F.R.Box

Hi

I am looking for some help on the service life of F.R.Box from his daughter via another website:

So my Father AB F. R Box RNVR (RN Commando) was attached to 470 Flotilla. They were based at HMS Cricket & HMS Tormentor in the run up to D-Day so for about a year before can someone tell me what he would have been doing, what sort of training / preparation would have been going on.
As he was a Frogman would he have gone out on the small boats from HMS Tormenter?
Here is another little factoid, my aunt told me that my Father as a Commando was tasked to go to Guernsey to extract a German soldier to bring back to the UK , would that have been part of the role of the Small Boat Parties? I can?t find anything linking this so I?m guessing these missions were extra top secret in 1943.
I am somewhat confused if anyone can shed any light or point me in the right direction for research. On my father?s service record it states quite clearly HMS Ganges Nov 1942- Jan 1943 then HMS Pembroke 1 week HMS Quebec 30 January 1943 to 31 August 1943 then HMS Copra 8 September 1943 -12 May 1946 . I know for a fact he was involved in convoys during the battle of the Atlantic, I even have possession of his medal. Where does this fit into the equation so I know where to start looking?

I'm finding this very difficult to unravel as his service record says he was Ganges 2/11/12-21/11/43, training. Then Pembroke for a week, I'm assuming awaiting a posting.
HMS Quebec 30/1/43- 31/8/43 but the record card says he was 470 Flotilla from 1/7/1943.
Copra was from 1/9/43-12/5/46 he was rated AB on 8/9/43 my Dad said he got this rank after the convoys so I'm guessing whilst he was at Quebec he did the convoys?

Also on the attached photo what is Copra Part 1 and Copra Part 2 ?

Lastly is LCOCU 17 a Landing Craft Squadron?

Regards

Just read through the post and I'm certainly able to answer the last question - LCOCU stands for Landing Craft Obstruction Clearance Unit, which fits in nicely with AB Box being a frogman.

Nick

Here is a photo of a LCOCU from the IWM.
I thought I'd post it just on the off chance that AB Box is one of the team...

Nick

Unfortunately this is an account from 19 LCOCU, not 17 LCOCU, but it might be of interest...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/78/a4427778.shtml

Nick

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 25/01/2016 13:10:57

Surprisingly, there are quite a few bits about the LCOCUs

Here is an interesting piece...
http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/Operation_Neptune_Frogmen_The_First_Men_Ashore_on_D_Day.htm

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/naval-frogmen-lcocu

Nick

Hi

On the web there is a site www.naval-history.net,this shows that LCOCU 17 was also known as Naval Party 4057 (NP 4057)

It shows the following history:

APPLEDORE from Dec 44 to Jan 45

MONCK--------------------to Feb 45

BOMBAY-------------------to 3 June 45

COCONADA----------------to 6 July 45

MADRAS-------------------to 8 Sept 45

BOMBAY-------------------Oct 45

SINGAPORE----------------Nov 45

Disbanded-----------------15 Dec 1945

Trust this may help,I,m a little out of my comfort zone with the Royal Navy.

Regards

Graham

I thank you all for your very fast replies and the depth of your knowledge!

If there is anything I can do, mainly photo restorations, don't hesitate to ask.

Regards

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 12/10/2022 22:56:21

Braganza caught my eye, Nick mentioned it in another thread.

H.M.S. Braganza (a Royal Naval establishment in Bombay).

https://forum.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/4941.page

On HMS Copra, scroll to last post here and there are some details taken from a National Archives document.
https://forum.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/4246.page

Also out of interest, the type of landingcraft in the picture Nick provided is a Landing Craft (Mechanised MK 1 - LCM(1), which was also used by Canadians in the Dieppe raid earlier in the war.

In this link you can see a loaded Landing craft from the front.
https://www.battlefieldhistorian.com/bhc000607_dieppe_canadian_troops.asp