Marine P Stratton, Towyn, 1943, 282 Squadron

On a railway bridge near Tywyn, Wales, is carving in slate;

"Marine P Stratton, Towyn, 1943, 282 Squadron"

I have seen this engraving for the last ten years and on each visit I wonder what happened to this man and what did he do afterwards. [img]

What would be a practical way to search for his story. Perhaps it would be private to the family ?

Sincerely,

Jonathan Roberts

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 02/04/2013 14:15:36

Hi Jonathan

There is a photo of this carving on Flickr here and as you will see the connection they have made to the Air Sea Rescue may likely be incorrect:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hefhoover/3644261631/

He is likely to have attended Royal Marines Training Group at Tywyn in Wales. 282 Squad (not on there as squadron ) will be his training group. Have a read of this previous forum message:

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/30/3376.page

and a photo of another RM Training Squad:

http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/Royal+Marine+Commando+Units/46/258+training+squad.jpg.html

So he was a Royal Marine in 1943. As to whether he went onto become a RM Commando well maybe one day the answer will be posted here.

Regards

Pete

Thanks Pete. It made me smile to think that somebody else had already photographed and asked about Marine P Stratton's carving.

If I find anything about his story I'll post it here. I hope he had a long and adventurous life, but in 1943 his future must have seemed pretty uncertain. I am grateful to all the fellows who made England the safe place it was when I was born 21 years later.

Regards,

Jon Roberts

Hi Jonathan,
I fully agree with Pete that the Squad was not an abbreviation of squadron, but was the training squad that Mne Stratton was in whilst he spent his time in Towyn (Tywyn).

I also saw the photo on Flickr and agree that the reference to 282 Squadron was nothing to do with the photo - 282 Sqn, RAF, being based in Castletown, the Isle of Man at the time and, anyway, would probably not have a Royal Marine attached to them.

As far as I can ascertain, Mne Stratton survived the War - at least he is not listed anywhere as a casualty on any of the usual sources of reference that I use.

Whether he ever trained as a commando is unknown, but I would be interested to know anything you do find out about him.

Nick

Hello there, I'm Hefin Richards, the chap who took the photo on Flickr.
I was quite surprised (and glad) to find your discussion on here about Marine P Stratton and I apologise if I've got the wrong end of the stick about abbreviations used etc and would love to be able to complete Marine Stratton's story if we ever could.
Having had very few family members in the Armed Forces due to me coming from farming family, to be honest I didn't have a clue as to the best method of researching this chap's service record.
If anyone could point me in the correct direction, I'd be very grateful.

All the best,

Hefin. :)

ps, Jon, I was born the same year as you too!

Sut mae Hefin,

Croeso i Gymdeithas Cyn-filwyr Commando!

You have no need to apologise regarding your interpretation of the word 'Squad' on the engraving.
It was quite a reasonable assumption for you to make. Thank you for taking the photo and publishing on the internet - it provoked an interesting discussion, and that is always good, but it also helps clear up other questions that folk may have about Royal Marines and even the word squad...

To be honest there is very little you can do to find out Marine Stratton's history. You could apply to the MoD for his Service Records - this would cost £30

Service records of deceased Service personnel

The MOD is the custodian of the records of service of Service personnel and Home Guard records until they are opened to general public access at the National Archives. Subject to the payment of an administration fee of £30 per record and provision of a death certificate (except where death was in service), certain information can be provided from the records of service of Service personnel on request under the publication scheme.

Under the scheme, and in recognition of the duty of care owed to the family of the deceased subject, for a period of 25 years following the date of death of the subject and without the consent of the next of kin, MOD will disclose only:

surname
forename
rank
service number
regiment/corps
place of birth
age
date of birth
date of death where this occurred in service
the date an individual joined the service
the date of leaving
good conduct medals (for example, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (LS&GCM)), any orders of chivalry and gallantry medals (decorations of valour) awarded, some of which may have been announced in the London Gazette

After this period, and if it is held, in addition MOD will disclose without the requirement for next of kin consent:

the units in which he/she served
the dates of this service and the locations of those units
the ranks in which the service was carried out and details of WWII campaign medals

While MOD aims generally to provide information where the above conditions are met, it will not disclose any information under the publication scheme where this could prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of its forces. In the very rare case where release of information from a record might be prejudicial, the applicant will be advised of the relevant Freedom of Information Act statutory exemption that applies to its non disclosure.

The information that is held on individuals varies depending on which Service they served with, when they served and the length of their Service. In a small number of cases little or no information may be held. Applicants should be aware that the £30 administration fee is non-refundable whatever the outcome of the search.

Obviously the above only applies if Mne Stratton is deceased, however, there is a possibility that he is still alive .

Regards,
Nick