Royal Northumberland Fusiliers 14350042 BREADY Fus. 792 P. 3 Commando 28.2.45

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 22/02/2024 16:45:25

Good afternoon - a quick bit of background. After getting an Ancestry DNA kit for Xmas, I was prompted to start fleshing out my family's own tree, and that's when you realise just how little you do know about your family, even those as close as your father. That and last month being what would have been his 100th birthday had he not passed away 15 years ago...

After my usual scattergun googling, I came across this site and the entry I have in the post title from a list of wounded, and another in the "3 Commando replacements July 1944" list under "14350042 FUS BREADY P R NORTHUMBERLAD FUSILIERS".

My dad was a quiet man, and I guess like a lot of his generation who fought in WW2, didn't say a lot about it. I do know he was in the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers (like his brother and I'd guess a lot more Glaswegians) and vaguely recall him mentioning being in the Commandos. I think he may have served in the North of France as when I mentioned we'd visited Abbeville, he said he had been there. He also recall him talking about being in Hamburg (I guess post war) and trading cigarettes for a German Shepherd dog he called "Wolfie" that he used to take out in a rowing boat on a nearby lake. He also mentioned blinking in morse code to fellow soldiers about the girls they'd see around

. That (and us as kids playing with, and losing, the few medals he had) is about all we know about his time in service.

I have emailed the MOD for his service records and have scoured the images on this site to see if I recognised him from any group photos, but as I only have one photo of him in uniform from that era, it's surprisingly hard.

I'd appreciate any advice on how to expand my search for information, even starting with basic information like did you volunteer or were you selected to join the Commandos? What would be a good starting point beyond getting his service records, and here of course?

Thanks in appreciation

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 22/02/2024 21:29:42

Hi

Can you confirm if you had your father's army service number before finding our entry for Fusilier P. Bready, or have you used the one from our archive. Also if possible can you add the photo you mentioned in response to this message in case it gives any clues. What was/were your father's forename/s ?

There is a good resume of the Army Commandos (No.3 Commando was Army) here and in the additional sources you will see two books which give a huge amount of detail about the training of the commandos and are well worth buying: https://www.commandoveterans.org/site/history

The only detail we have for Fusilier P. Bready is as shown here: https://www.commandoveterans.org/P_Bready_3Commando

Pete

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 23/02/2024 10:22:13

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

I got the original information from the findmypast.co.uk website when searching for my dad's name Peter Bready under military records for WW2 - the reference was "PETER BREADY Record Transcription_ British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945 _ findmypast.co.uk" . I think went from there to the National Archive reference (attached) and that's where I copied the post title from. Given I knew he was in the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, that he had been wounded and that our surname isn't that common, I took that as a good match for him, so that's where I got his service number from. After that line also confirmed "commando" I simply googled "p bready commando" to find this site.

I've also attached the only photo we have of him in uniform - in fact I think it's the only photo the family have of him before he married my mother in 1951 when he was 27.

Thanks again

Pete

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 25/02/2024 10:00:06

Hi Peter

I have updated the page with your father's photo here. Do you have his dates and places of birth and death and I can add those ?

https://www.commandoveterans.org/P_Bready_3Commando

Pete

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 25/02/2024 11:59:34

Good morning.

My dad was born on 31 Jan 1924 in Glasgow and passed away aged 84 on 27 Aug 2008 in Mearnskirk House, Newton Mearns, Glasgow.

I'm currently trying to get his service records from the MOD but I understand that might take up to six months.

Thanks again for your help and for the work you do in maintaining the site

Cheers

Pete