Help deciphering records

I came across your site whilst trying to do some research about my late father's war service with 42 Commando. (He joined the Royal Marines at the outset of WWII).

I have received his service records from Navy Command at Whale Island, and whilst they contain dates, the 'name of division or ship' column contains a list of initials which I am having trouble deciphering. They kindly included an 'abbreviation guide' but I can't reconcile the strings of letters with the guide. Example: HBLRH Deal Cas.Dets and HBLRMMNBDOI etc

I admit that I was disappointed that there was no information about where he went or what he did but accept that these 'bare bones' records may not include much other than dates of service.

I would be very grateful for any help or advice you could give, or point me in the right direction to do the detective work. I am, unfortunately, not in a position to hire a researcher and such books as I have found give the bare details of the Commando Units' activities unless you know the company divisions.

Any help appreciated. Thanks

Hi Karon

Welcome to the CVA, your father's Commando unit (42 RM) along with 44 RM and No's 1 and 5 Army Commando made up 3 Commando Brigade. 3 Commando brigade served in India and Burma, my father was a member of No1 Army Commando, while they were in this particular theatre of operations they produced a publication called The Third Jungle Book. This book / magazine contained articles, jokes and a section called Troop notes, each Commando unit was split in to sub units called Troops. I have got copies of three of these books (there were many more):

Issue No4 - July 1944
Issue No8 - Sept 1945
Issue No9 - Mar 1946

The march 1946 issue gives a quite detailed overviewe of the history of 42 RM Commando, if you would like copies of these, let me know and I will run you off a copy of each (no cost to yourself). Just send me a pm with the address that you would like them sending to and I will take of the rest, you never know maybe his name is mentioned in one of the "Troop Notes" chapters. I have also applied for my fathers service records from the Historical Disclosures Section of the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow. I found that it was very useful to actually phone them up to help make sense of some of the abbreviations that were used on one of these forms, just a thought.

Cheers Andy

Hi Karon

Have you had a look at the CVA Links section. There you will find contact numbers for the Royal Marines Association and also the Royal Marines Retired Associations. They may be able to help you decipher the Naval Service Record. I would be interested to know if you have any photos of your father in his RM Commando days you would like to post. You can either post them on here or in the appropriate gallery. If you have any difficulty with posting photos just let me know and I will assist you.

Regards

Hi Karon, did you have much luck deciphering the records ?

markH, thanks for your message. As you may have seen from my recent replies I have had to put my detective work on hold for the moment - which is frustrating.

Very much appreciate your interest and support !

Karon wrote:

I have received his service records from Navy Command at Whale Island, and whilst they contain dates, the 'name of division or ship' column contains a list of initials which I am having trouble deciphering. They kindly included an 'abbreviation guide' but I can't reconcile the strings of letters with the guide. Example: HBLRH Deal Cas.Dets and HBLRMMNBDOI etc

hi Karon,
Welcome aboard the CVA.
In my experience the records of RM Cdos, as opposed to the Army Cdos, are very sparse in detail - I have seen a number that consist of just three entries!
Also the handwriting can be a nightmare to decipher, let alone the RN/RM acronyms & abbreviations!

HBLRMMNBDOI should read ~ HBL RM MNBDO 1
HBL = Home Base Ledger
RM = Royal Marine
MNBDO 1 = Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation (1)

HBLRH Deal Cas.Dets I think should read ~ HBL RM Deal Cas Dets
HBL = Home Base Ledger
RM Deal Cas Dets = Royal Marine Deal Castle Detachment
hope this helps but if you're still stuck send me a scan of the records and I'll try to transcribe them for you.

Nick

Nic

Very kind of you to reply, that certainly helps make more sense of the information. If you don't mind I may take you up on your offer to interpret the records when I have them to hand.

Thanks

karon

Karon wrote:Nic

Very kind of you to reply, that certainly helps make more sense of the information. If you don't mind I may take you up on your offer to interpret the records when I have them to hand.

Thanks

karon

Of course, only too pleased to be able to help where I can.

Nick