Harold Ralph Hawkins 5503346

I caught the BBC programme on Achnacarry last night. My father joined the Commandos 13 Oct 1940, I assume he must have been amongst the first to be trained there. He was taken POW at Crete 26 Aug 1941 and never spoke about his experiences. I'm looking for advice where to find further information about him please. Thank you
Graham Hawkins

Hi Graham
He was posted as missing as of the 2 June 1941, his parent regiment was the Hampshire Regt and he was serving with A Battalion (7 Commando) as part of Layforce.
Alan.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 27/06/2019 21:25:31

Hello Graham

Your Father joined before all Commando training was centralised at Achnacarry. This did not occur until Feb/March 1942. Have a read of our history section which will give a brief insight into the early days of training, Here is a link to the first page, then just read on from the links at the foot of each page. I highly recommend the two books shown:

http://www.commandoveterans.org/Commando_History_and_Training

I am aware that your Father was amongst those named in the Obituaries reported in newsletter 110 of the original Commando Association and that there was also a request from you there for information. If you provide your Father's date of birth and death I will update our Obituary listing that we have for him on our website. Additionally we have some photos of No.7 Cdos in captivity in our gallery which you may wise to browse

http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/7/pow/

and

http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/7/

and more generally, not specific to No.7 Cdo., here

http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/WW2/POW/

Please feel free to add a photo of your Father in any reply to messages here.

Graham,
There were several other Royal Hampshire Regiment and 7 Commando captured on Crete with you father. He was held in Stalag IVF pow.no. 11949