Harry Dennis Lumm, No2 Cdo

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 24/02/2009 21:08:33

Hi there,

I am trying to piece together the wartime history of an uncle of mine Harry Dennis Lumm.

He was in the Beds and Herts regiment and joined No 2 Commando early on.

He would not talk much about the events of 39-45, al;ways being very modest about his time.

We believe he was at Saint Nazaire, North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Vis, and finally was wounded in North Africa.

He went on to be a PTI and when he came out worked at Rank Films as a stunt man, then as an engineer back hame at Watford.

He ended up as Head Green Keeper at Hertsbourne Golf Club, in Bushey Heath.

He had a piece of shrapnel removed in about 1985, a legacy of the war.

He died of a heart attack in 1987, aged 64.

If anyone has any memories of Harry, or records of him, I would love to hear from you.

Hi Roy,
Welcome to the CVA forum.
i'm sure it won't be too long before Bob Bishop replies to your post and if anyone has any knowledge of your Uncle it will be Bob.
In the meantime have you thought of applying for your Uncle's Service & Casualty Records (see link)

http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/service_records.html

Good luck,
Nick

Hi Nick,

Thanks for responding so quickly. Its early days yet, but I would like to find out as much as I can about Harry.

In April I am going to Dieppe and Saint Nazaire. I have been before but am taking a pal whose uncle was one of the official war artists for the parachute regiment in WW2.

Some of his paintings are hanging in the museum at Pegasus Bridge. I am not sure yet of his name, but if he joined in the early days, I guess he could have ex No2 and trained at Bolsover Castle - not sure.

Anyway thanks for making contact. Roy.

Dear Roy:

Thank you for your remembrance of Pte. H.D. Lumm, a member of No. 2 Commando who served in our ranks from possibly late 1941 to 1945. I can say that I remember the name very well, but with the entire absence of any written records of the 550, or thereabouts, men who passed through the Commando, I cannot quote any specific, official notations concerning your Uncle's service.

Our war diary contains only mention of some 47 names of O.R.s. This is shocking, but true I'm afraid and it is of little use perusing this record of 5 years of war activities if one is trying to research for most name enquiries. However, our C.V.A. Member, NIC, has already suggested that you contact the one source of information who can supply you with something; that being the Army Personnel Records Office in Glasgow. The address is available on our site link. However, try to provide them with Harry's essential data which is - name, rank, number, Bedford & Herts Regt. and date of discharge.

Harry's service number is critical to the process of obtaining information. It will be a seven digit number with the first three numbers being 595----. I know this is not much help to you, Roy, but it might assist you in locating the correct identification number.

Regarding the war record with No. 2 that you have outlined, I can confirm that Harry was involved in the Sicilian campaign - July and August 1943 - including the landing at Scaletta and the pursuit to Messina. This was followed by the Salerno landing in September 1943 and the six month duration campaign in Yugoslavia from January to July 1944. For the remainder of 1944 Harry was based in Italy, but participated in actions in Albania in July and October 1944. I can be reasonably sure, also, that your Uncle was involved in the battles of Lake Comacchio and Argenta Gap in the spring of 1945, that were fought in Northern Italy.

What I cannot confirm is your description of service in North Africa. No. 2 Commando, as a unit, did not participate in that campaign. That 'chore' was performed by our friends and comrades of No. 1 and No. 6 Commandos. There was one unpublished 'visit' to North Africa from Nov. 1942 to May 1943 by 10 members of No. 2, but I am very aware of all the names of those involved. Harry was not one of that group.

I am sorry that I cannot offer anything further regarding Harry's excellent and lengthy record of service with our organization, but, be assured that I regard the memory of our association with gratitude and pride.

Sincerely,

Hallo Bob,

How lovely to hear from you, with all your information. I am trying to work out how to import photographs, as there are one or two of Harry during the War.

I guess its a case of watch this space.

Take care and thanks once again, Roy.

Hallo Bob,

I've just reread my original posting from yesterday. Harry was wounded in North Italy, not North Africa as I said. We believe he was in the reserve group for the Norway raid, and maybe for Saint Nazaire. That would seem strange, but would that have been likely.

We had always thought he was one of the lucky ones to get back from France. Cheers Roy. (still working on trying to organise the photographs !!)

Roy,
There are two methods of posting pictures in the forum:

To post photos they must have a web address/location - something like:
http:// lotsof text/blah/photobucket.jpg

So when typing your post/reply, there is a row of 'buttons' at the top of the message page, click on IMG and img in square brackets will appear in your message, paste the http://address.jpg, then click on Close Marks and you'll get a front slash and img in square brackets at the end of the address

Click on Preview to check everything is as you want it then Submit your post and that should be it....

Or:

If you want to add a an image to your post do the following:

1) When you post a new message, take a look at the bottom of the form. You will see there is a button "Attach Files". If you click this a new window is shown below.

2) Use the browse button next to filename to locate the image to be uploaded. The image must be either a .jpg or .gif file.

3) Give the image a description.

4) Submit your post in the normal way.

Thanks Nic,

I'll have a go later.

Roy.

Hi there,

This is a photograph of my uncle Harry Lumm (in the centre). Who are the other two?

Any info or anecdotes on Harry would be appreciated.

Cheers, Roy

Roy,
Great photo - glad to see you managed to post it in the end - it clearly shows the inverted dagger, the No2 hat badge.

I'm waiting for the day when someone posts a photo of No2 Cdo and we see a picture of Bob Bishop on it - I wonder if he'd own up? :wink:

Have you found out any other info on Harry yet? Don't forget to keep us updated.

Cheers,
Nick