Information re William James Turney

I am looking for any information regarding my father William J Turney - He is listed in Obituaries S - Z as CSM and is listed in No 2 Commando Nominal P - Z as TSM. I believe he was at Achnacarry as an Instructor in 1944 and 1945 as I now have several photographs where he is shown. He is also on several of the photographs in the gallery (I have added his name to those of the others who have been identified) I do not know how he joined the CBTC & would be keen to know any details of his time there and his specialist skills as an instructor.

CSM and TSM were basically the same rank. Commando Units used Troops rather than Companies. Company Sergeant Major and Troop Sergeant Major. Similar differences occurred for example in No 3 Commando where they used the rank Trooper for Privates, Fusiliers, Gunners, etc. Much the same with the headgear in the early days until it was made the Green Beret. Somewhat confusing I know. I have noted your comments identifying your Father and will update those photos in due course. No 2 were posted overseas from March 1943 so perhaps his No 2 Commando service came before that, or even after they returned to the UK. The only way to be sure would be to apply for a copy of his service record where hopefully such detail will be recorded. How to do so can be found here : Research Advice.

If you have a good photo of your father in uniform please add it to our Holding Album or you could attach it to this forum thread, or email me if you have any issues with this. Additionally if you have other photos from his time at Achnacarry we would love to see them.

Thank you for your prompt response - much appreciated.
I did search all of the links on the site and his name did not appear anywhere apart from the obituaries & nominal list.
I have applied for a copy of death certificate this pm, which will take nearly 3 weeks then I will apply for a copy of his service record. So I will be back when I have some more information.
The photographs that I have are the large panoramas & 1 small group. I will get digital copies & upload them.
thanks AJT

Apologies - I know nothing of his service time so I meant to ask if No2 commando were overseas from March 1943, how is included in photographs for 1944 /45 at Achnacarry?

Hi Andrew, your Father's death, along with many others, was announced to members in the Obituary section of Commando Association Newsletter 100 issued March 1995. It only shows the following detail

"CSM. William James Turney (CBTC & 2 Cdo.) of Leighton Buzzard, Beds."

If you provide me with the date of his death I will add that to our Obituary entry for him.

In answer to your question, the reason may be, and this is only an assumption, that he was posted from No 2 Commando to the CBTC prior to them being posted overseas. However that is assuming he was in No 2 Commando at that time. He could have been posted to the CBTC from his Regiment. Similarly at the end of the war as troops were demobbed, many Commandos were moved around to fill the gaps so to speak. So he could have been posted out of the CBTC to join No 2 Commando when they returned to the UK. In fact the way the original Association have shown CBTC as the first unit in his Obituary may indicate exactly that. It's best, albeit frustrating, to await the arrival of the Service Record. That in itself can sometimes be difficult to 'decipher' but if you have any problems just email me scans of the sections of the record and I will try to help.

As the immediate next of kin you should get a full copy of the Service Record rather than just a typed transcript. Add on your application that you believe he served in No 2 Commando and also that he served at the Commando Depot, later redesignated the Commando Basic Training Centre. Do you have his Service number and original Regiment ?

Check out this photo of No 2 Commando taken in August 1945 especially the front row. There is someone who looks similar :

No 2 Commando panorama August 1945.

Pete hi and thank you for taking the time to help fill in the gaps.
Firstly to explain my lack of knowledge re his history, my parents started to lead separate lives in the early 1960's when I was 5 or 6 & then separated, eventually divorcing in the early 1970's. I was with my mother during this time - she died last year, which is why I am now finding the pictures of my father as I short thro' the boxes of family 'stuff'. I have also found pictures of him in Scotland with the Commando memorial & press cutting from the Scotsman & Oban Times when the queen 'opened' the memorial 2nd & 4th October 1952, by which time he had married my mother.
I appreciate that I may find things hard to work out in the finer detail, though a broad picture of what happened would be great to establish. I know that many of the local 'lads' at the time joined the Beds Bucks & Herts & sadly ended up in Singapore and then on the dreaded railway and had several years as prisoners of war. A good friend of mine has told me that his father who was from the same road in Leighton Buzzard as my father, joined Hussars & was in the 7th armoured as a tank commander and saw service in Africa and Italy. I am really intrigued to know how and why my father took a different course, though I don't know his original regiment or in fact when he joined active service. All my mother did say to me regarding his service, was that he was picked out as 'special' after being in Norway and he then went to Scotland. Prior to that she would not talk about him and sadly at the time she has dementia so staying on a topic for long was quite demanding and virtually impossible.
His d.o.b was 2nd June 1917 and he died on the 12th October 1994 in Mentmore near Leighton Buzzard. I don't have a service number for him.
Re the picture I cant spot him in that version.
I appreciate the tips re getting details for the service records
thanks again for you help & back soon. Andrew

AJT,

5951593 TURNEY W Sgt. Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment and 2 Commando

Guy

Guy thank you for this information, much appreciated & really helpful
Andrew

Thanks Guy,
No.2 Cdo Nominal Roll amended to reflect William Turney's number & regiment.

Nick

Gentlemen thank you all. I have spent an hour or so in the photo gallery for No 2 commando and found 1 image that I believe my father is included in:page 7 of the gallery image RSM Alan moss and Sgts No 2 Commando. Back row left no 1 is shown as n/k which I believe to be WJT.
This is very interesting for me as it shows the connection in 1941/2 whilst all the other images I have found him to be present are in 1944 /5, with so little information this is quite positive.
I will aim to get a good digital copy of 1 particular image that I have which i have not seen in the gallery.
With thanks again
Andrew

Screen Shot 2017-01-03 at 20.10.30.png

Attached is a screen shot of the picture from the gallery

Pete I have scanned sections of the 6 pictures that I have copies of with my father included. With the large Panoramas I am not too sure how to get a digital copy of the whole picture do you have any info?. Should I upload them to the gallery for you to look at? They do range in size from 4mb to 14.8mb.
thanks
Andrew

I have received my father's Service record this week. I have completed a summary document which I will attach. There are a number of sections that I could not read too easily (poor use of fountain pens!), hence some gaps in my document. There are a number of the abbreviations I do not understand and the and the link supplied (with the Service record) to a site for abbreviations did not work.
Re the history in my father's record there are some dates on the record that are out of order and a few details that don't quite correspond across the documents provided.
I am intrigued to know how he moved from the 6th Beds & Herts to the 3rd Independent Co quite quickly in 1940 and then to the NWEF and the campaign in Norway. You may well be able to explain for me and also the transition to the Commando's after the time in Norway. I have added a number of questions to the document if any of you are able to help with additional detail that would be appreciated.
I still have the images to upload and would appreciate the advice requested in my last posting
with thanks

Service Record Summary doc