Messages posted by: craig summerhill

The guy who had the photo found the medals on the back of the photo when it came from the seller, the buyer was my uncle Mike Williams. John Notman is mentioned in Murdoch Mcdougalls book about No 4 Commando i believe the medals are now in the hands of a friend of my uncle who has a huge collection of medals from WW1 and WW2, i believe that when the medals went to the collector it went as a package with various documents that were researched and also included a FS Knife and beret with KOSB badge, family tree, photo of the grave, various correspondance from James Dunning, etc.

Asking the same question mate, have a look at my thread on here for Cpl JT Williams POX/111957, HE WAS Oddyssey as well.

Just looked at your relations service papers,, the last CO he had was JH Cowley Way - Ports division, same as my grandfather who demobbed in 1946 he was there from 6th April 1946 - 26th June 1946. I would imagine that after commando service or other units the respective serviceman went back to there parent division for demob.

Looking at the uniform he is wearing the blues of a bandsman in the corps. with the emroidered dog collar badge of the globe and laurel and the scarlet collar

Have you read the book on Eric Harden VC, army cmmando medic attached to 45 R.M. Commando, have only glanced it but looked very interesting, got 2 mates who re army commando medics still serving at the moment, i can ask them if they have any info, one is due to be posted to keogh in a few weeks time, will ask and get back to you, but i would iamgine it was the same uniform as other ranks, with a dads army godfrey style haversack full of first field dressings.

Thats a royal marine service number.

HMS Odyssey was according to "Shore Establishments of the Royal Navy" a base for special operations at Portsmouth.
I also know that this title was also given to a Naval Party
that went to the Belgian Port of Ostend to clear Mines.
It was involved in some special operations on D-day.

View topic - A European Road trip, 1944 - 1946. UPDATED 12/11/12
forums.airshows.co.uk ? General Forums ? Off Topic
25 posts - 18 authors - 16 Jun 2011
From the different shore bases shown on his service record, we saw that at around the time of D-Day he was posted to a "HMS Odyssey".

you have to read this story about Oddyssey and D,DAY - It relates to Juno Beach , 30AU , AND OTHER EXCITING STUFF

FOUND THIS ON ODDYSSEY
Looking on "HMS Odessy" in Google search will bring you good info on the shorebase establishment, Stating that it was an administration centre based in a hotel.
Further info on wartime military deaths can be found on the Commonwealth Wargraves Commission site. I had an uncle who was a Royal Marine killed in Belgium in 1944 and there is a cemetarty just outside Antwerp with several graves of Royal Marines from HMS Odessy.
Hope this helps
: Good day,
: : Can anyone supply any information on HMS Odyssey? Don't know if it
: was a ship or shore base,but there is some connection with Holland.Trying
: to get this information for a friend who is tracing family history,and had a
: relative who was a Royal marine serving at/in HMS Odyssey,was killed
: during WW11 and is buried in Holland.
: : Many thanks for any help,
: : Brian Hope.

: 14 Nov. 2011
: Serving as Rear Admiral, Reginald Vesey Holt, the last SBNO AND RAY,
: from 2.10.44 was, "Odyssey addl. for Naval Party No. 1737 and as Naval
: Officer in charge designate, Denmark."

: Ref: NA ADM 196/49.

: It seems possible that H.M.S. 'ODYSSEY' was liberated Denmark.
: John Parkinson

Found this on NP1749

My father, Noel Taylor, was an 18 year old, newly passed-out Ordinary Telegraphist in the Royal Navy in early 1944.
Having volunteered for the intriguingly-named "Party Funshore" unit (meaning "foreign, unknown shores"), he went to Plymouth Signal School at Petersfield, Hampshire, for special unit training in wireless radio telegraphy, weapons and combat. This was, as would become clear later, the lead up to D-Day.
He was asked to join a unit already in the field - i.e. under canvas - expecting that this would lead to a promotion. It lead, in fact, to HMS Ganges, a shore station, where he was kitted out in an exciting but strange uniform of kahki battledress, Naval hat, commando type equipment, including Colt 45 pistol, and Combined Operations badges. Here he met for the first time, Reg Much, a pal he was to remain in contact with for some years.
An old time Naval Gunnery Officer gave them pistol training. Five shots fired safely at dummy targets in woods but Noel's sixth shot narrowly missed the officer's foot,whereupon he knelt in front of my father and begged him to spare his life.
By May, the unit was engaged in serious pre-D-Day exercises in the New Forest, learning how to use an old type TW12 radio set, requiring two operators, one carrying the machine on his back and the other operating morse code keys. However, they also had to go on long route marches, interspersed with digging slit trenches.
Off duty, there was time to visit Church, go drinking and dancing in Eastleigh, where the sailors would sometimes fight and try to keep one step ahead of the Police. Noel's unit camped with the Canadian Winnipeg Rifles, bartering for cigarettes, throwing knives at cards pinned to trees etc. They were very friendly but outdid the Navy for foul language.
When Noel's unit were ordered to waterproof the engines of their vehicles, they realised that they were going to participate in an operation where they would get wet...
Noel landed on D-Day on Juno Beach as part of Naval Party 1749 "Heavy and Mobile Communications". The unit was attached to the Canadian landing troops but under the overall command of the Beachmaster, Capt. "Mad" Maud, who directed operations with his baton and his dog by his side. My father spent some time at Courseulles, near the coast. One of his duties was to issue the signal "make smoke Juno" to the warships anchored offshore, to deter any Luftwaffe in the area. During one air raid, Noel took cover in a barn, behind some cows who took some of the shrapnel in their hides.
After the beachhead became more established,King George VI visited Noel's unit. As they were in khaki but wearing naval hats, the king said to the Admiral "Very smart, but don't you think the hats look silly". The uniform caused consternation on other occasions; such as when, returning from leave via Euston station, my father and pal were stopped by a very officious Warrant Officer, complete with knee-length puttees and baton. He said "You two can't go on leave looking like that". They told him that they were actually returning to their units. Outraged, the Warrant Officer demanded to know who their commanding officer was, because he was going to report them. They said he was Capt. Maud, had just been decorated in the field and wouldn't talk to the likes of him. At this point, the WO had them escorted across London to their barracks, expecting them to be put on a charge, but when the MP's escorting them heard that they'd been at the D-Day landings, they let them off.
Back in Normandy, off duty, my father set off one day to find my Uncle Jim, who was stationed in Normandy with the RAF. Walking cheerfully along a road towards where he believed my uncle's unit to be, he came across some tommies brewing up in a ditch. Asking if he was on the right road to such and such unit, the soldiers replied "Only if your brother's a ******* Jerry!" Eventually, they did meet up, in Bayeux, where the tapestry was unfortunately boarded up for protection.
It was in Normandy that Noel received the "war wound" for which he eventually, many years later, was awarded a modest pension. Playing football, he badly injured his knee ligaments. The field hospitals perhaps had more major injuries to worry about and so he never received proper treatment. The injury has plagued him for the remainder of his life. However, he has always argued that his hearing was damaged as a result of years of listening through ear phones to the constant crackle and hiss of radio traffic but has never been able to prove that the deafness that came on later in life was directly caused by his war service.
Noel's mobile signals unit remained for some time in Normandy, awaiting the Allied breakout, before suddenly speeding to Belgium, to enter Brussels with the Guards' Armoured Division on the day of its liberation.
Noel's 5 person Naval - Air Liaison Unit reported to the Rue De La Hoise and were billeted at the Caserne Baudiun, with their wireless truck stationed at the Plain De Maneouvres. The people of Brussels were extremely hospitable and Noel and friend Reg Much were invited to stay with a local family during september 1944. Robert and Gaby Freres were to remain family friends after the war, with their son, Henri, visiting Wigan and Noel and my mother, Eileen, visiting Brussels in 1954. Whilst travelling on a tram in Brussels, Noel fainted. Rather improbably, a beautiful young woman on the tram insisted that he return with her to her apartment nearby to recover. It turned out that the woman's family were highly respectable and her father, a General in the Belgian Army, was a prisoner of war of the Germans.
Eventually, Noel's unit was ordered to go to Bruges to join Force T, under Captain (later Rear Admiral) Pugsley RN, to prepare for the assault on the island of Walcheren.
Before the Allies could use the vital port of Antwerp, the approach from the sea, via the Schelde estuary, had to be cleared of Germans, as they had formidable coastal defences, including very large artillery positions. This would necessitate a sea-borne attack on the island of Walcheren and other defended islands.
After the successful landings, Noel was based on the northern shore of North Beveland, looking across to the island of Schouen, which the Germans still occupied. He went on night time raids across the Oster Schelde with Royal Marine Commandos in small boats, for reconaissance or to capture prisoners. On these raids, my father used a new, night time navigation aid, involving infra-red light. On the enemy shore, he would set up his radio position, with a Marine sergeant standing guard with a machine gun.
On one particularly difficult raid, Noel's party had to bring back their Marine mine detector operator, who had had his leg blown off by a mine. The party retired to a house to recover, and tots of rum were served up with the coffee. Noel was sitting at a table, when a Marine in the room above put his rifle down on the floor. The gun went off and a bullet lodged in the table just in front of my father. The Marine sergeant told my shaking father to look at the wall behing him. The bullet had come through the ceiling, ricocheted off the wall and passed within inches of his head before striking the table. "Get that down you, lad!" said the sergeant, as he tipped the remainder of the rum bottle into Noel's coffee.
Part of Noel's job was to maintain radio contact with the naval patrol boats and Marine "George Posts" on the shore. They knew that German E-boats were in the area and, one night, patrol boat "Poppy" reported that it was being fired on by an E-boat. The command post thought they were facing a major German attack when one of the George posts reported that they too were under attack from an E-boat. Of course, Noel guessed that they could actually be firing at each other, and a tragic incident was avoided.
Whilst in the Walcheren area, Noel's unit, including Reg Much and Johnny McMinn, was visited by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Admiral Burrows, shortly after he'd taken over from Admiral Ramsey, who had been killed in a plane crash.
After the German surrender, Noel found himself on a train heading, they believed, for Berlin. At one point, the train, comprised of goods vans, was stationary in a marshalling yard next to another train. Cans of peas were visible through the splintered side of the adjacent train. Noel had his arm fully extended through the shattered shards of wood when his train began to move off. He just managed to extract it in time.
The train never reached Berlin, because the Soviets refused to allow British or American troops in to begin with. So Noel was posted to the HQ of the Naval Commander in Chief - Europe, at Minden in Westphalia, North Gernmany. There he met my mother, WREN Eileen Murray (see separate story "ULTRA Secret Service").
My mother was working in the Fleet Mail office and father was in an adjacent office doing administrative work. One of his duties was to issue condoms to the men.
My mother and father's courtship in minden wasn't without incident. Returning through the unlit streets to the WRENs' quarters, my mother cut her legs badly on barbed wire. The sight of a sailor dragging a bleeding WREN back to barracks necessitated a fair amount of explaining to the MP's! On another occasion, whilst they were out, my father was wearing a WREN mackintosh that he'd rather taken a fancy to when they passed Admiral "Hookey" Walker, accompanied by his Flag Lieutenant. The "Flag" chased after them and said "The old man wants to speak to you". At this point, my mother sloped off, leaving poor Dad to explain his strange uniform to the Admiral.
Noel and Eileen left the Navy and were married in December 1946 and remain so to the present day, almost 60 years later.

HBL = Home Base Ledger , a UK R.M. base for marines.
HBL hold op CMDO is the holding operational commando in Wrexham.

Fort Cumberland is a fort in Portsmouth and was the technical training depot Royal Marines , just down the road from the Eastney barrracks - now museum. the POX means your uncle was a portsmouth Division marine , i am currently seeking info on my grandfather who was a WW2 R.M. his papers state Hms Oddyssey a so called admin office for combined ops.He to was a pompey marine joined in 1942 at Fort Cumberland.

Good luck i will pass on anything i find from my research.

regards craig

Another site worth a look
http://www.rm-badges.com/graves

Also got this .
Naval Port Parties (Normandy and North West Europe 1944?5)

Four of these16 were formed with RM personnel as well as naval ratings in March 1944, to operate captured ports and for boat duties, etc. in the Mulberry harbour; they also manned naval bases ashore.17 They each had a repair element and communications parties.

The large party ?1500? landed at Courseulles on 7 June 1944 with its repair element (NP 1526) and communications (NP 1518) ? see chapter 6. The RM Passive Air Defence Section of ?1500? was responsible for precautions against and repairs after any air raids, but also worked on salvaging craft. Marines of ?1500?s? Administrative Section fed men in the naval camp, while those who were telephonists and those who plotted movements on the HQ maps, worked in the HQ of ?1500?. The boat crews were mainly RMs and the RM bomb disposal team cleared mines

The second of the large parties, ?1501? was based at Ouistreham with its repair element (NP 1528) and its communications (NP 1518). Later its personnel went to man the Naval HQ at Rouen, and then moved to Antwerp.

The first of the smaller parties, ?1502? with a repair party ?1531? and communications ?1520A, B & C?, was at Calais, but some elements were at Port?en?Bessin (1502A) and others at Ostend and Zeebrugge.

The second of the smaller parties, ?1503? was at Boulogne with its repair element ?1530? and communications as NP 1521.

NP 1686 with naval ratings and some Marines cleared Dieppe harbour of mines and obstructions in July 1944. NP 1715 when later in North West Europe included 324 RM Engineers. NP 1747 dismantled a V1 flying?bomb launching site in February 1945, and sent it to Chatham. NP 1749 with RM signallers was in Germany in the autumn of 1945.

Naval parties ? ships? names 1944?50s

Port parties at major bases were given ships? names and RM detachments, RM Landing Craft flotillas and SBS served in these formations, which often commanded more units than the numbered Naval Party, or the Port Party initially clearing a port or setting up a headquarters. The names were:

Princess Amelia, 1945 Europe; Princess Irene, 1946 Berlin; Princess Louisa, 1945?6 Brunsbüttel on river Elbe; Royal Adelaide, 1945?6 Tonning, on Eider estuary; Royal Albert, Berlin in 1945 and later, but by the 1950s had become the depot in an ex?German ship at Cuxhaven, near Hamburg; Royal Alfred, Kiel in 1945 and later; Royal Caroline, 1945?? Lübeck on the Baltic; Royal Charles, port parties at Le Havre and later at Calais in 1945; Royal Harold (NP 1742) in April 1945 at Kiel, later merged with NP 1743; Royal James, parties at Boulogne 1944?5; Royal Prince in 1945?6 at Emden, Lower Saxony and later name of a parent ship for all RN forces in Germany; Royal William, port parties at Cherbourg, France 1944??

There used to be a R.M website , Royal Marines online , which had a page on Oddyssey which said it was a Royal Marine Engineer unit for bomb and mine disposal , was both blue and green berets . cant seem to find it these days, will post if successful.

Found this site in relation to Hms Oddyssey .

IN MEMORy by Pierre Vandervelden

The visit to Commonwealth graves in Communal Cemeteries & Churchyards in Belgium & France

ST GERMAIN en LAYE New Communal Cemetery (Yvelines France)

Photos Courtesy Alain Octavie (Fr)
http://liberty-jeep.info/

Admiral Sir Bertram home Ramsay KCB KBE MVO 02/01/1945 aged 61
12 casualties

ATKINS JAMES GORDON
United Kingdom Lance Corporal Royal Marines H.M.S. Royal Henry. Date of Death: 23/03/1945 Service No: PLY/X 101755 (4)

BRAWLEY J
United Kingdom Private Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers 2nd Bn. Date of Death: 23/09/1914 Service No: 6914 (Mil. 1)

DAVID ISAAC RICHARD
United Kingdom Marine Royal Marine Engineers H.M.S. Odyssey. Age: 22 Date of Death: 21/02/1945 Service No: RME/14381 (3)

FAWCETT HAROLD
United Kingdom Marine Royal Marines H.M.S. Odyssey. Date of Death: 20/11/1944 Service No: PLY/X 120190 (2)

FEAR S
United Kingdom Private 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) Age: 24 Date of Death: 15/09/1914 Service No: 3467 (Mil. 2)

HENDERSON DEREK MALCOLM
United Kingdom Lieutenant Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve H.M.S. Odyssey. Age: 35 Date of Death: 02/01/1945 (6)

JEFFERYES CHARLES
United Kingdom Serjeant 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) "A" Sqdn. Age: 26 Date of Death: 18/09/1914 Service No: 2399 (Mil. 3)

LEWIS Sir GEORGE JAMES ERNEST
United Kingdom Lieut-Commander (A) Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve F.A.A. 781X Flt. Age: 34 Date of Death: 02/01/1945 (7)

MORGAN DAVID LEWIS
United Kingdom Petty Officer Airman Royal Navy H.M.S. Daedalus. Age: 21 Date of Death: 02/01/1945 Service No: FX81830 (5)

PENDLEBURY ELI
United Kingdom Corporal Royal Marines Date of Death: 01/12/1944 Service No: PO/X 2190T (1)

RAMSAY Sir BERTRAM HOME
United Kingdom Admiral Royal Navy Allied Naval Commander in Chief. Age: 61 Date of Death: 02/01/1945 (9)

ROWELL GEORGE WILLIAM
United Kingdom Commander Royal Navy H.M.S. Odyssey. Date of Death: 02/01/1945 (8)
IF You have a casualty picture, please send me a copy, I'll be glad to show it on this page.

IF You want a king size copy of this picture (300/900 ko - 2592/1944 pixels) please e-mail me.

IF You want picture of a particular grave, in this cemetery, please e-mail me.

Casualties informations come usualy from Commonwealth War Graves Commission, see links for more informations

Inmemories.com © Pierre Vandervelden - Belgium