Messages posted by: Alan Orton

Hi John,
Charles Messenger's "The Middle East Commandos" might be of help to you. (ISBN-10:0718308457 published by Wm. Kimber.)
Regards,
Alan.

Hi Nick,
No.7 Commando (A Battalion) and No's 50 and 52 (D Battalion) were sent to Crete to assist with the Allied withdrawal, No.11 were in Cyprus at the time.
Could it be possible that he was attached to No.7 from No.11?
Regards,
Alan.

Spean Bridge Inn,
The Steel Forge,
Fairbairn Sykes.

I may not have got my arithmetic quite right and i may well have have missed out a few units so forgive me if i have but if we add the Army Commandos No's 1 to 12 also 14, 30 and 62, add the Middle East Commando No's 50, 51, and 52. the Royal Naval Commando and No's 40 to 48 of the Royal Marines and also the RAF Servicing Commando we get a total of thirty so why not 'The Thirty Bob' or the 'Thirsty Thirty'? If there are other units to add just adjust accordingly, this would cover all the units and still meet the criteria of those in the know and not being too obvious.

The Laycock,
Lovat or Leave It,
The Dudley Clarke
The Mountbatten Arms,
The Keyes,
The Crown and Achnacarry .

What about "The Butcher and Bolt"?

It is with great sadness that i have heard of Jimmy passing away, the last of the 'Originals'.
Rest in Peace.

Hi Amy,
the Special Raiding Squadron S.A.S. was also involved in the Termoli operation and you can find good accounts of their involvement in the following books; SAS The History of the Special Raiding Squadron "Paddy's Men" by Stewart McClean,
Paddy Mayne by Hamish Ross and Rogue Warrior of the SAS by Martin Dillon and Roy Bradford. A short description can be found in The Originals by Gordon Stevens as does Gavin Mortimer's Stirling's Men.
Hope this will be of use to you in your research.
Regards,
Alan orton.

Although not related to No.5 Commando one man who volunteered for Military Mission 204 was Robert Blair Mayne, David Stirling however convinced him his future lay with with his proposed L Detachment. One can only wonder what the outcome would have been if he had taken the former.
Regards,
Alan Orton

Hi all,
is it me but is that a different officer in the picture of No.6 Troop from Jess Taylor from the one's Barry Crowe and i sent in? Not only is it a different piece of head wear but also it appears he has a bush jacket on over his shirt (collar and tie?) while in the other two pictures the officer appears just to be wearing a shirt and also a Sam Browne belt which is not on the other picture. The other difference being Barry and Jess's pictures show fourty men while mine only shows thirty nine, on the back row of the other two pictures from the left between the fifth and sixth (my dad) a head can be seen.
I'm sure it must be me.
Regards,
Alan.

Hi Sammy,
i found the site you mentioned quite by chance some months ago and was pleasantly surprised to see a picture of my dad on it, there were also quite a few of "The Originals"" on there as well, not just the usual ones so it was great to finally see some of chaps that dad served with in the unit. I'm sure i read somewhere that Paddy Mayne who appeared to have been an avid photographer took quite a few shots of the men in the early days and have been hoping for that elussive group shot.
Thanks for the reply,
Regards,
Alan.

Does any one know if a group picture exists of the original members of L Detachment from August 1941 to November 1941?
regards,
Alan.

Hi Ian,
In 1937 the Liverpool Scottish became part of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders and in the Second World War supplied re-inforcements to them, they also supplied from their 1st and 2nd Battalions a contingent of men for No.4 Independant Company which saw action in Norway in 1940. Afterwards many of them served in the Army Commandos with quite a few taking part in the raid at St.Nazaire.
There is a J.J.Jones the rank of Private of the Cameron Highlanders with the service no.2933682 recorded at Labinowice in Poland and his P.O.W. No. was 12375. The camp was Stalag 344. As the service no. is a match it would be safe i would think to assume this is your Father.
Worth checking out is www.liverpoolscottish.org.uk
Hope this will be of use to you,
Regards,
Alan Orton.

Hi Rick,
i've had a gander at a few old maps of Singapore and the closest i can put is in the Kallang Area which was, before the fall of Singapore in the Fortress area close to Singapore city itself but on the oposite side of the water. This would i imagine have been part of the Naval dockyard.
Hope this is of some use to you.
Regards,
Alan Orton.

You can find a picture of N.B.Ramsey on the British Army Officers 1939-1945 section of www.unithistories.com. Looking at the youthfulness of it i would imagine it to be a W.W.1 picture as it looks like a Fusiliers cap badge.
Regards,
Alan Orton.