Dear Christine,

I am a member of The Commando Veteran Assoc., researching Commandos who fell during WW2.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission have records of the Commandos but, unfortunately, The Abbey Commando Roll of Honour has some errors and omissions that I have discovered during my research. The errors and omissions I refer to include: not listed, wrong initial for Christian name, wrong place of death, date of death and cause.

One example is of a Commando listed in The Abbey ROH as being a "casualty" and the place of his demise being where he landed on his mission.

This Commando was "executed" at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Berlin. So you can see that casualty and place of death hardly matches what this soldier endured. This soldier was a victim of the infamous Kommando Order given by Adolph Hitler.

I am compiling a list of names discovered so far in my research that match all the above omission criteria I refer to. I am into double figures.

If it is possible and, with your kind help, I should like to right these oversights.

I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Regards,

Colin Russell

Dear Colin,

The Roll of Honour was deposited at the Abbey in January 1949 by the Army Commandos Association. It had previously just been in their office in Kensington. They approached the Dean of Westminster asking if they could house it here as a more appropriate place for it. So we know nothing of how they compiled the roll or the sources they used. But I gather it was not from any MoD source.



On the inside cover of the book it says ?Presented by the officers of the Commando Depot? (which I gather from Alan Frasca of the CHS was their establishment at Achnacarry.) After p.42 there is an inscription ?The completion of this Roll of Honour was made possible through the generosity of Brigadier R.J.F. Tod, CBE, DSO? but there is no date. So he obviously paid for it to be completed. The Roll is not in alphabetical order but by the various units which is why we decided to compile our Excel file index.



We would of course be happy to note any errors or omissions on our electronic index (they also have a copy of it in the Abbey Verger?s Office so this is where any interested parties would look first to find a name). It would not be ethical to alter a current entry in the beautifully inscribed book. If there are enough blank vellum pages at the rear of the book it may be possible to have Errors and Admissions on those pages. Perhaps a small mark against the original name might be added to indicate that a correction has been made to that entry so people know to check the E&A page. But if we have indicated such on our index it might not really be necessary to do that.



As I said on the phone if written application is made to the Dean of Westminster, as guardian of the Roll, about errors/additions (once they are all known) and it has the written agreement of all the necessary Commando authorities/veteran associations who might have an interest in the Roll he would then be able to consider it.



An illuminator would have to be paid to do the work by those requesting it. If there are not enough blank pages in the Roll to accommodate all the extras a supplemental roll would have to be made. The current book has a fine leather binding and you cannot add any more pages to this. The Roll could be transferred to the Abbey Library for the illuminator to do the work so it doesn?t go off site or it could go to the illuminator?s studio if the people paying for the work prefer that (I suppose that might be cheaper I don?t know).



So once your research has been completed we would be glad to receive all the corrections and additions for our Excel file index.



Best wishes

Yours sincerely,

Christine Reynolds (Miss)

Assistant Keeper of Muniments

The Library

Westminster Abbey, London SW1P 3PA



Library phone: 020 7654 4830

Direct fax: 020 7654 4827

www.westminster-abbey.org

Colin Russell wrote:


So far I have discovered nearly 60 names missing from the Westminster Abbey ROH as well as errors on those listed.

Do we, as a Commando Veterans Association, accept the responsibilty of attempting to update this Roll of Honour that is housed in such a prestigious place of worship that befits the memory of the Commando ethic, resolve, courage and dignity that their memory so richly deserves :?:

I'm up for it Anyone else :?: