Y-Troop

Died 28 October 1944. While cleaning his grenades in preparation of the assault on Walcheren at the billet in Wenduyne, Belgium, Mne. Ashcroft accidentally pulled the pin off one of them and couldn't get it back in. To protect others on the room he threw himself on top of the grenade which killed him.

Killed in action 6 June 1944.

Wounded 12 August & 2 November 1944.

Killed in action 6 June 1944.

A, X & Y Troop.

Evacuated sick 22 June 1944.

Killed in action 6 June 1944. Sgt. Arthur Bradley, who was the cousin of Mne. T.R. Griffiths of HQ Troop, was lost in the first landing craft to be hit while heading for Gold Beach on D-Day.

Killed in action 2 November 1944.

Killed in action 6 June 1944.

Ronald 'Mint' Burkinshaw served in Y Troop, landing in Normandy on D-Day and also on Walcheren.

Wounded 28 October 1944. Together with his friend Terry Sullivan, Fred Chamberlain joined the Royal Marines in March 1941 at RM Depot Lympstone. After six weeks he went to the 7th (Training) Battalion RM and a few months later was transferred to the 10th Battalion. He joined 47 RM Commando in August 1943. He landed with the Commando on D-Day and stayed with them all the way to Wenduyne in Belgium to prepare for the Walcheren assault. Unfortunately due to a grenade exploding accidently he was wounded and sent back to England. While Mne. Ashcroft was cleaning his grenades he accidentally pulled the pin and couldn't get it back in. To protect the others in the room he threw himself on top of the grenade which killed him. Several others were wounded and Fred Chamberlain broke his jaw in the blast.

Wounded 6 June 1944.

Wounded 13/14 January 1945.

B & Y Troop. Wounded 7 June 1944.

Wounded 13/14 January 1945.

Q & Y Troop. Killed in action 14 January 1945. Son of Mrs R Evans of Bridgend, Glamorgan

Wounded 2 November 1944.

Wounded 13/14 January 1945.

(*Military Medal) In October 1944, Y-Troop was reformed in preparation of the upcoming assault on Walcheren, and Captain Flower was appointed as the Troop's CO.

Wounded 1 November 1944 & 13/14 January 1945.

No.17 Section

Wounded 2 November 1944.

(*Military Medal) Wounded 2 November 1944.

RAMC att. Y Troop

No.17 Section Leader

Wounded 20 June 1944.

Wounded 2 November 1944.

Marine Norman Hough started his service on the 24th of September 1940. From the 16th of December 1940 until 14 September 1942 he served in the Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation. Mne Hough became POW in Italy from September 1942 to March 1943 as a result of the failed raid on Tobruk as part of Operation Agreement 13/14 September 1942. From 15 September 1942 until 3 December 1942 he was registered as having served in Plymouth Division and became Home Based Ledger in Royal Marines Division from 4 December 1942 until 31 July 1943. Mne. Hough was repatriated in March 1943 through the port of Smyarna in Turkey. From the 1st of August 1943 he went to Royal Marines Training Group Dalditch and from 9 March 1944 into a Holding Unit until the 31st of August 1944. On the 1st of September 1944 he was assigned to 47 RM Commando with which he served until the 11th of January 1946. On the 12th of January 1946 he went back to Plymouth Division and was released to Class "A" on the 25th of April 1946.

Cpl. January joined the Royal Marines 22/01/1942. He joined 47 Commando 01/08/1943 and was trained as a sniper. Finally discharged 06/06/1946.

Wounded 13/14 January 1945.

Posted away 1 July 1944 - Battle Exhaustion Centre.

Wounded 7 June 1944.

Wounded 18 June 1944.

Wounded 2 November 1944.

Wounded 1 November 1944.

Bill Marshall was a Sergeant with Y Troop when he took part in the Normandy landings. On 6th June 1944, his landing craft had hit a submerged mined obstacle. Reaching the beach, he realised that men were still aboard the upturned craft. He returned and found several men trapped under the gunwales by their marching order packs. Fortunately, once he released one all the others were helped free and reached the shore safely. He also served in Q Troop and took part in the Walcheren campaign.

Wounded 2 November 1944.

Wounded 18 June 1944.

Wounded 13/14 January 1945.

Killed in action 6 June 1944.

(*Military Cross) Q, X & Y Troop. Later Captain.

Wounded 23 July 1944.

Kenneth William Parker was born on June 18, 1926 to parents, Alfred and Ada Parker. In 1935 his father died. Ken left school at 14 with good exam results and he became an important bread-winner for his mother. In May 1942 he was working at Georges brewery. Later that year he joined the Royal Marines. After training in Lympstone, Deal and Achnacarry, he went off to war in Normandy in June 1944. He saw action in the liberation of Port-en-Bessin, Fecamp and Walcheren. At the end of the war, Ken came home on 28 days leave. On 28 July 1945 he married but he was recalled to Plymouth two days later to be issued with tropical kit, and three days after that he was on his way to the far-east. After serving in Sri Lanka he was finally de-mobbed and came back home in August 1946.

Wounded 13/14 January 1945.

Wounded 2 November 1944.

Volunteering for Submarine Service in the Royal Navy, he was eventually called up to join the Royal Marines in 1942. Rather than joining a ship, Albert's battalion became a fighter battalion, more like the Army than the Navy. As the war progressed, the battalion became part of the Combined Operations and was reformed as number 47 Royal Marine Commando in 1943. The training was hard and it soon became clear that the Commando was training for an invasion. In June in 1944, No. 47 Royal Marine Commando took part in the invasion of Normandy.

See the website of the University of Greenwich for interviews they had with Albert Potterton: www.memoriesofwar.org.uk

Bert Quinney served with Y Troop, landing in both Normandy and Walcheren. He continued through all of 47's travails right on to Germany and the peace. His service also included an early trip to occupied Europe when he travelled by Motor Torpedo Boat on a clandestine operation to Norway with John Bennett (then a lieutenant). In the event, a violent North Sea storm on the return journey put their lives at far greater risk than the occupying power.

Killed in action 6 June 1944.

Posted away 14 July 1944 - 4 SS Bde. Fred Roberts was a member of Y Troop and took part in the Normandy landings and the capture of Port-en-Bessin. Later he served in Italy and in Egypt before his demob in 1946.

B & Y Troop. Wounded 7 June, died 14 June 1944

Heavy Weapons & Y Troop. Wounded 16 June 1944.

Mne. George Savings served in the 2nd Royal Marine Armoured Support Regiment on D-Day and landed in the Canadian 'Juno Beach' Sector. Later in November 1944 he completed commando training and served in both 45 and 47 RM Commando. In June 1945 he did a sniper course. His service ended in June 1947.

Evacuated sick 6 June 1944.

Mne. Harold 'Smeds' Smedley served in 47 RM Commando from the unit's formation until the end of the war.

Killed in action 6 June 1944.

HQ & Y Troop

Sgt. Joe Smith served with 40 & 43 Commando as well as with 47 Commando from 1943 until he was de-mobbed in 1945.

He was part of the Commando Force that invaded Iceland on 10th May 1940. This is well documented in his diary.

Joe rarely spoke about his time in the war but liked to tell a story that he once nearly had a signed photograph of Adolf Hitler. That was until his Troop Commander noticed it missing from the desk and shouted for Smith to put it back, he stole the Icelandic German Consuls Photograph Album as a substitute to the photo of Hitler.

Terry Sullivan joined the Royal Marines in March 1941 at RM Depot Lympstone. After six weeks he went to the 7th (Training) Battalion RM and a few months later was transferred to the 10th Battalion. He joined 47 RM Commando in August 1943. He landed with the Commando on D-Day and stayed with them all the way to the Walcheren landings.

Wounded 9 August 1944. George Charles Talbot was a sniper in Y Troop. He joined the Royal Marines on the 18th of December 1942, went to 10th Battalion RM on the 16th of February 1943. He joined 47 RM Commando on the 1st of August 1943. In the Normandy landings, his LCA struck a mine, which blew off the bow, and he had to shed his webbing to swim ashore.

Wounded 2 November 1944.

Killed in action 14 June 1944.

A, HQ, Q & Y-Troop (Signals)

On 6 June 1944, Arthur was in one of the landing craft which sunk after it received a direct hit from German mortar fire. Arthur was brought back to Portsmouth to recover and get refitted, and rejoined 47 Commando after the liberation of Port-en-Bessin in the Sallenelles area.

RAMC att. Y Troop

Ronald James Tomlinson served as Home Based Ledger in the rank of Marine until the 12th of July 1943 and from the following day in the rank of Temporary Corporal at Royal Marines Division until he joined 47 RM Commando on the 1st of August 1943 being granted his 1st Good Conduct Badge on the 3rd of April and stayed with the Commando until the 30th of June 1944. On the 1st of July 1944 he was posted away to HMS "Odyssey" for RN Party 1500 where he served until the 12th of December 1944 and the following day went to Royal Marines Training Group as Temporary Sergeant. On the 24th of January 1945 he was transferred to the 116th Infantry Brigade until posted to the Plymouth Division on the 7th of January 1946 and was released Class 'A' on the 14th of March 1946.

Wounded 14 July 1944.

Marine Gerorge Turner enlisted on 13th December 1943.

Wounded 7 June 1944.

Wounded 23 July & 1 November 1944. Frank 'Tiny' Tynan joined 47 RM Commando on the 1st of August 1943 and served with them until their disbandment in January 1946.

Killed in action 2 November 1944.

Wounded 2 November 1944.

Wounded 13/14 January 1945.

Killed in action 14 June 1944.

Killed in action 6 June 1944.

Wounded 13/14 January 1945.

Q & Y Troop. Wounded 23 July 1944.

Wounded 7 June 1944.

Capt. Pat Willasey-Wilsey RM joined the Corps in January 1939. He was a young subaltern on HMS Rodney, in charge of the port side 6-inch gun battery, involved in the chase and sinking of the Bismarck. He subsequently volunteered for commando training and was at Achnacarry in January 1945 and shortly afterwards joined 47 RM Cdo in Holland. After VE Day he transferred to 46 Commando which was disbanded after VJ Day. Pat went on to command 43 Commando 1961-63 and 3 Commando Brigade in Singapore 1965-67. He retired as Major General Commando Forces in 1970 with a CB, MBE, MC (Suez) and a MiD (Malaya).

Evacuated sick 6 June, wounded 2 November 1944.

Killed in action 2 November 1944.

Wounded 6 June 1944. Peter Winter was born in Egypt to a service family, his father being a doctor with the RAMC,

and was educated in England. He joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1941 hoping to be a pilot but when nothing came of that, he joined the Corps in 1942 as a potential officer candidate. Commissioned in August of that year, he ultimately joined 47 RM Commando.

During the D-Day landings, his LCA carrying Y Troop struck a mine and sank. Sustaining a broken right arm, right leg and a broken nose, Peter with great difficulty managed to get ashore and in due course, returned to England on a hospital ship.

After weeks of hospitalization and recuperation he returned to his unit in time for the preparations for the landing on Walcheren Island.

This time he reached the shore in fighting fettle and was heavily involved in the twoday battle to subdue Battery W11 at Dishoek and ultimately Battery W3/4, the enemy command HQ. When his troop commander became a casualty, Peter was promoted in the field to replace him. As a German speaker he became much involved in negotiating a surrender with the German commander. Later, he was seconded to a Dutch resistance group for a few days to take part in a raid on an enemy post on the further side of the River Maas and also took part in the ill-fated night attack at Kapelsche veer which subsequently took a Canadian Armoured Division and Infantry Brigade five days to take, suffering 234 casualties in the process.

After the war, Peter worked in the oil exploration industry for some time in the Middle East, the Caribbean and Canada.

Wounded 6 June 1944.

On 25 August 1944, Y-Troop was disbanded and Captain Wray was re-assigned to Tac HQ SS Brigade.