3 Commando Dieppe KIA

The Berneval memorial lists three Commando's KIA. I can't find any details of these men on the CWGC.

D BARRATT

F EASTERBROOK

L/C WILLIAM CRAGGS is listed, but not as 3 Commando. It says he was 2nd Rifle Brigade attd. GHQ Liasion Regt. Royal Armoured Corps.

Can anyone help?

Many thanks

Guy

Here is some information :

Pte. Cyril Ernest Barrett

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2145159/

As regards L/Cpl Craggs he was in the GHQ Liaison Regiment (Phantom)

http://www.paradata.org.uk/units/phantom-ghq-liaison-regiment

Not sure about Easterbrook as yet

Pete, Thanks for that. I had found Cyril Ernest Barrett, the man I am looking for is D. Barratt.
Intersting about L/C Craggs, I haven't got a clue why he is lsited as 3 Commando?

Guy

L/Cpl Craggs is mentioned in Phantom by Phillip Warner (pages 152 - 155) in an account by Cpl Masterson (who was taken prisoner and his hands kept in chains for a year afterwards):

The Phantom patrol attached to No3 Commando consisted of Lt Hillerns, Cpl Masterson, L/Cpl Craggs and Driver Richardson. The patrol joined the Commando at Seaford on 11 Aug 1942 and there did W/T with the Cdo Signals...

The account goes on to describe the action on the 18 Aug and how L/Cpl Craggs was killed by machine-gun fire and Cpl Masterson & Dvr Richardson were wounded.
Lt Hillards managed to make it back to the beach but as he entered the water a MG fired at him and, after shouting "Help" twice, he sank in the sea and did not appear again...

Nick

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 29/09/2012 23:27:57

I have found a Pte D G Barratt listed as being in No3 Cdo, however he is listed in the Commando Association Lost Legion 1 which would indicate that he survived the war. Last known address - Kingston, Surrey

As mentioned above, Pte Cyril Ernest Barrett, No3 Cdo was KIA 19 /08/42

L/Cpl William Ley Craggs, KIA 19/08/42

Nick

Nick, Thank you for the replies. I'm sure D.G Barratt would have shocked to know he is commerated on the Berneval memorial plaque as KIA. Did you see that there is also a F. Easterbrook listed?

Guy

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 30/09/2012 00:08:20

Guy,
I have searched for F. Easterbrook on the CWGC, CVA, Brigadier John Durnford-Slater's book, "Commando, Memoirs of a Fighting Commando in WWII," and various other RoHs that I have access to and there is no-one of that name listed as a casualty.
The inscription I have seen against his name on a brass plaque bears the legend; " Disparu. Sépulture inconnue." which translated means: 'Disappeared. Burial unknown'.

Durnford-Slater, CO No3 Cdo, doesn't mention D Barratt, W Craggs or F Easterbrook in his RoHs...I would suggest that, like Pte D Barratt, F Easterbrook survived the war.

Nick

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 30/09/2012 01:41:36

Whilst there appears to be no CWGC record for Easterbrook, that name is also mentioned quite graphically here:

http://www.warfaremagazine.co.uk/articles/dieppe-operation-jubilee/61

Sergeant Dungate continued: "We'd been ashore quite a while and hadn't moved very far. I'll never forget it and I remember thinking, This is not very clever, it's too quiet. We moved out on to a road and there was a tremendous clatter as they opened fire on us. One man called Easterbrook was hit. When we undid his belt, his stomach was in his trousers

and there is a Sgt Dungate in this photo of No.3 Commando Sergeants Mess 1942: http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/3/No+3+Cdo+Sgt_s_Mess.jpg.html

More research is needed on this

Pete,

Easterbrook's service number, 5618184, suggests he was in the Devonshire Regiment prior to 3 Commando. I have found a Francis F Easterbrook born in Tavistock in 1919. Parents, Ernest Easterbrook and Cordelia Cook.

Guy

I have found a Private F Easterbrook of the Devonshire Regiment listed as wounded in the 12th February 1942 edition of the Western Daily Press.

Hello Guy

I can now confirm that Pte. F. J. Easterbrook of No.3 Commando, who was on the Dieppe raid, survived the war and was a member of the original Commando Association. The Devonshire Regiment makes sense as he was from that area. They lost contact with him in the late 80's. So another error, it would appear, on the monument.

Regards

Pete

Pete, Many thanks for that. It is another inaccuracy in the Saunders Dieppe book. There appear to be several in the chapter relating to 3 Commando's actions at Berneval.

Guy

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 02/10/2012 23:42:26

I glad that mystery is cleared up as I spent a few hours searching for him...

If Sgt Dungate's account is accurate then F J Easterbrook was very fortunate to have survived Dieppe, let alone the War.

Sadly there are many, many errors and inaccuracies as far as the Commandos are concerned - many individuals have not had there commando service recognised or recorded, many names have been mis-spelt or missed off records.
The late Bob Bishop, MC, and his good lady wife, Janet, did manage to get the CWGC to recognise quite a few commandos and get their records amended accordingly. I know from experience it is a difficult task and requires hours of paistaking research but it is absolutely worth it when the CWGC notifies you that they accept your evidence...

Happily, in this instance, the official records were correct - D Barratt & F Easterbrook couldn't be found in any Rolls of Honour, the CWGC database etc simply because they both survived the War.

We Will Remember Them.

Nick

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 22/12/2012 21:33:37

Private C E Barratt, 5388318O.B.L.E. did take part and was firstly reported as missing, but later reported as killed (see below)
He is not on the CWWG webpage (but that is not 100% accurate).... Possible he survived... (or maybe not)

Craggs

Hi Peter

Sadly Pte C. E. Barrett did not survive. He has no known grave and is Remembered with honour on the Brookwood Memorial :

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2145159/

and our own Roll of Honour for No.3 Commando

http://www.commandoveterans.org/site/no-3-commando-remembrance

In Memory of 5388318 Private Cyril Ernest Barrett
Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry and No. 3 Commando
who died on the 19th August 1942 aged 22
Remembered with honour on the Brookwood Memorial