HMS Copra

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 28/11/2019 18:05:30

My father, Andrew Elliott Cherry, became a Royal Marine Commando in 1943. My father was in Oran preparing for the invasion of Sicily. After fighting through Sicily he was one of the first troops on the beach in Anzio Manning a Bren Gun. From Italy he spent time in the Adriatic and Yugoslavia. He was also on an LST that disabled and captured a German E Boat. His service papers are extremely hard to discipher but I can make out HMS Copra. Other than that, I can?t tell you which unit he was in or place where he was was other than what I remember him telling me. I do remember him telling me he missed getting the African Cross by 2 days of service in Africa. Is there any way I can get more detail on his service and service records ? I love in the states but will be visiting the UK in 2020. Thank you in advance. Brian Cherry. Ps. I do have a few pictures from his time in the service.

Brian

Can you upload pics of his service documents. I will have a look at them and see if I can decipher them.

Photos also help if you load them as well.

Regards.

Craig

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 28/11/2019 18:04:20

Thanks Craig. My sister has the service records but I may have a photo of it somewhere. I?m trying to upload but I get an error message. Let me try loading one pic per reply and see if that works.

More photos

More photos

More photos

More photos

Last photo. My father joined in early 1943 from Glasgow, Scotland.

I should also add the my dad played in a Pipe Band here in the states after the war. He wore a patch of the Combined Operations (anchor, eagle and machine gun) and a patch that said Commando above it. Hope this provides a clue.

Brian.

On Wikipedia 40 and 41 Royal Marines Commando fought in the invasion of Sicily. I will look through some books and see what is out there. Have you looked at the photo gallery?

Not yet. Will also look for a picture of his service record. I also recall him being assigned to fight with the American Expeditionary Forces in Italy ? Could have got that wrong.

It could have been the allied naval commanders expeditionary force ANCXF.

The photo galleries on the CVA gallery are excellent. Well worth the time to look at.

I?m hoping to get the photo of his discharge papers from my sister. She also tells me she has a document that is his discharge from naval service. First time I heard this as he was a RM Commando, not in the Navy.

Sorry for the long threads but I remember my father saying half his unit went to Anzio (including my father) and the other half was sent to Normandy for DDay. My father told me the unit sent to DDay never made it to the beach as the Landing Craft was hit by a German shell and killed almost everyone.

Craig. Attached are two photos I have on my phone. One is the Naval discharge and the second is a photo taken from the original discharge papers. I don?t have the full copy - I only took where he served and it?s where I got the Copra reference from. Does this shed any light on his service ?