Cpl Edward (Ted) Albert Brown - possibly No11 Cdo

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 30/01/2012 16:40:53

We have received the following request for information, regarding his father, from Chris Brown,.

Dear Geoff (Murray),
I have recently received my Fathers Army Career as remembered by his youngest brother (my Uncle), now in his 80's. I, myself, had no previous knowledge of the details of his Army career, only sketchy memories of the stories he told me. Sadly, my Father passed away in March 2001.
It appears that my Dad volunteered to join a group of men being trained for Special Services on the Isle of Arran in 1940, having been in the Territorial Army. His group was to become a Commando unit.
I have several photos taken during the war one of which (attached) shows my Dad in his uniform wearing his Tom O'Shanter. From my recent research it appears that he was in the 11th Commandos, (The Black Hackle).
From my Uncles recent letter, Dad carried out raids behind enemy lines in the Middle East, Italy, North Africa (in conjuction with the Long Range Desert Group. He was due to take part in the raid on Rommel's HQ but was not allowed to, due to illness. He was wounded whilst fighting the Vichy French in Syria and he also spent time in Crete.
I can remember on a past holiday in Crete, how he told me about how most of the British troops were evacuated from the island and how he and several of his men were cut off and missed the evacuation with no way of escape from the island and the advancing Germans. They made their way to the southern coast and, with luck, found someone with a broken down boat. As one of Dad's men was a brilliant mechanic they repaired the engine of the boat and were taken to "freedom". They must have been some of the last Brits to leave.
The reason why I have contacted you is to try and track down more details about his war exploits and to confirm which Commnado unit he was with, plus any other information. Obviously the photos that I have mean very little to me as regards who these people were, as they have not been named . There is a photo of the grave of a Lieut.D.A Coode, who, I imagine, was a friend of his.
I would be most grateful if someone would contact me by email with any information, and if you would like me to send copies of the photos that I have or any other details that I have about my Father.
Many thanks for reading this e-mail,
Chris Brown.
PS. I have his medals, POW ID dogtag (Stalag 7A) and numerous brass buttons, badges etc. Also cloth badges with a black cat on a red background? Also his old Sam Brown belt from his Royal Fusiliers days.

Hopefully we can help Chris find out about his father,

Nick

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 31/01/2012 12:42:27

Hi Chris,
Welcome to the CVA.

There are certainly a couple of questions that I can answer straight away which will get the ball rolling - invariably these answers will lead to other questions and so on...

First of all, I can tell you that Lt Donald Alistair Coode, RE, was a member of 1 Troop, No11 Cdo.
Lt Coode was kia on the Litani River Raid, 9 June 1941.
Given that you say that among your father's possessions was a photo of Lt Coode's grave I think it's fair to suppose a connection with No11 Cdo - possibly even narrow it down to 1 Troop.

You mention Crete - you may know that No11 Cdo was part of "Layforce"
[Layforce was made up of No7 Cdo = 'A' Battalion; No8 Cdo = 'B' Battalion; No11 Cdo = 'C' Battalion; and 50 & 51 ME Cdos making up 'D' Battalion]
However, although Layforce was involved in the defence of Crete, 'C' Battalion was not sent to Crete, instead they were garrisoned on Cyprus.

[By the end the Battle of Crete about 600 of the 800 "Layforce" Commandos, sent to Crete, were listed as killed, missing or wounded. Only 23 officers and 156 other ranks managed to get off the island.]

No11 Cdo were next sent to Syria on 8 June 41 as part of the Allied invasion of Vichy French controlled Syria & Lebanon.

In November 1941, following the unsuccessful raid against Rommel's HQ, No. 11 Commando, along with Layforce was disbanded, due mainly to a shortage of manpower. Some returned to their units but others became members of the S.A.S. and the L.R.D.G.

With regards the Black Cat patch, that is the Formation Badge of 56th (London) Division see link below.

http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/56th_division.htm

Nick

Chris,
Re-reading your email, you write about "his Sam Browne from his Royal Fusilier days..."
Would I be right in assuming that your father was commissioned as an officer in the Fusiliers?

Do you have his Service number?

I think the connection with 56 Division may be through the Royal Fusiliers as 8th Battalion, 9th Battalion, 15th Battalion & 18th Battilion Royal Fusiliers were all part of 56 (London) Division.

nick

Hi Nick,
No.7 Commando (A Battalion) and No's 50 and 52 (D Battalion) were sent to Crete to assist with the Allied withdrawal, No.11 were in Cyprus at the time.
Could it be possible that he was attached to No.7 from No.11?
Regards,
Alan.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 31/01/2012 12:41:27

Alan,

Alan Orton wrote:Hi Nick,
No.7 Commando (A Battalion) and No's 50 and 52 (D Battalion) were sent to Crete to assist with the Allied withdrawal, No.11 were in Cyprus at the time.

Alan,
You're absolutely right, I mis-read my source and thought 'C battalion' joined the rest of Layforce from Cyprus later. I was wrong

Thanks for putting me straight and very pleased that you're on the case as a No11 expert.
Hopefully we can get answers for Chris.

Nick

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 07/05/2012 18:15:47

I'm pleased to say that Chris has been in contact with me again and, with the able assistance of Alan Orton, has satisfied me that his father was a member of No11 Cdo (possibly 1 troop).

I'll be adding Ted Brown to the No11 Nominal Roll and his photo to the No11 album in the Gallery in the near future.

Nick

Ted Brown's sub-album has now been uploaded to No11 Cdo's album in the Gallery.
Chris is grateful to Tom Macleod [Arran Heritage Museum] who showed the photos to Jessie & Spud Taylor who were able to identify Margaret Hyslop and her daughter Nancy.

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoGallery/v/units/11/Ted+Brown/

Nick

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 07/05/2012 18:24:00

Just received this message from Chris:

Chris Brown wrote:Hi again Nick,
Since I last contacted you I have found out a bit more about Dad and Lamlash. The other week I had a wonderful phone conversation with Jessie Taylor from Lamlash, who showed the photos that I had sent her to a friend of hers and she recognised and remembered Dad and Don.

According to Jessie, Dad and Don were in no.1 troop, not 3 troop as we previously thought. This goes along with Alan's [Orton] original theory and probably explains Dad's photo of Lt. D.A. Coodes grave.
She has also given me the address and phone no. of Capt. Gerald Bryan who would have been one of Dad's officers in 1 troop. It seems that he only lives down the road about 25 minutes drive from me. She tells of what a lovely man he is and feels sure he would give me any info he could remember on those times.
I'm wondering whether to bother him or not, but suppose a letter wouldn't hurt. As Gerald Bryan was such an expert on rock climbing, it could explain why my father had such an interest in rock climbing and mountaineering, reading just about every book ever written on the subject. To my knowledge he never actually did any climbing himself, just had this fascination for it throughout his life.

Cheers for now,
Chris.

Nick

A quick update from Chris received on 21 Aug 2012, who has recently been contacted by Donny

http://www.commandoveterans.org/cdoForum/posts/list/1708.page#11187

After discussion between Chris, Donny, Jessie Taylor & Ian McHarg it is now thought that Ted Brown & Don Donague were probably in 3 Troop as originally thought...

Chris Brown wrote:...The photos of 'Don' are indeed of his father [Cpl Albert Donohue], confirmed by his mother, and were much appreciated by his family as these are the only photos in existence as far as we know.

Donny is at present, taking a trip to Arran where he plans to visit the Heritage Museum to try and find out more of his father's time on Arran. He will send me any information he can find out about my Dad [Cpl Ted Brown] if anything comes to light.
I said he should try and get to meet Jessie Taylor, who, just this evening, phoned me to say he has made contact with her. Jessie now agrees that Dad was probably with 3 troop as was Don so I think we can safely change Dad's details from 1 to 3 troop...

Nick