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General => Armed Forces => World War Two => Topic started by: gig on Monday 06 July 09 21:33 BST (UK)
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hi all
I'm hoping someone could help me narrow down who my grandfather served with in the marines i know he was part of the 14th army but i hoping to get me to regiment level ,so i can then track his movements Little more accurately
below are details Ive taken from his record and a leather wallet he had written on
First entry in the service on enlistment DEAL, 14 July 1942
Division and register number CH. x.110087
Character, VG 24 Jan 1943
VG 31 DEC 1943
Good 31 DEC 1944
VG 31 DEC 1945
VG 29 June 1945
Good conduct badges ,granted march 1946 granted 1st
Address on letter HMS LANDSWELL NAVAL BASE ,eastern theater
Reading Berkshire, undated.
Deal holding battalion 14 July 1942/22Oct 1942
Gosling 23 Oct 42/ 14 Feb 1943
Blackcap 15 Feb 43 /3 July 43
Heron 4 July 43/1 may 44
Bl. mtg 2 may 44 /2 may 44
Port xx xx 3 may 44 16 august 44
Hbl.rmtg 17 aug 44/ 30 nov 44
Oddessy 1 dec 44 /31 march 45
Chatham landswell 1 apl 45 14 oct 45
Landswell 15 oct 45/ 16 jan 46
----.---- bn passage 17 jan 45 / 15 feb 45
chatham division 16 feb 46 29 june 46
release class a
places on wallet
blighty
Gibraltar
port said
elochin ?
?
madras
Rangoon
Padang
Panang or parang
Columbo
Blighty
any help or advice would be most appreciated
regards gig
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Hi
Blackcap,Gosling and Heron were all Royal Naval Air Service bases in UK.
If you google them with HMS prefix you will find more.basically Warrington,Yeovilton areas.http://www.rafburtonwood.org/blackcap.html
HMS Oddessy was an admin location for various naval partys all over the place.
HMS Landswell was in the far east.
Hope this helps
Ady
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Just started reading my late father's Service Certificates. Turns out he was a contemporary of your Grandad. My Dad was a Royal Marine:
Dad joined the ODYSSEY (n.p. 2400) from 13/11/'44 to 31/3/'45.
They joined the Landswell on April 1st '45 and my Dad stayed on till 6th April 46.
Dad joined up on 28/9/43, aged 17years 1 month. Trained at RM Lympstone, till March 44. Then spent 3 months in HMS Jackdaw, a Naval Air Station near St Andrews, Fife, before joining Odyssey.
After the Landswell, my Dad spent a couple of weeks on HMS High Flyer, Four Months on Ukassa. Repatriated 9/9/46 and was discharged from Chatham Dockyard in December 46.
If you find any information about the Landswell and where exactly she served in that period. My Dad talked of India, Ceylon (trincomalee) and Singapore. I'm off to Singapore mid-March and hope to find out as much as possible before then.
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I've just read the following from the Royal Marines Museum weblog. Naval Party 2400 which our relatives joined on the Odysey in November '44,later became " MOLCAB 1." This was the Mobile Landing Craft Advance Base. It was formed in February 45, under Col. C.M. Sargeant to provide Shorebase facilities for minor landing craft flotillas and their maintenance units, operating away from their parent carrier ships.(LSI's) The blog says they sailed for Australia in February and served in Singapore, before returning to UK and being disbanded in Autumn '45. Though not sure, my best guess is that they sailed to Singapore in the Odyssey, then joined a shore base in Singapore. When the NP2400 returned in the autumn '45, they were retained. I believe my Dad was guarding Japaneze POW's at an Army Barracks in Changi, Singapore.
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STOP PRESS!
It turns out that HMS Odyssey was the Collingwood Hotel in Ilfracombe, Devon. (It's still there, Tel:01271-863621.) It was set up as an Admin Centre for various Naval Parties. So I doubt your Grandad and my Dad ever even saw it, let alone sail on it!
Perhaps the HMS Landswell was a Depot Ship? I've read it was at Cochin, in India and in Singapore.(most likely Sembawang?)
Get in touch and perhaps i'll tell you why you're broadcasting to the world that your Grandad was a naughty, naughty Boy!
Good luck with the research,
Will
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hello
ady please accept my sincere apologies for not replying
i honestly carnt even remember posting it , looking at the date i was going through sleepless nights and a lot of Nappy's with a new born but that's no excuse
thank you for your time and help
best regards gig
hello will
thank you for your reply, you seem to have done a lot more digging than myself, it looks like your dad and my grandad left oddessy and joined landswell at the same time ,i wonder if they ever met or knew each other I'm rather confused to what qddessy and landswell were and what there role was there i havnt come across the term naval party 2400, do you know what it means what does it means or what it was . your off to singapore how exciting, a dream holiday, great photos which one is your dad i think the plane is an american corsair im sure some one on here could give a more definite answer , i have a couple of photos of my grandad ill sort them out and try and post them
im intrigued to know why grandad was such a naughty naughty boy but if he was too naughty perhaps a personal message would be best
best regards gig
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HMS Odyssey was just an Administration base, a sort of Head Office. It was actually set up in a hotel in Ilfracombe, Devon. They formed and controlled a lot of NAVAL PARTIES. These Naval Parties were groups of specialists, Naval and Royal Marines personnel put together to perform a particular task in a particular area. As we reclaimed Ports in Europe and and farther afield, they were responsible for guarding these ports, mine clearance and running the ports, transporting stores and personnel to and from ships etc.
Naval Parties numbered in the 800's were based mainly in the Mediterranean.
" " " " " 1500's " " " " Normandy and Northwest Europe
1600's Northwest Europe
1700's Germany
2000's India and the Far East
For example NP 1730 was named HMS Royal Albert and was a base for NP's in London and Berlin. T.B.C.
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NP2400, in which my Dad and your Grandad served, was one of 5 MOLCABS formed, by those people at HMS Odyssey in Ilfracombe. They would then have trained together and been transported to the Far East. When the Japs surrendered, only Molcab1 and Molcab 2 were actually deployed. Once in Cochin, India, or Singapore, they became HMS LANDSWELL. Their purpose was to provide accommodation, security and technical facilities/support for Landing-Craft crews while they were operating away from their Parent Ship.(L.S.I's / Troopships) A MOLCAB consisted of 36 Officers and 374 other ranks, of which the vast majority were Royal Marines, under the command of a Royal Marine Officer. There were also Naval technical personnel, like Engine Room Artificers. I have found on a blogsite connected to Kranji War Memorial, in Singapore, mention of the grave of an Engine Room Artificer named B. JONES. He died whilst serving in HMS Landswell on 14th January 1946, at the age of 23.
As an ex Engine Room Artificer myself, I plan to visit his grave when I go to Singapore next month.
Though I can't yet be certain, the information I have and particularly the dates add up, so I am almost sure, they were transported to the Far East and possibly back again on board HMS RAJAH. Well worth looking up. My main source of information is the Royal Marines Museum at Eastney and their website.
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By the way Gig,
I dunno if you really want to find out about you Grandad's little misdemeanours, it was probably nowt too serious, but obvious to someone who knows Service Certificates. If you'd like to contact me at by e-mail, I could advise you on which lines to delete.
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hi will
brilliant post yes i will email you thank you
you should remove your email address
the moderaters will probably do it any way
best wishes gigg
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Hello all; my first post I think!
My father was a Surgeon-Lieutenant RNVR at the Royal Naval Patrol Service in Lowestoft in 1944 and I've just learned that from 14 Nov that year he moved to HMS Dragonfly (Combined Operations base, South Hayling Island) for 'Naval Party 2400' - and this thread has explained what that was! People here have mentioned Singapore but family memory is that Dad was going to be sent to the Andaman Islands. Whether that is true or not I don't know but thought I'd mention it.
Grateful thanks to those posters with details of 'Naval Party 2400'!
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By the way Gig,
I dunno if you really want to find out about you Grandad's little misdemeanours, it was probably nowt too serious, but obvious to someone who knows Service Certificates. If you'd like to contact me at by e-mail, I could advise you on which lines to delete.
Hi there,
I have a certificate of service for my grandad that fits right into this thread.
Hms Valkyrie II & HMS Odyssey being the most difficult to track with no
Naval party no.s, nothing.
Would be very keen to KNOW more about just how naughty they were, cause
I'm suspecting that my grandad was naughty too.
He was navy signals 1943 - 1946, and he was posted at HMS Odyssey from June 2nd 1944
until March 1945.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
GB
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hello there,
royal marine.....ieuan glyndwr reed x 106812
deal holding......24 march '42 / 22 july '42
gosling.............23 july '42 / 1 oct '42
daedalus...........2 oct '42 / 18 may '43
hbl. mnbdo.......19 may'43 / 7 may '44
hbl. rmtg..........8 may '44 /1 nov '45
royal albert ......2 nov '45 / 22 march '46
plymouth div.....23 march / 4 june '46.
my dad never said much , but ceylon , burma, seyshelles and berlin he told me were he'd been looks as thy were following one another , maybe they did meet or new of one another who knows
does a sgt. rosser also welsh been mentioned at all he was a friend of my father.
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NP2400, in which my Dad and your Grandad served, was one of 5 MOLCABS formed, by those people at HMS Odyssey in Ilfracombe. They would then have trained together and been transported to the Far East. When the Japs surrendered, only Molcab1 and Molcab 2 were actually deployed. Once in Cochin, India, or Singapore, they became HMS LANDSWELL. Their purpose was to provide accommodation, security and technical facilities/support for Landing-Craft crews while they were operating away from their Parent Ship.(L.S.I's / Troopships) A MOLCAB consisted of 36 Officers and 374 other ranks, of which the vast majority were Royal Marines, under the command of a Royal Marine Officer. There were also Naval technical personnel, like Engine Room Artificers. I have found on a blogsite connected to Kranji War Memorial, in Singapore, mention of the grave of an Engine Room Artificer named B. JONES. He died whilst serving in HMS Landswell on 14th January 1946, at the age of 23.
As an ex Engine Room Artificer myself, I plan to visit his grave when I go to Singapore next month.
Though I can't yet be certain, the information I have and particularly the dates add up, so I am almost sure, they were transported to the Far East and possibly back again on board HMS RAJAH. Well worth looking up. My main source of information is the Royal Marines Museum at Eastney and their website.
After doing some family research, I came across this post about B Jones.
Barrie Jones was my great-grandfather and died while based at HMS Landswell in Singapore.
If anyone has any information about Landswell or Jones I would really appreciate the help!