hell with him for joining No5 Commando as he had 2 kids by then. Every photo Ive got he has the Lincolns badge on his beret except for one ,,see left On that one he has the cloth crossed daggers of No5. Other photos of him in Burma hes wearing the aussie type slouch hat