Messages posted by: NIC

GUY wrote:Andrea, Nick
The cap badge is the Reconnaissance Corps.
Guy

Hi Guy,
Yes that is what I thought too - but hoped that Andrea could confirm it - however, great minds think alike etc so will go with Recce Corp...

Nick

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for granting permission for me to upload your photo to the website.
Please forgive me for not answering sooner - I have been away for a week in in wild West Wales where the the wifi is almost none existent and the phone signal is weak to say the least!

Nick

Hi bethamy,

May I add the photo of Rolly to our Website Gallery?
Do you happen to know the regiment he was in prior to volunteering to be a commando? I don't suppose you know his service number do you?

Nick

Hi Jon,

earpy88 wrote:
...My Grandfather wasn't a Commando, but was a Royal Marine so I hope that I am still allowed to post here, more so as to be of use to any future researchers!

Of course you are welcome to post here.
And thank you for acknowledging that your grandfather wasn't a commando - some descendants of Royal Marines find it difficult to understand and some even take umbrage when the history of Royal Marines and Royal Marine Commandos is explained to them [If I had a pound for every time I've had to explain...]
Anyway, the fact is, that everyone had an important part to play in the defeat of Fascism. The War couldn't have been won by one man, or by one unit, or one branch of the Armed Forces or, as we know, by one country.
Everyone who served in the War, whether they volunteered or were 'called-up' were heroes and they all deserve to be remembered.

Nick

Rob,

Here is the link to the Gov.UK site where you will find the appropriate forms.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/request-records-of-deceased-service-personnel

You'll need the 'Next of Kin' form
plus a Service specific part 2 form

Send them off to the address on the Part 2 form together with the £30 remittance and a copy of the Death Certificate - if you don't have that, you can obtain a copy from the Gov.UK site too.
Don't worry about his Service Number - as long as you have his Date of Birth that will be enough.

The Mod is the only custodian of WWII service records, so please don't be suckered in by other online sites with their scurrilous claims of having 'All Military Records' - they don't and it will cost you a year's subscription to find that out...

We're here to help so please don't hesitate to ask if you get stuck...

Nick

Jacki,
I have emailed Mitch Noble informing him of your post.
Hopefully he will make contact.

Let me know if I can be of assistance.

Nick

Hi Rob,

Unfortunately, we don't seem to have any record of your father; however, the commando Association does not have access to service records and the data base/Nominal Rolls that we have on this Website have been compiled by two or three of us searching through documents, books, letters, War Diaries etc. gathering names and information.
We acknowledge that there will be some people who will have slipped our net - but we're anxious to add them - they all deserve to be remembered...

So with Bill we will have to start from scratch and see if we can build up a foundation to start with.

Do you have any idea which branch of HM Forces he was in - the Army or the Royal Marines?
Do you have any photos of him in any uniform at all?
Do you have any document from his service days which mentions his name or any other military detail?
Any little anecdotes - even those that you might think unimportant or very trivial may have that tiny clue that we can pick up on.
(In other cases I was told, 'Dad always talked of a pig that they were fattening up for Christmas ...' and 'Dad said the CO had two dogs...' Both these anecdotes allowed me to quickly pin down the unit - where others had failed)

You can apply to the MoD for a scan of his service record which will give you details of his unit and most things from recruitment to demob, however, the Army & the Royal Marines' records offices are in different places and as the search costs £30, I don't want you to apply to both Offices and for you to pay out £60...

Nick

Tim,

I hope that Rick Smallman will pick up on this thread as his father was a RN Commando and he has researched them in depth and is far more knowledgeable than I am on the subject...

However, here are two very good book about the RN Commandos - well worth reading for background information of the RN Cdo Units and for more individual of each Unit...

Beachhead Assault by David Lee. The Story of the Royal Naval Commandos in WW2. Foreword by Tony Parsons. Published By Greenhill Books in October 2004.

The Beachhead Commandos by a Cecil Hampshire. Published by William Kimber & Co Ltd in 1983

Nick

Hi Tim,

Well, the photos answer your question, your granddad was not a RM Commando or an Army Commando - he was definitely a Royal Navy Commando.

These boy were actually the first onto the beaches and would mark the way and the routes etc. for the assault troops coming behind them ...

See this link for a brief description of their role and title.

http://www.commandoveterans.org/RoyalNavalBeachCommandoMemo

You/ your family can apply to the MoD for a copy of your grandfather's service record - the MoD is the only custodian of WWII service records so please don't get suckered in by other ON-Line genealogy sites which make spurious claims of holding all military records... They don't and it will cost you a lot of money to find that out!

If you do want to apply to MoD, I can point you in the right direction...

Nic

Steve,
I'm not an expert on the FS Fighting Knives but I do know there were several manufacturers and several different versions of each Pattern!

Seeing as he didn't convert to RM Commandos until quite late I would say he probably had a 3rd Pattern...

However, I'd ask the experts - Paul MacDonald and Ivan Gamsby - for their opinon. I don't know how often they visit the Website these days but you can get them on Facebook...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/6030683278/

Nick

I'm afraid that is what we've learned to expect from WWII RM service records - I've seen one case that consisted of 4 entries!

Army Service records are far more detailed - but that doesn't help you, I'm afraid.

I tend to see Army Records most so I don't know if anyone else knows any other way of getting more information from RM records?

Nick

Hi Marty,

I'm afraid that we don't know much about the Lovat Scouts other than they were a Highland regiment. Many were gamekeepers so their skills at sniping were well known.

Simon Fraser, - later the 15th Lord (Fraser of) Lovat - was commissioned as a subaltern in the Lovat Scouts - then a Territorial Army unit but fell out with his superiors and transferred to the regular army, while still a second lieutenant joining the Scots Guards in 1931. He was promoted lieutenant in August 1934, but, again Lovat resigned his regular commission as a lieutenant in 1937...
In June 1939, just months before the Second World War, Lord Lovat also resigned his reserve commission!
In July, however, as war approached, he was mobilized as a captain in the Lovat Scouts.
The following year, he volunteered to join one of the new commando units being formed by the British Army, and was eventually attached to No. 4 Commando.

In the whole of the six long years of the Second World War, Lord Lovat served hardly more than six days in action. And yet he became universally known and accepted as a great war hero, finishing the War as Brigadier Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat and 4th Baron Lovat, DSO, MC. Because of his connection with the Lovat Scouts, it is often believed the the Lovat Scouts were also commandos - but that was not the case.

To find out about your grandfather's service in the Army I would recommend that you apply to the MoD for a scan of his original, handwritten service record. The MoD is the only custodian of WWII Service Records so please don't be taken in by scurrilous claims by online genealogy sites claiming to have "over 22 million war records" and urging you to search through "all Military Records". It will cost a lot of money for you to discover that they don't have your grandfather's records...
But the MoD do.
It will cost a one off fee of £30 and you'll need to know his date of birth and send in a copy of his Death Certificate - also available online from the Gov.UK Site...

Here are links to the two forms you'll need:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/711151/20180524-request_service_details_general_enquirers_pt1_v6.1__1_.pdf

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/545060/request_for_service_details_army_application_part2_1_.pdf

and a link for the Death Cert.

https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

I hope this has been useful and I'm sorry we can't offer any information about your grandfather. But good luck with your research...

Nick

Sorry Wurzle, looks like your post slipped through the net...
Pleased that Outcast spotted it...

Nick

I believe this is the Pilgrimage that Lucy refers to:

http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/d/33962-5/The++3+Cdo+Bde+Pilgrimage+in+2005.pdf

Nick

Hi Bill,

The history of The Commandos and other Special Forces units can be quite confusing becouse of how each unit evolved, the many 'splinter-groups and the frequent changes of names of units.
Hopefully, I can explain a bit about 30 AU & 40 RM Cdo...

The first Royal Marine Commando was formed at Deal in Kent on 14 February 1942 and designated 'The Royal Marine Commando'.
Before long it was re-designated RM 'A' Commando with Lt.Col J Picton Phillips as the Commanding Officer.
'A' Commando had it's baptism of fire in Operation Jubilee (the Dieppe Raid),19 August 1942, it suffered dreadful losses - of the 370 officers and men, 76 were lost on the beaches, among those killed was the Commanding Officer - and, after returning to the UK and being reinforced, was re-designated 40 RM Commando in October '42...

On March 10, 1942, Commander Ian Fleming,RN [future James Bond novelist but then serving as an Intelligence Officer in the Royal Navy's NID (Naval Intelligence Dept. ] had approached his boss, John Godfrey, with an intriguing proposition. His memo, entitled "Proposal for Naval Intelligence Commando Unit," went straight to the heart of the ?four-rotor crisis? - the inability of British Intelligence to break the German Enigma code ever since the Germans, just the month before, added a fourth-level of encryption to their code machines. He conceded that he had poached the concept directly from the Germans, and that he intended to draw the original cadre for his Intelligence Assault Unit (IAU) from the 10 Platoon of 'A' Commando's 'X' Company.

During 'A' Commando's training for Op Jubilee, 10 Platoon, under the command of Lieutenant H. Huntington-Whiteley, RM, were segregated from the rest of the Commando for 'special training'! A Secret Operation Order, dated 22 June 1942, simply states, "10 Platoon will be prepared to carry out a special task as detailed later. No special equipment is required other than is arranged already."

The plan was that the main assault, involving an attacking force of about 5,000 Canadians, 1,000 British troops and 50 US Rangers, would attack the beaches, Nos. 3 & 4 (Army) Commandos would conduct a pincer movement silencing Goebbels & Hess coastal batteries, respectively.

Meanwhile, 10 Platoon would be 'inserted' into the Dieppe Docks to search for intelligence, more specifically the four rotor Enigma... [There is a theory that the capture of the four rotor Enigma was so important that the beach assault was just a diversion from the real mission - the capture of the Enigma! ]

As we now know Operation Jubilee was a disaster and 10 Platoon never landed, however during the approach, Mne 'Brad' Bradshaw distinguished himself with his Bren Gun and was awarded a Military Medal for his gallantry.

In Sep 1942, the Director of Naval Intelligence authorised the formation of the Special Intelligence Unit, of which 10 Platoon, under Huntington-Whiteley, became the nucleus. SIU would be composed of 33 (Royal Marines) Troop, 34 (Army) Troop, 35 (RAF) Troop and 36 (Royal Navy) Troop. The SIU became known as Special Engineering Unit and 30 Commando and was re-designated 30 Assault Unit (30AU) in December 1943.

So Les Bradshaw was in 10 Platoon, X Company, 'A' Commando and then transferred to 30 AU when it was formed.

Nick