BIRKBECK, John Edward Hilbert Blake
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Title:
Reverend
Rank:
Captain
Unit / Base:
Special Service (Commando) Group, Brigade, and Brigade Signals
9 Commando
Regiment/Corps:
Royal Army Chaplain's Department
Service:
Army
Number:
266374
Born:
Thursday, November 5, 1908
Birthplace:
Greenock, Scotland
Died :
Thursday, March 23, 1989
Place died:
Aberdeen, Scotland
Age:
80
Reverend John Birkbeck was granted an Emergency Commission on 2nd March 1943 as Chaplain to the Forces, 4th Class (Church of Scotland) [1].
Posted 2 Special Service Brigade, Land Forces Adriatic, from 30 November 1944 [2].
Posted 2 Special Service Brigade, Land Forces Adriatic, from 30 November 1944 [2].
Served with No.9 Commando during Operation Roast, Lake Comacchio, Italy, April 1945 [2][3].
Member of the Commando Association from Aberdeen [4].
Sources
[1] London Gazette 35980, page 1737.
[2] David Blake, A.M.A., Curator of the Museum of Army Chaplaincy.
[3] Ronald 'Ken' Young, No.9 Commando (below).
[3] Ronald 'Ken' Young, No.9 Commando (below).
[4] Obituaries in Commando Association newsletter 89 (1989).
Headstone at his grave at Wallakirk Churchyard, Aberdeenshire.
[Image] Aberdeen Evening Express 28 January 1955.
Additional
Ronald 'Ken' Young, No.9 Commando, recalled Padre Birkbeck visiting the wounded commandos in hospital after Operation Roast at Lake Comacchio "Padre Birkbeck of No.9 Commando visited to tell us we had better get out of there and to the dock as all our mates were going home. So we all did. We managed to get to the port and find a hospital ship. He was known as the Black Padre and there was a rumour that Jerry had put a price on his head. Once when he saw some Commandos under heavy fire he charged forward and assisted them. He was a good Scotsman".
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