Not sure which forum it's best to post this in – this, a naval one or a Far East one ... I was having a closer look at my grandfather's box from when he was part of Combined Operations Pilotage Parties at the weekend (he was part of COPP 1 / Naval Party 755). And I noticed that when you look at the box in certain angles / light conditions, additional lettering becomes visible. The top is stamped NAVAL PARTY 755 and there's a C in the top left corner. These don't cause me much head scratching. Both are faded but the paint is still visible. On the front is NAVAL PARTY 755. It's faded pretty badly but I think might just be faded, not painted over. But there are additional markings too on the front and on both ends that do seem to have been painted over. There seems to be a bit of 'depth' to the fading that suggests to me they were scrubbed over in some way. These markings are: The number 18 – I guess just a box identifier. And additional lettering that appears to be: HAZINESS VII It's got me intrigued. I wonder what Haziness VII (if that's what it says) might be. COPP 1 was part of the Small Operations Group based at Hammenhiel Fort in Sri Lanka. So I guess there's no guarantee that it was originally a COPP box – it could have been used by any of the units that were part of the SOG (SBS, Detachment 385 etc) and then put into stores at Hammenhiel Fort and later retrieved by my grandfather for his trip back to the UK. (Although the centrality of 'Naval Party 755' on the box makes me inclined to guess that it was 'their' box all along.) The box was found in my gran's garage after she died, so it presumably (but no guarantee) came back with my grandfather when he returned from Sri Lanka to the UK in September/October 1945 (aboard HMS Stalker). Could it have been related to loading for HMS Stalker? Was there a naval 'stone frigate' shore establishment called HMS Haziness VII? I wondered about 'leave establishments', which I think they had around Sri Lanka for people to take a break. I've seen photos of my grandfather on a motorbike touring around Sri Lanka during one leave period. Could one of those establishments have been called HMS Haziness VIII? Anyone able to offer any insight or possible leads?
