Commando Veterans Forum

This message was edited 7 times. Last update was at 25/04/2012 15:14:49

Arnie Howarth joined the Grenadier Guards in 1939 aged 18. He later volunteered for and was attached to No.2 Commando. On the 28th March 1942 he sailed with the Commandos to St Nazaire and took part in Operation Chariot. He was a L/Cpl. in Lt John Roderick's troop and was on board HMS Campbeltown. After landing and during the attack Arnie Howarth was wounded, and when ammunition was running low, he and several others took shelter in a cellar of a bombed out building. They decided to leave and split up and try and make it back to the UK. Howarth although wounded was befriended by a French family who gave him civilian clothes. He managed to get on a train and travelled to Bordeaux escaping to the unoccupied Vichy France. After subsequent capture and imprisonment by Gendarmes he ended up in a Fort La Revere Nice along with about 300 other British service personnel. In the Autumn of 1942 he and about 50 others managed to escape. Howarth was part of the organising committee and would later be awarded the British Empire Medal for his role. In October 1942 he managed to get back to the UK. In August 42 he wrote to the Grenadier Guards RHQ whilst a prisoner and describes the cut on his face but also the fact that about 20 -30 pieces of shrapnel in his back had to be left in place. Being the type of man he was Arnie Howarth was desperate to rejoin 2 Commando and so he did. During Operation Avalanche, he was with 2 Commando when they attacked at Salerno. It was here that he was wounded again, injuries that this time resulted in his being sent home at the end of year. Once again more shrapnel was the cause. Arnie is famous as being one of the 5 Commandos who had landed at St Nazaire that managed to get back. The French awarded him the Croix De Guerre. That was the story as far as I knew it up until a few weeks ago. Jim Dorrian, the author and CVA member sent me some articles he had as I wanted to draft something about the escapers from St Nazaire. In one of the documents was a typed transcript of an article in the Grenadier Guards newsletter where it stated that at the end of October 1944 Arnie, who was residing in Rochdale, had been presented to the King and awarded his BEM. This was only 3 days after getting married to his sweetheart. He had been suffering constant pain but was not one to complain. On the 8th November 1944, the pain became unbearable and he was rushed into hospital in Rochdale where sadly he died on the operating table. The article stated his shrapnel wounds were more serious than had been realised. I loooked up a handwritten nominal list of 2 Commando that I had been given and against his name was "Died of wounds sustained at Salerno". My next port of call was to check the CWGC roll of honour - nothing; the Westminster Abbey Commando Roll of Honour - nothing; the War memorial in Rochdale - nothing. Even sad to say our very own Roll of Honour - nothing. I have applied for a copy of his death certificate which I now have and it states "Perforated Duodenal Ulcer - operation". So that was it I suppose just natural causes so not shown anywhere. It just doesn't add up so I placed an advert in the Rochdale Observer with the help of some local historians and managed to trace 2 nephews. Sadly the immediate family are now dead however the family 'story' passed down is that it was the shrapnel that caused the problem. I have now traced a book written by an American Jew who was resident in Europe at the time of the raid, and the same age as Arnie. They had met on the train in Vichy France and the American offered to help him in his escape. In this book he describes speaking to Arnie's wife of 13 days, Irene, who mentions about the pain that he constantly suffered after his injuries and there is reference to shrapnel in his thigh and stomach after the Salerno raid.

My next step, well, I have contacted the Grenadier Guards RHQ, and have Colonel Seymour from their archives section on the case now. One of the relatives is trying to trace any surviving local medical records. I'll put together anything I find and see if the CWGC will add him to their Roll. I will also be posting in our Gallery items that I already have, and others I am hoping to receive in the near future from one of his nephews.

Once that is done I am hoping we may be able to get a bit more recognition for Arnie Howarth BEM, C de G, Grenadier Guards and No.2 Commando who died, aged 23, on the 8th November 1944 and was buried on the 11th November 1944.

We will remember them

Well done Pete!!

Pete,

You may want to check out the National Archives for your research into Arnie (aka Loftie) Howarth

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=7673605

nick

This message was edited 7 times. Last update was at 25/03/2011 12:01:27

Hi Nick

Thanks for that. I knew he had been recommended for a Mentioned in Dispatches as well as being awarded the BEM. The actual document is in the form of a statement by Arnie Howarth. It is lacking in much detail, and makes no mention of his role in the major escape from Fort La Revere, so that part is maybe where the BEM comes in to play so to speak. There are only 5 lines concerning disembarkation from Campbeltown to the signal for withdrawl being given. No mention of his injuries. It was written the day after his return from France and would have been part of his debrief I assume. As one used to taking many statements over a period of 30 years, it is typical of one where there has been no person assisting to, or interested in, guiding the person through it. Paper simply placed in front of the interviewee and told write down what happenned! Much is lost when done this way. Most people ( not all ! ) tend to under report facts especially when it comes to their own actions.

Pete

As a footnote my father and many of the Commandos who got back reported a similar lack of interest at debrief. A senior officer probably from MI9 stating to another officer and in front of the men when he discovered they had not landed " These men are no use to me. " Tactless if nothing else just after such a costly raid where most of their comrades had not made it back.

This message was edited 7 times. Last update was at 27/03/2011 16:43:54

Paul Clarke, a nephew of Arnold Howarth, has sent a few items to me and I am currently placing them in an album in the gallery which can be viewed here at the present time:

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/2/In+Remembrance/arnie+howarth/

Hi, Arnold Howarth is my wife's great uncle in fact her father was named after his uncle.

Would anyone be able to contact ourselves as we would be very interested to assist in getting recognition for Arnold.

We both still live in the Rochdale area.

regards

Paul

Private message sent to Paul

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 25/01/2013 22:05:11

For the benefit of others I am in contact with Paul Hayden and have sent him some earlier correspondence of mine with the CWGC and their response. I have also emailed Arnold Howarth's nephew, Paul Clarke. I have now updated Lance Sergeant Arnold Howarth's album with the details of one of his brothers, Private Edwin Howarth of the 2nd Bn. Cheshire Regiment, who was killed in action on the 23rd June 1944:

http://gallery.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/2/In+Remembrance/arnie+howarth/