Context: Some Good News in Scotland

Some Not So Good News Too for New Recruits

Canadians Ray Ward and Jim Cole at HMS Quebec, Inveraray Scotland

At Combined Operations No. 1 Training Centre. Photo - Joe Spencer

Canadian members of the Effingham Division (RCNVR out of Halifax) arrived in Scotland's No. 1 Comb. Ops training centre in early spring, 1942, after some initial training related to landing crafts in southern England, at HMS Northney on Hayling Island. Though I am not aware of their exact timeline, they spent time at Camp Auchengate as well (between Irvine and Troon), in preparation for their first call to action. 

Unbeknownst to the sailors, they would be called upon to participate in Operation RUTTER, which was cancelled before the day of departure, and later in Operation JUBILEE, both in the summer of 1942.

While training they would have had access to local newspapers and more than one story would have fostered discussion, concerns and possibly the occasional smile amongst the young Canadians.

From The Irvine and Fullarton Times (February 27, 1942):

GOOD AND NOT SO GOOD

Although the Allied nations have a long and rough road to travel ere they attain the aim they are determinedly setting out for in the Far East - superiority of forces and equipment - they have begun at least to hit hard blows on the enemy. These blows,  temporarily crippling to the enemy though they are, cannot be expected to wholly check him in his conquering sweep through the Pacific or towards India. But they are telling factors in that wearing down process which constitutes our essential strategy at present and will continue to constitute it for a considerable time.

It must be admitted that the war pictures being flashed day by day from the Far East zone are, on the whole, the reverse of heartening. India is being still more gravely threatened, Java and island after island in the Pacific are in dire danger of coming under enemy control, and even Australia has had its first taste of Japanese aggression.

The Japanese have not, of course, been allowed to maintain their pre-arranged timetable, but they are gradually working out their widespread and cleverly designed plan of campaign, and at the moment there seems little prospect of their being halted definitely. The Allied forces can only defend with desperation as long as defence is possible, and patiently await the assured day when the tide of aggression will turn, and hope that that day will come before too much is lost.

The Soviet Roller

Russia still provides us with the bright news of the war. Despite desperate German counter-measures that are using up valuable enemy reserves, the Soviet roller is still relentlessly moving on. The Russian attack is developing on five fronts, but the most important for the present is the Leningrad front. 

At Stavaya Russa the German 16th Army has been encircled, and has lost 12,000 in killed and a huge amount of booty. This is an outstanding victory for the Soviet forces, and it gives them control of the most vital section of the Leningrad front and allows them to threaten one of the lines of supply of the enemy armies besieging  Leningrad. Above all, it is only the first stage of a big offensive about to be carried through, and important fresh successes are said to be imminent.

This good news from Russia should be a fresh incentive to us to provide all the material help we can for our Ally's brave forces, while the not so good news from other parts should likewise prove an impetus to the workers of the nation to put full strength into their effort.

We have had some staggering blows to our national pride recently, and more are yet to be suffered. But if these blows serve to awaken us to our weaknesses and inspire us to remedy these weaknesses, they will have served a great purpose. And, knowing the heart and will and sinews of our nation, who can doubt that that purpose will be served?

Two ads from The Irvine and Fullarton Times, February 27, 1942

* * * * * 

In the article above we read "this good news from Russia should be a fresh incentive to us to provide all the material help we can for our Ally's brave forces." And the "not so good news" should impel workers "to put full strength into their effort".

Citizens and workers, at least in Allied countries, were continually encouraged during WW2 to do what they could, give what they could, be it by way of buying Victory Bonds, cultivating a Victory Garden or giving pennies to the Red Cross or nickels here and dimes there. Or pounds. lots of pounds, as seen below:

Heavy headline (in Pounds) in The Irvine and Fullarton Times, April 3, 1942 

The accompanying article reads as follows:

After opening in a manner that alarmed many of our leading citizens by disappointing figures of the first day's operations, Irvine's Warship Week astonished not only the citizens of our town but also those of surrounding districts by the enthusiastic success of its concluding stages. 

On the opening day, Saturday, 21st March, the sum raised was considerably under five thousand pounds, and had the money-raising pace continued during the whole week at this rate, the effort would have produced less than half of the target figure of 80,000 Pounds aimed at.... the last four days of the week all had five-figure totals, and the concluding day, Saturday last, raised 23,847Pds. 19s 10.5d, which is 731Pds. 14s 10.5d more than the highest total reached on any one day of Irvine's War Weapons Week in June of last year.

The following table shows the sums raised on each day of Irvine's Warship Week and the sums raised on the corresponding days of the burgh's War Weapons Week in June last: 

Photo of The Irvine and Fullarton Times, April 3, 1942 

(As found on microfiche at Saltcoats Heritage Centre)

A celebratory pageant followed the fundraising week:

The Pageant

The pageant, which had originally been arranged to take place on the opening Saturday of the burgh's Warship Week, had to be postponed until the following Saturday, the closing day of the campaign, on account of difficulty in obtaining an adequate supply of pipe and brass bands on the former date, and Saturday last, with its pageant and its record-breaking total of money raised on that day, providing a fitting culmination to one of the most memorable weeks in the history of our town....

The turnout of units of H.M. Forces, which rightly occupied the place of honour in the leading section of the parade were impressive, both on account of their smartness and precision on the march and on account of their numerical strength. The strength and number of different units was much greater that at War Weapons Week procession nine months ago, and their presence undoubtedly did much to tone up the whole turnout.... 

An excellent impression was created on the spectators as soon as the head of the procession came into view.... (many detachments followed) and Irvine A.T.C., under Rector James Porter, followed, and completed this section of one of the most memorable spectacles the old burgh has witnessed for many years....

Many thousands of spectators lined every section of the route, and at some of the principal points, such as Bridgegate Head, the crowds flocking over pavement and roadway as soon as the rear unit of the procession has passed, made progress along the streets almost impossible. The procession had five bands in its ranks and was about a mile long....

Of this sum (i.e., 55Pds. collected on route) the Boy Scouts secured 1Pd. 6s in a rather involuntary manner. They were not part of the collecting brigade but on their vehicle they had, as part of their equipment, a very large open box, and so keen were many of the spectators to give their contribution that cash to the amount of twenty-six shillings was thrown from the crowds into the box....

 As found in The Irvine and Fullarton Times, Sept. 4, 1942 

Art Warrick (Hamilton), Canadian in Combined Ops at HMS Quebec, 1942

From the collection of Joe Spencer, used with permission

Please link to Context: First Convoy for Canadians in Combined Ops

Context: First Convoy for Canadians in Combined Ops

Lessons Learned on "Our Convoy"

Chuck Rose of Chippawa, Ontario lands safely, February, 1942

Greenock, Scotland. Photo Credit - Joe Spencer (w permission)

In January, 1942 the first Canadians to volunteer for Combined Operations (including Chuck Rose, above) left Canada aboard the Dutch liner Volendam - in a blizzard of blinding snow, not to resounding cheers - to eventually arrive at barracks called HMCS Niobe in Scotland.

Al Kirby (RCNVR and Combined Ops) writes:

"It was late in January that we re-embarked (aboard Volendam) to arrive in Scotland and learn that we were destined to join Combined Operations, driving landing craft." (Early Days in Combined Ops)

It appears that although lessons aboard landing craft would begin shortly after their arrival, the first drafts of Canadians learned valuable lessons even while being transported across the Atlantic Ocean as well.

The Atlantic Crossing and Safe Landing in Scotland

My father describes the crossing as "an eventful trip", and writes the following:

The convoy consisted of a destroyer H.M.S. Firedrake, armed merchant ship Jervis Bay (sister ship of the famed Burgess Bay who held off a large German man o’ war until the remainder of its convoy could escape, costing her her life and all aboard) and an American four-stacker loaned by the USA to England.

The Dutch captain (i.e., of the Volendam) lined us all up and assured us we would arrive safely because the Volendam had already taken three torpedoes and lived to sail. This was very heartening news for those of us who had never been to sea except for a few hours in Halifax upon a mine-sweeper. Our first meal was sausage with lots of grease. Naturally, many were sick as it was very rough. 

Volendam, a Dutch liner, crossed the Atlantic many times

Late at night I was on watch at our stern and saw a red plume of an explosion on our starboard quarter. In the morning the four-stacker was not to be seen. The next evening I heard cries for help, presumably from a life-raft or life-boat. Although I informed the officer of the watch, we were unable to stop and place ourselves in jeopardy as we only had the Firedrake with ASDIC (sonar) to get us through safely.

After some days we spotted a light on our port stern quarter one night. It was the light of the conning tower of a German submarine. How she failed to detect us, or the Firedrake detect it, I will never know. I was gun layer and nearly fell off the gun (4.7 gauge). I informed the Bridge and the Captain said, “Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot. It could be one of ours.” But as it quickly submerged we did fire one round to buck up our courage.

Some days later we spotted a friendly flying Sunderland and shortly after sailed up the Firth of Clyde to disembark at the Canadian barracks called Niobe. Before we disembarked, however, we took up a good-sized collection for the crew of the Firedrake for bringing us through. It was soon confirmed that the American four-stacker had taken a fish (torpedo). (from "DAD, WELL DONE", pages 8 - 9)

So, before even setting foot in a classroom or on a beach to practice handling a landing craft, the Canadian sailors learned much concerning the dangers of going to sea during wartime, for example, not everyone would survive, and cries for help would not immediately be answered.

Poster as found at Saltcoats Heritage Centre*, Scotland. Photo GH

While in Scotland in 2014, I found a poem dedicated to convoys - rare indeed, I say - in the September 11, 1942 issue of The Irvine and Fullarton Times (on microfiche at The Saltcoats Heritage Centre, north of Irvine). Information about the author and the poem follows:

From The Irvine and Fullarton Times, Sept. 11, 1942

 "Our Convoys" by R.A. McLellan

     A convoy has arrived in port

     Is news that we are told:

     Deep-laden ships of every sort,

     Well stowed in every hold.

     They do not tell us when they leave

     But keep that information

     In case the Axis may receive

     Their port of destination.

          Yet I can see them in my mind

          Go sailing out to sea,

          Not one of them must lag behind

          In case of what might be.

          Throughout the day they have the light,

          When you might think them safer,

          But lurking U-Boats out of sight

          May find that in their favour.

     On board each ship all eyes are set

     And searching far and near

     To catch the slightest sign of threat

     From enemies that appear.

     The escort, always on alert,

     Though moving fore and aft,

     May not be able to avert

     The death blow to some craft.

          The strain imposed on everyone

          Is almost past all bearing,

          And yet these ships keep to their run

          By men of skill and daring.

          Think on these lifeboats cast adrift

          For days and weeks on end,

          How these poor fellows could makeshift

          We scarce can comprehend.

      They fortify our lands with food

     And armaments for war;

     Now all these things are to our good

     In what we are fighting for.

     So raise your hats to all these men

     The Mercantile marine,

     And to the navy once again

     For all that they have been.

Lloyd Evans, another early member of RCNVR and Combined Operations adds this to the story re the trip across the Atlantic:

That evening, while on lookout duty on the bridge, I was surprised to see one of the destroyers, HMS Belmont, go full speed ahead followed shortly by two huge explosions. She had been hit by two torpedoes..... For obvious reasons we didn’t slow down to look for survivors but, since we were only a short distance from Halifax, a rescue ship came out to look for them....

The rest of the trip was reasonably quiet with the remaining destroyer (HMS Firedrake) doing double duty. In effect she proceeded at high speed most of the time to cover all the distance normally undertaken by two ships. In appreciation of their great efforts we passed the hat around for the benefit of the crew. About ten days later we sailed up the River Clyde to Gourock in Scotland. The final stage of our journey was by bus to the Canadian Base HMCS Niobe a few miles away in Greenock. (Memoirs, Lloyd Evans).

About HMCS Niobe one can find the following at The Memory Project:

During the Second World War, HMCS Niobe was a shore establishment near Greenock, Scotland that served as the Royal Canadian Navy’s overseas headquarters and a transit point for personnel for their overseas appointments. (Robert Sutherland)

According to my reading material, the men disembarked safely at HMCS Niobe**, likely filled with anticipation about what would happen next, but they had little time to even look around before they were given orders to board a train destined to take them from the southern shores of the River Clyde to the southern coast of England.

“All aboard!” became a familiar phrase to Canadians over the next two years.

*Saltcoats Heritage Centre - see photos below;

 Saltcoats is a 20 - 30 minute bus ride from High St., Irvine

 Found in a text at Saltcoats Heritage Centre -

A note re an RN establishment that refers to CO Bases (Combined Ops),

Some were home to Canadians during landing craft training

Reminders of war time measures, March 27, 1942

**HMCS Niobe ca. 1898 - 1915, Royal Canadian Navy. HMS Niobe was a ship of the Diadem-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy. She served in the Boer War and was then given to Canada as the first ship of the then newly created Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Niobe. After patrol duties at the beginning of the First World War, she became a depot ship in Halifax. Damaged in the 1917 Halifax Explosion, she was scrapped in the 1920s. Two of HMCS Niobe's 6-inch guns are preserved in the City of Saint John, New Brunswick. 

Photo Credit - RCN Photo, as found at Silver Hawk author

Please link to Context: The Link to Commandos

Article: "The Navy Commando Dotes On Fighting"

R.C.N. Commandos Are Ready for Action

As found in The Ottawa Journal

W Commando RCN Beach Cdos. rope training

Photo Credit - Bill Newell. Posted at Commando Veterans Assoc. 

I have presented several articles published in newspapers (e.g., The Herald Chronicle, Halifax; The Montreal Star; The Hamilton Spectator to name a few ) during World War II, with more to come. The news articles, editorials and timely cartoons not only provide useful context for actions undertaken by Canadians in Combined Operations but facts and details about the members themselves.

On May 10, 1944, the following article appeared in The Ottawa Journal (now available on microfiche at a local university) that provides details about a little-known group, Canadian Beach Commandos. We read that it was written from "A United Kingdom Port" for "The Crow's Nest"*, then "published in Halifax by the Royal Canadian Navy".

R.C.N. Commandos Are Ready for Action

Amidst the rugged loveliness of Scottish hills, a group of Royal Canadian Navy officers and ratings, all of them volunteers, have completed training under Royal Navy tutelage for one of the toughest jobs the navy has to offer. Now that their course is completed, they are Commandos, the first Canadians to take the Royal Navy's Commando course as a group.

From their training centre in Scotland, these leather-tough Canadians have moved into a Combined Training Centre where they are working with units of the Canadian army on landing craft flotillas. They are participating in army manoeuvres and will be attached to army beach troops, ready and hardened for the Big Show.

A navy Commando differs from an army Commando. The army Commando is a specialist in fighting, with the hand-to-hand variety preferred; he fights anywhere. The navy Commando dotes on fighting too, but he never leaves the beach which has been chosen for an assault landing. Rather, he defies the enemy to drive him from the beach.

Caption: Able Seamen James Skinner (left) and John Joyce of W-1 Party, Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commando "W", demonstrating how to disarm an opponent attacking with a knife, H.M.S. ARMADILLO, a training establishment at Ardentinny, Scotland, February 1944.

Photo Credit: Lt Gilbert A. Milne / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-183022. As found at Commando Veterans Association.

* * * * *

The naval Commando lands with the first wave of attacking troops and signals the remainder of the assault in. He helps to organize the beach for the landing of troop and materiel-bearing craft. It is his job, during an invasion, to work on the beach in close contact with the naval officer who is in charge of the landing and who is standing offshore with the assault flotillas. When the beachhead is established, he controls the traffic into and through the beach until a more suitable port for handling the incoming traffic is available.

This Canadian navy "tough type" must be ready for anything. He must be prepared to spend days on a beach under enemy fire. He must learn to live on scanty rations and thrive on them. He must be prepared to fight and fight superlatively well to hold the beach on which he has been landed.

That's why the training he took at this centre in Scotland was aimed at making him tough, scrappy and self-reliant. He learned how to beach his landing craft correctly, how to organize a beach in navy fashion, and how to handle all types of light weapons.

"He is a soldier and a sailor, too," says Lt. Cmdr. Dennis O'Hagan, R.C.N.V.R., of Halifax, N.S., the principal beach master, who wears the George medal and bar for bravery on special duty. "The Commando receives a great deal of army training which ordinary sailors do not get and he learns to make himself comfortable almost any place and under almost any conditions."

* * * * *

Here in Scotland, amidst some of the loveliest scenery in the world, the Canadian navy Commando has learned to kill swiftly and silently in unarmed combat classes. He has gone on days-long exercises under full kit; he has slept and cooked his meals in the open and was ready at the end of the gruelling manoeuvre to take prepared positions by assault.

He has smashed his way through obstacle courses and negotiated tough water hazards with powder and thunder flashes bursting around him and live ammunition cracking like a great whiplash over his head. He is now prepared to get soaked to the skin like a Spaniel and to work and fight that way for days on end if need be. He soon turned into a very tough guy.

Canadian Commando badges: Lt. D. Rayburn, Beachmaster, W-2 Party, RCN

Beach Commando "W", at H.M.S. ARMADILLO, Scotland, February 1944.

Photo as found at British Badge Forum

The Canadian navy Commando has learned to wear with pride the badge of his "trade" on both arms, a black flash and on it, in red, an anchor surmounted by a stooping eagle with a light machine-gun crossing the anchor shank. Above the patch is the word "Commando", and above that again, "Canada".

* * * * *

"These boys will have a big part to play in the coming invasion," says Lt. Cmdr. O'Hagan. "They will be the fighting handy men on the beaches through which our troops and materiel will pour. They are fighting harbor masters, really."

Personnel of Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commando "W" in

the Juno Sector of  the Normandy beachhead, 20 July 20, 1944. 

Photo Credit - Canada at War, Forums

(L-R): Able Seaman (A/B) A.H. (Art) Petty, W-2 Party; D.S. (Don) Murphy of

W-3 Party; unknown; A/B Dan Kroshewsky, Leading Seaman J.P. (Joe) Adams

and Petty Officer Douglas E. McIntyre, all of W-2 Party.

* Back issues of "The Crow's Nest" can be found online, beginning in 1948, at the following link: The Muninn Project - Cold War

Please link to Article: Canadian War Correspondents on the Move

Commandos: Beach Commando Work

"Beach Commando Work"

By E. Gault (Skip) Finley, LT. RCNVR

Photo as found in "St. Nazaire to Singapore" P. 295

E.G. Finley has been mentioned in two other entries on this site.

First, he authored a book entitled RCN Beach Commando 'W' which can be accessed online.

Please link to Books: Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commando W for more information if interested.

Second, Mr. Finley and Ed Storey authored an "informative, eight-page article.... about the Canadian commando, a unit that was formed later in the war to take on many important responsibilities and activities related to landing crafts and amphibious landings."

Please link to Commandos: RCN Beach Commando "W" (Little Known Canadian Units) for more information if desired.

Skip Finley also submitted a one-page article to St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945 (Volume 2) in the mid-1990s entitled Beach Commando Work.

Personnel of W-2 Party, RCN Beach Commando "W" outside a German

fortification in JUNO sector of the Normandy beachhead, July 20, 1944. 

Photo Credit - Canada at War, Forums

(Front row, L-R):

Able Seamen (A/B) A.F. Watt, Douglas Kennedy, R.V. Barnes, E.G. Woodall,

D.F. Trewin, A.H. Petty, Ordinary Seaman (O/S) A.E. Morris, A/B J.B. White.

(Rear row, L-R): 

Leading Seamen (L/S) W.R. Murphy, J.P. Adams, A/B J.F. Roy, PO D.E. McIntyre, 

LT. A.D. Rayburn, A/B W.F. Cronkhite, Dan Kroshewsky, J.D. Ross, R.C. Nelson.

Editor David Lewis introduced the article as follows:

Skip Finley enlisted in the RCNVR in May 1941 as Midshipman. Following training and promotion to Sub-Lieutenant in January 1942, he served at HMCS Kings until May 1942.

D. Lewis adds that Finley next served at HMCS Swift Current (until Sept. 1942), then at HMC M/L Q-092 (to Jan. 1943), and at HMCS Shawinigan (to July, 1943). He also notes that Finley ("after three months at HMCS Kings as Divisional Officer") was the youngest man in the RCNVR to be promoted to Lieutenant. Finley trained in the UK with the first all-Canadian Commando Unit after he transferred to the Combined Operations organization. He was badly injured in July 1944 while a beachmaster in Normandy, and was discharged in February 1945 after recovery.

E.G. Finley begins his article as follows:

Our task was to keep the beach to which we were assigned as operational as possible at all times, regardless of what landing craft or vessels were involved. Only minor injuries were sustained as a result of men taking the lines out from the LCI(L) landed gangways.

He says that enemy resistance and bad weather were obstacles to his operations and recalls one particularly "horrendous" storm followed by other "troublesome weather". He and specialists in his crew dealt with mines as well (some mines floated to shore after being cut adrift), though they were chiefly the responsibility of the army. 

Finley lists names of beaches in the Juno sector and provides a reference (i.e., The Beachhead Commandos by A. Cecil Hampshire) for those who would like more information related to RN Beach Commandos participating in Operation Neptune.

Stock Image as found at AbeBooks.com

He also reports where his unit fit in related to the organizational framework for "day to day operations". He recalls that "the Royal Marines had their separate units and carried out special assignments". He also says that US Rangers (units comparable to Allied Beach Commandos) were "quite impressed with the Commando training" courses offered in the UK.

After sharing information about battle dress, badges and what eventually became of the Beach Commando 'W', Finley states:

My own subjective (and to some extend, objective) view is that the year-long "W" Commando experience did contribute to quite successful lives (health-wise, as well as in careers and family relations) by a large percent of those I've been able to contact.

The full article can be viewed and read at "St. Nazaire to Singapore", pages 295 - 296.

Please link to Commandos: RCN Beach Commando "W"

Book: Dispatches From the Front by Matt Halton

CBC Correspondent in Italy, Sept. 1943

Canadian 80th Flotilla in Italy, Sept. 1943

David Halton's book about his father's writing, reporting and broadcasting career - including significant work during World war II - is the type I cannot put down. When I returned it to a friend yesterday he said in amazement, "Done already?"

Three days. It took three days to read it thoroughly and I savoured every page - during morning coffee, after meals, while riding my exercise bike. David was writing about his father and I saw my own on several pages. That's the type of read I enjoy most. Though not linked to Canadians in Combined Operations, except perhaps in the thinnest of fashions, I will still include it and recommend it to others because the book provides threads related to future research. Lionel Shapiro of the Montreal Star is mentioned, as is Ross Munro, so much can be learned about events related to Combined Ops by following their trail, archived in microfiche and CBC film archives.

Matt Halton produced a deep, rich supply of outstanding stories

Matt Halton and my father likely swam in the same water and walked - bare-bummed - on the same beaches in North Africa, though perhaps a year apart as far as their written accounts go. But they may have crossed from Messina, Sicily to Reggio de Calabria, Italy during the same week in September, 1943, and possibly in the same flotilla of landing craft.

Photo as found in Dispatches From The Front. M. Halton, far left

The book tells us Matt and "several other correspondents" stood nervously at Messina, very near the shore of the seven-mile-wide strait that separates Sicily from Italy,  and "along with hundreds of young soldiers from Maritime regiments" on September 2, 1943. My father was on an Allied craft designed to carry tanks (LST), not too far away.

Matt recalls that he and other correspondents selected to cross "with the first assault wave of Canadian troops" were soon witness to one of the greatest bombardments by Allied guns during the war.

From Page 191, Dispatches From The Front

My father very likely witnessed the same bombardment from the vantage point of the LST, and shortly after the guns had stopped, he began the first of several seven-mile-long journies to Italy's shore. While transporting Allied supplies, he saw the terrible results of bombardment.

He writes:

There was no resistance. The air force had done a complete job and there wasn’t a whole building standing and the railroad yards were ripped to shreds. How long we worked across the straits I cannot really recall, but perhaps into October. ("DAD, WELL DONE", Page 35

Mr. Halton writes that his father was not greeted by Germans once in Reggio di Calabria but by surrendering Italian soldiers. He notes that Mussolini was no longer in power ("overthrown") and that Italy's new leaders "would formally capitulate on September 8."

Matt Halton, fond of a reason to celebrate with a drink, very likely raised a glass on September 8. 

About that same time my father writes the following:

About half of the Canadian sailors went back to England after the Sicilian campaign. That left about 125 (of us) to work about a month across the straits. During that time we received mail and parcels. We worked alongside captured Italian and Sicilian soldiers who were loading our landing craft, egged on by Sweet Caporal cigarettes and some canned food. There were no P.O.W. camps and prisoners wandered freely. The Germans had made good their well-planned escape ahead of the invasion. On occasion during the action along the beaches at Sicily and the quieter time at Italy, we often saw big green turtles swimming about. They didn’t know there was a war on.

Some buddies and I spent my 23rd birthday (Sept. 6, 1943) singing our lungs out in a cottage-style house near the beach (Sicily), complete with a piano but incomplete with no roof. I had my guitar along and we all had some vino. About midnight with the hilarity in full swing, thunder rolled, the skies opened and the first rain in months came pouring in. Soaked inside and out we headed to where we belonged, singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home” as big as life and twice as natural.

One night shortly after that event I was all snug in my hammock, mosquito netting all tucked in (it took a while). I was ready to drop off to sleep when all hell broke loose on the beach. Machine gun fire, tracer bullets drawing colourful arcs in the dark sky. Someone shook my hammock and asked if I was coming to the beach party - Italy had thrown in the sponge. I said, “No, I’m not coming, and would you please keep it down to a dull roar because I want to log some sleep.” (The Norwich Gazette, circa 1992)

So, it seems my father raised a glass as well. Perhaps one too many. ("Go easy on the vino, Doug," I would say).

Naval ratings off duty enjoying a bathe on the North African coast

at Oran or Mers-El-Kebir. Photo - Imperial War Museum, Nov. 1942

Mr. Halton and Mr. Harrison saw many of the same sights, bared their cheeks when opportunities arose, crossed the same straits at the same time and likely toasted Allied victories and mourned losses of good friends and mates at similar times and in similar ways.

I salute them both.

Please link to Books: Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commando W

Photos GH

Memoirs: Frank Benoit "Bit of a Strange Story"

He Did "Seamanship and Commando Training"

by Michael (Mick) Benoit

Photo attached to Navy Records

Introduction:

The most significant additions to this site, in my opinion, are not excerpts from books I have read about Canadians who volunteered for Combined Operations during WW2, or photographs of landing craft used by Canadian men to transport troops and all the material of war to foreign shores. I say, I get most excited when an email arrives from a family member of a Canadian sailor who volunteered for Combined Operations and is one of the 1,000 men whose story belongs here. Right here.

The following story (used with kind permission) comes from Michael (Mick) Benoit, born in London, England in 1957, now living in Spain:

I´ve been looking through your 1000 Men 1000 Stories page on the web, which I found really interesting. Hats off to you - it´s a fine site.

Let me tell you a little about my father, Frank, and myself. It's a bit of a strange story (aren't they all?), but bear with me...

First off: I never knew my dad. He and my mother split up when I was six months old. I'm English. I was born in London in 1957. I live in Spain with my wife.... My earliest memories are living with my mum, my sister Sarah (she died in 1982), my three aunts, my grandparents and a cat called Pipper, in a house in Liverpool.

I am lucky enough to have had a very happy childhood. The father figure in my life was my grandfather, John Grogan. Frank was barely mentioned. If he ever did come up in conversation, it was only to be told that he was a Canadian and my parents were divorced.

It wasn't that he was a taboo subject, it was more that it never occurred to us to ask about him and neither did it seem to occur to my mother to tell us much about him. Looking back, I think we were too busy living our own lives to have time to be thinking about a dad we´d never met.

We knew that he was from Montreal (english speaking, despite the name - his mother was from Lancashire). We also knew that he´d been based in Scotland in WW2 and had been in a thing called Combined Operations, but that was about it. I never even saw a photo of him until my mother produced one when I asked her to, when I was in my mid twenties. This may sound peculiar but it wasn't to us. On the contrary, it was normal. His absence in our lives had never been an issue.

My mother was born in 1933 and is now eighty-three. Frank was born in 1915 so he was eighteen years older than her. They met in London in 1953, when he was over covering the coronation. (Apparently, he was a writer - short stories for magazines, radio scripts, journalism, etcetera.)

Out of the blue, one day early in 2014, my mother told me that she'd written in my name to a government department in Ottawa asking for Frank´s war record. A few months later a large manilla envelope with a maple leaf on it arrived in the post. I was taken unawares because I hadn't really been expecting anything special. Maybe a note saying he´d peeled potatoes in a camp, somewhere, or driven a lorry around, or something. After all, I reasoned, most military types do mundane stuff like that rather than the death or glory images you see in war films as a child. But no! It turns out that Frank had had what used to be called a "good war".

I never realized that there was no conscription in Canada during World War Two. As you surely know, you had to volunteer, and then, once enlisted, you had to volunteer again to go overseas, so that you really had to volunteer twice to do active service.

Frank joined the RCNVR in September 1940. From may 1941 to November of that year he served on HMCS Annapolis* doing convoy escort duty. He then volunteered (for the third time!) for Combined Operations and was based at HMS Quebec, the Combined Ops amphibious landing training centre in Scotland, from February 1942 to October 1943.

HMCS Annapolis. Photo provided by M. Benoit

Inveraray Harbour. Photo provided by M. Benoit

Inveraray caravan park, former training site. Photo by M. Benoit

According to the records before me, he did "seamanship and commando training". During this period, he took part as a landing craft cox'n (it doesn't say what type of LC)** in the North African and Sicilian landings. In early 1944, he was then posted to Vancouver Island (HMCS Naden), where he remained until being discharged in August 1945. For all this he was awarded the following:

1939 - 45 Star; Atlantic Star; Africa Star; Italy Star; Canadian Volunteer Service Medal & Clasp; War Medal.

Photo provided by M. Benoit

The Canadian Department of Veteran's Affairs have sent me copies of these medals. My friends say I should put them on a wall in the living room, framed and behind glass, but, to be honest, I prefer to keep them in a drawer, here at my desk, so I can get them out and actually hold them in my hands if I so wish.

Maybe that's odd, but it makes me feel connected to Frank. He died, it turns out, in 1991. It's a funny thing to discover in your late fifties (I'll turn sixty in May) that the father you never knew was a war hero. (I think they all were, to go through what they did. Voluntarily!) Funny, but very pleasing as well. I realize that I'm immensely proud of him.

I tell you all this because Frank (Francis Gerald Benoit V23076) was one of the 1000 men your site is dedicated to and this is one of the 1000 stories.

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Michael later sent the following about Frank's ship:

HMCS Annapolis was formerly the USS McKenzie. It was one of the 50 old destroyers (she was built in 1915) that the Americans sold to the British in the Lend-Lease deal early in the war. The British then sold five of them to the Canadians. They were supposedly renamed after rivers (apparently there's a River Annapolis in Nova Scotia).

Annapolis is also the name of the US naval academy where the Scot John Paul Jones (founder of the US Navy) is buried, so there's a nice inter naval connection. Frank's time aboard her must be a story in itself. I've read accounts of other crew members. They all seem to say she was wetter inside than outside...

I can't help feeling that the chances of our fathers having known each other must have been pretty good. I see Doug wrote, and Frank did too, and they both liked a drink (I'm sure they all did).

**Editor's Note: Instead of strange, I find Mick's story fascinating, significant, honest, and wish him the best of luck as he attempts to locate more information about his father, Frank Benoit.

I have found pictures of LCPs and LCAs used during training exercises at HMS Quebec (south of Inveraray) and my father mentions training upon LCMs at the same site in is memoirs, prior to Operation Rutter and Jubilee (re Dieppe raid, Aug. 19, 1942) and invasion of N. Africa (November, 1942).

LCM, Inveraray. Please link to Landing Craft Types, Inveraray (IWM)

My father, Doug Harrison, and several mates from RCNVR and Combined Operations returned to Canada in December, 1943 after training for and participating in the Dieppe Raid and invasions of N. Africa, Sicily and Italy. After a Christmas leave, they were sent to Vancouver Island in early January, 1944, as was Frank Benoit, and were stationed at HMCS Givenchy III, a Combined Operations training camp. A few months later, Frank was stationed for service at HMCS Naden in Esquimalt. 

Would they all have travelled west upon the same train? Would they have met on the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria? Upon the Aquitania? Chances are.... fair to very good.

Crowds of Canadian boys return home in 1943, aboard RMS Aquitania   

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Michael Benoit later sent me Franks's Navy records, as seen below, with a few additional pieces of information. I have added a comment or two as well, and hope the children of other veterans will one day search for their father's military records as well. (In Canada, military records are available at the National Library and Archives, Ottawa, and can be reached via an online site.)

Michael writes:

Here you have Frank´s records, attached. I was just looking at them. They´re interesting, to say the least.

He was promoted to leading seaman, cox'n, in the spring of 1943, after the invasion of North Africa. Later that year, in the autumn, after the Sicily invasion and having returned to Scotland, he was awarded a good conduct badge. Around this time, he would have been told that he was being posted back to Canada.

In early 1944, he went to Givenchy III (Comox, BC).... It wasn't until the end of April that he was posted to HMCS Naden (Esquimalt, BC).

Navy records, in part, with Editor's comments:

Editor: Frank Benoit, born in Montreal, became a member of the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNCVR) in July, 1940, seemingly before the Reserve had its own stationery. According to the record he volunteered for the 'duration' (above) of World War 2, and therefore was demobilized at the end of hostilities. Some Navy records added 'hostilities only' related to the duration of service and a whole class of volunteers became known as 'HOs'.

Frank Benoit volunteered for service in July, 1940 and began training in September the same year with the Montreal Division. HMCS Stadacona (a Navy base adjoined to HMCS Dockyard, Halifax), above, appears next on his records, and it was likely there he volunteered for Combined Operations, i.e., between 23 Jan. '42 and 28 Feb. '42. (The first draft of Canadian volunteers for Combined Operations were making their way to HMCS Niobe, a Canadian manning depot at Greenock, Scotland at that time).

Above entries (lines 6 - 9), HMS Quebec and HMS COPRA, are linked to Combined Operations; Quebec being the Combined Ops Number 1 training site just south of Inveraray, Scotland, and COPRA being Combined Operations Pay, Records and Accounts. During that time Frank was involved in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Records associated with his war medals will follow.

After returning to Canada via HMCS Niobe (Canadian base in Greenock, Scotland), Frank eventually landed (as did my father) at Givenchy III, a Canadian Combined Ops training camp near Comox, BC (last line above).

According to Frank's and my father's records, dates associated with HMS COPRA are identical; dates linked to passing through Niobe depot are identical; dates related to Stadacona and Givenchy III differ only by one day. I take that to mean their records were processed and brought up-to-date at the same time on most occasions, and the men may have actually been in transit together on the same ship (i.e., upon RMS Aquitania during their return to Canada - December, 1943) and train to Western Canada (January, 1944).

Mr. Benoit's last year of service involved activities in the west and east coasts of Canada before his discharge from HMCS Naden, Esquimalt, BC. On line 4 above (photo of Frank's Navy records), he was assigned to Wentworth while at Shelburne, but the war was ending so he may not have been able to even get a peek at his last assignment.

Some information can be found about Canadian Navy land establishments HMCS Peregrine and Shelburne (listed above) at For Posterity's Sake.

In very few places on Navy records do we see any link to Combined Operations, other than, for example, the entry '(C.O.)' on lines above re Frank's ratings.

On a rare form (above, in part), that may have been created to assist with future job training or placement after the war was over, mention is made of Frank's commando training and association with landing craft, along with prior experience "singing with Jimmie Gallagher's band in Boston." Excellent areas of interest, I say!

List of medals (seen in earlier photo) associated with WW2 and time spent in Combined Operations:

With good fortune I found a photo of the Montreal Division at HMCS Stadacona at a website entitled For Posterity's Sake, and, according to Mick Benoit and his mother, Frank Benoit is standing in the middle of the back row, number 37.

Photo may have been taken at HMCS Dockyard w fog-covered 

Halifax Harbour serving as a background. c. March, 1941

I take pleasure in seeing the archive grow one good story at a time.

Please link to Memoirs re Combined Ops, "Peter Neuman - Boy Soldier"

Unattributed Photos GH

Commandos: RCN Beach Commando "W"

Little Known Canadian Units - Royal Canadian Naval Beach Commando "W"

By E.G. Finley (Lieut., Royal Canadian Navy),

and Ed Storey (Sgt., Canadian Military Engineers) 

W Commando - Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commandos

Photo Caption - Lt. Donald Sutherland W-1 Beach Master, and others from the unit. Photo courtesy of Bill Newell, veteran of W Commando who adds " Lt. Sutherland at the left end, Lt. Eric Findlay on the extreme right, and myself partly behind John Fox in the center of the front row." Photo as found at Commando Veterans Assoc.

An informative, eight-page article can be found at a Canadian Military History website about the Canadian commando, a unit that was formed later in the war to take on many important responsibilities and activities related to landing crafts and amphibious landings. These activities were linked to the Combined Operation organization plans for D-Day Normandy and beyond.

In the article we read about the origins of the beach Commando:

In September (1943), as a direct result of the Allied leaders deliberations at the August 10-18 Quadrant Conference in Quebec City, the Canadian War Cabinet Committee authorized, among several major naval commitments; the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) to form a Beach Commando and a Beach Signal Section, with training in Britain to be completed by the spring of 1944.

The article informs the reader about how men were organized and then trained in Scotland:

By early December 1943, most of the required Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) personnel had received their appointments and arrived in Ardentinny, Scotland, to undergo the basic beach commando training in HMS "Armadillo."

The article features several of the 100s of photographs by Lieut. Gilbert A. Milne and Lieut. "Bus" Arless, Canadian naval photographers, and we learn the new recruits turned much of their emergy towards such activities as: 

assault courses, route marches, over-night bivouacs, beach drills, cliff climbing and unarmed combat lessons. During this intensive training, being soaking wet and cold seemed to be everyone's perpetual state.... 

The full article with excellent accompanying photographs can be seen at the following link: Little Known Canadian Units - Royal Canadian Naval Beach Commando "W"

Photos:

A Group of RCN Commandos.

Photo Credit - Canadian Military Collectors Forum

Photo Caption: A couple more pictures of members of W Commando, Royal Canadian Navy Beach Commandos, sent in by Bill Newell who adds "The photos of our unit taken at HMS Vectis, on the Isle of Wight, just prior to D-Day". Photo as found at Forum for Commando Veterans Assoc.

Please link to Commandos: Origin and Purpose of Canadian Beach Commandos

Unattributed Photos GH