death of commando

Mr Alfred Rusdale age 88 died in addenbrook hospital cambrige,,wed 16th july 2008,, ex of no1 commando.
I read a very nice entry in the forum about just a dad who was a commando and i thought i would make an entry as well to make me feel better by speaking of a man i considered a hero, he was quiet, solid dependable, a man i cannot remember raising his voice but you took notice,,his presence filled the room.
He never spoke much of the war as seems to be the way of all, just titbits over the years,,so i dont know exact dates but here goes.
he was in the royal artillary TA at the outbreak of war so was called up straight away, When volenteers were asked for the commandos he applied and joined no1 commando, after many beach landings at Irvine beach in Ayrshire and attacks on the ICI munitions factory located there,also being stationed in Irvine for a while he met and married a local girl, my mother, who is still going strong.
I do know he was on a diversionary raid for St Nazier, before being sent to north africa seeing it through to the end,,he did say once they lost 600
of the commandos sent there.
next they were sent home to winchester to reform re train before going to burma in 1943 almost seeing it through to the end, becuase he was blown up, fortunately he said by a japenese grenade which apparently is wound in a sort of waxed thread not metal,,so when he woke up he was in the hospital and the war ended,, he went on to serve in the polce force until retirement in 1983.
Just a bit of a story about a commando my dad,,thank you very much

Malcolm,

I'm so sorry to hear of your father's death, it is obvious that you thought a great deal of your dad and thank you for sharing your sad news with us - I'm sure it will help to make your loss more bearable.

I am attending the service at the CVA Memorial in the National Arboretum on Sunday and will say a prayer for your father, you & your family.

Deepest sympathy,
Nick Collins

Malcolm
I would like to offer my sincerest condolences at this time of great loss to you and your family. My father (Hugh Maines) was also a member of No1 Commando, a volunteer from The Royal Welch Fusiliers.

God bless
Andy Maines

As an other son of a No1 Commando, also from the RWF.
Sincerest condolences to you and your family.

Kevin

This gentleman was my grandfather and i would just like to make a post to say how missed he is already, my grandfather never really spoke of the war silly things mainly that answer simply childrens questions over the years and hows things have changed so much, its only as u get older do u begin to understand what him and many more saw and did for us all.
my biggest regret is never listening more but as a child growing and becoming a adult starting a family of my own , i always thought there was tommorow to sit and chat to him and its true you never know what you had till its gone , well now he has left us the gap that remains feels huge

My 10 year old son was so proud of his great grandfather having just done a topic in school of his choice he picked world war two and loved standing in front of the school telling them about him and what he had learned about the commandos i am told by his teachers he had the others listening and they to felt the pride that joshua had in his voice for this great man.
i feel honoured to be able to call him my grandfather and he will be deeply missed by us all
and thanks to people like my grandfather my two sons have the life they have got now and he and many others will always be remebered as Heroes .

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 22/07/2008 12:20:26

Hi Susan

Your message is one that many of us feel the pride in what the did for us tinged with the sadness that we allways thought that there was time to listen later, so much has been lost but hopefully the memorys remain

keith