M.T.B 671 Crew Research Can you help ?

Discussion in 'War Cemeteries & War Memorial Research' started by izzy, Apr 21, 2010.

  1. izzy

    izzy Senior Member

    My Mothers cousin was killed on 24/04/1944 when M.T.B 671 was sunk of the coast of Barfleur France. I have done a few bits of research over the years and with the help of this Forum hopefully may add a bit more to the story.My Mothers cousin was George Hector Woodburn from Liverpool im after any information on the rest of the crew whether there on a memorial or whether they might have got a mention in the Press i.e Obituary etc.. Using the C.W.G.C i have a list of the Crew that have a location of where they lived or had family connections to can you help the crew are as follows.All died on 24/04/1944 while serving in the R.N.

    William George Dennis Hill, Thame Oxfordshire.

    John Lewis Horley, Thornton Heath Surrey.

    Job Lambert, Biggin Hill Kent.

    Leslie Legg, St Agnes Scilly Isles.

    Raymond Brown, Monkmoor Shrewsbury Shropshire.

    Bernard Dean, South Croydon Surrey.

    Davey John Goldsworthy, Beacon Camborne Cornwall.

    Kenneth Douglas Groves, Bridgend Glamorgan.

    Manus Hardie, Greenock Renfrewshire.

    Edward Leonard, Westburn Lanarkshire.

    William Macpherson, Aidree.

    Cecil Rook, Stamford Lincolnshire.

    Jack Owen, Hull.

    Edward Charles Woodhead, Clapham London.

    Patrick Lovell Smallwood, Wheathampstead Hertfordshire.

    Lawrence Edson Toogood, Wokingham Berkshire.

    Frederick Thomas Wharton, Wycome Marsh High Wycombe.

    Leonard Ronald Simms, Leytonstone Essex.

    Walter George Saunders, Milton Regis Kent.

    Howard James Brooke, Gunnersbury Park Middlesex.

    George Alan Buckley, Southport.

    Robert Russell, Unknown.

    Frank William Pullen, Unknown.

    Ronald Wyndham Jones, Unknown.

    I know its a big task but any information on the Crew of the M.T.B 671 however small would be welcome.
     
  2. Mathsmal

    Mathsmal Senior Member

    Hi

    You've probably seen all of these before:

    Motor Gun Boats of WW2 - a particular story of a brave man (reference about 2/3 down the page)

    BMPT Forum: The Fate of MTB 671

    From naval-history.net:


    MTB.671, ship loss
    BROOKE, Howard J, Leading Motor Mechanic, P/MX 635894, MPK
    BROWN, Raymond G, Able Seaman, P/JX 369893, killed
    BUCKLEY, Joseph A, Chief Motor Mechanic 4c, P/MX 116188, killed
    DEAN, Bernard, Petty Officer, D/JX 140045, killed
    GOLDSWORTHY, Davey J, Ty/Leading Seaman, D/SSX 26540, killed
    GROVES, Kenneth D, Stoker 1c, D/KX 158677, MPK
    HARDIE, Manus, Stoker 1c, C/KX 158851, MPK
    HILL, George D, Wireman, P/MX 102404, MPK
    HORLEY, John L, Ty/Lieutenant, RNVR, killed
    JONES, Ronald W, Able Seaman, P/JX 421023, MPK
    LAMBERT, Job, Able Seaman, C/JX 376632, killed
    LEGG, Leslie, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 428612, MPK
    LEONARD, Edward, Able Seaman, P/JX 396438, MPK
    MACPHERSON, William W, Able Seaman, P/JX 417851, killed
    OWEN, Jack, Ordinary Seaman, P/JX 396223, killed
    PULLEN, Frank W, Able Seaman, P/JX 296441, MPK
    ROOK, Cecil, Act/Able Seaman, C/JX 301352, killed
    RUSSELL, Robert, Able Seaman, P/JX 385946, MPK
    SAUNDERS, Walter G, Telegraphist, C/JX 341007, killed
    SIMMS, Leonard R, Stoker 2c, P/KX 158876, MPK
    SMALLWOOD, Patrick L, Ty/Sub Lieutenant, RNVR, killed
    TOOGOOD, Lawrence E, Ty/Lieutenant, RNVR, killed
    WHARTON, Frederick T, Telegraphist, P/JX 405825, killed
    WOODBURN, George H, Able Seaman, P/JX 385979, MPK
    WOODHEAD, Edward C, Ty/Midshipman, RNVR, MPK
     
  3. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Izzy, some more info

    War Memorial - Job Lambert
    The Scottish War Graves Project :: View topic - New Monkland Cemetery, Airdrie

    LAMBERT, JOB. Able Seaman, C/JX 376632.
    Royal Navy, H.M.M.T.B. 671.
    Died 24 April 1944. Aged 20.
    Born Croydon, Surrey.
    Son of Job and Lily Lambert (née Dimmock) of Biggin Hill, Kent.
    Buried Haslar Royal Naval Hospital, Gosport, Hampshire. Grave Ref: E. 65. 2.
    The 95 ton H.M. Motor Torpedo Boat 671 was sunk during a torpedo attack on
    enemy destroyers, which was carried out off the little fishing port of Barfleur on
    the north eastern tip of Manche’s Cotentin Peninsula, Northern France. Job was
    numbered amongst the 20 crew members of H.M. Motor Torpedo Boat 671 who
    perished during the attack on 24 April 1944.

    PATRICK LOVELL SMALLWOOD - Brother of D L Smallwood Killed in Action 11 November 1945

    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/special-forces/19873-operation-able-madonna-commando-raid-2.html
     
  4. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Can You Help? Steve Litt sent me this email in Jan 07: I have been on your web site I am trying to find out for my mother what happened to MTB 671,her late husband George Hill from Oxford served on it and it was lost in action 04/1944 I have been looking on other site and have found that they had be in action that day but did'nt come back it was thought sunk by E boats, my mother was never told what happened to him!! what a sad lose at 20!! What a brave man he was she also often talks about Peter Scott book she has lost it, is it still available? Don't let these brave men's operation go un-told we owe them our LIVES - Many thanks Steve Litt. I have told Steve where he may find the book but there is only a very small mention of the incident, 6 weeks after it happened. If you have any info for Steve please email him at steve.litt2-at-btopenworld.com replacing -at- with @.
    And, in reply:
    MTB 671
    In Len Reynolds excellent book "Dog Boats at War" p 100 he describes how, in the middle of the night, 671 ,617 and 632 wait for 3 larger Mowe class destroyers to came to the ideal intercept position. Just as he was about to to order ' flag 4' (fire torpedoes) the 3 targets turned towards the Dog Boats and star shell burst overhead, followed by a barrage from all their forward guns.....Larry Toogoods 671 was hit first in the charthouse then in the engine room by large shells' he goes on to detail the sinking and blowing up and attempted rescue and the only 2 survivors. John Peake. Australia. John Peake's father served on the B Class Fairmiles in the Solomon's, hence his interest.
    John Peake also discovered the following information: The story of Norman Hine. MGB 502 and the other MGBs and the clandestine operations, is written on by Lloyd Bott CBE, DSC of the 15th MGB flotilla in Monograph #116 published by The Naval Historical Society of Australia entitled ' coastal forces and communications with France before 1944" a 12 page document. I have downloaded and printed this off and will be adding it, on a separate page, in the near future. There is also a letter from Maurice Buckmaster, the boss of the SOE, authenticating the text.
    An Email received on 2 August 2007: With regard to Norman Hine and the above, I am the son in law of Tommy Sheehan the other survivor of MGB 5002. Unfortunately Tommy too passed away in October 2004 after a long debilitating illness. Both he and Norman kept in touch and visited each other regularly and I know that he felt Norman's death badly. With regards to Norman's story I would just like to add that Tommy actually lost both legs above the knees, and spent some considerable time in Roehampton, a place he visited on a regular basis for the rest of his life. However this did not hinder his life or his post war career as a manager of a firm of Riggers in the London Docks (he was born and bred and lived the early part of his life in Wapping, East London). Tommy is pictured in bed along side Norman in the picture of Norman in hospital in his story. I, through Tommy, had the pleasure and honour of knowing both Norman and Bill Webb, two of the most unassuming characters you would ever wish to meet. Regards Roy Russell

    SOURCE Motor Gun Boats of WW2 - a particular story of a brave man
     
  5. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    MTB 671
    Fairmile "D" type.
    Builder: A.M. Dickie (Bangor).
    Ordered: 28.11.1941.
    Completed: 16.05.1943

    1943 based at HMS St Christopher (Coastal Forces training establishment, Fort William). Lost through gunfire of German destroyers (5. Torpedobootsflotille) off Cape Barfleur 24.04.1944.

    Commanding Officer
    22.02.1943-(04.1944)T/Lt. C.E. Toogood, RNVR
    First Lieutenant
    24.02.1943-24.04.1944T/Lt. J.L. Horley, RNVR [killed in action]
    Third Officer1
    2.04.1943-(06.1943)T/A/S.Lt. P.E. Brewer, RNVR
    26.07.1943-(04.1944)T/A/S.Lt. | T/S.Lt. C.W. Morley, RNVR

    Royal Navy Coastal Forces 1940-1945

    701, 702, 707 and 721 (63rd) were off Cherbourg when they encountered three 'Mowe' class ships - officially classed as torpedo boats,but more like British escort destroyers. A sharp engagement took place at close range, which resulted in one boat being badly hit, and all withdrew at speed; the Mowe's then moved eastward where 617, 632 and 671 (55th) spotted them and carried out a torpedo attack. The three targets turned and avoided the torpedoes, and engaged the boats, which made off, making smoke and dropping depth charges in their wake. The hindmost boat, 671, was hit badly in the engine room, set on fire, and abandoned. A subsequent search by a frigate picked up only two survivors.
     
  6. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    The passing of Mike Munns on the 13th April 2007 was received with great sadness. I had been in touch with Mike up until very recently having written – by land mail – to his home in Lauriton Australia regarding his wartime experiences on MTB 671.
    Very generous by nature, this gentleman hero was able to assist a relative of one of his former shipmates who had lost his life when 671 was destroyed in action off the Channel Island of Alderney in April 1944. Mike, fatefully, was not on board that night – having been ‘drafted’ out to the Mediterranean just weeks before – but he remembered and honoured that particular crew and Flotilla (55th) until his last days.

    Mike had signed on – quite illegally by altering his age – when just 16. He recalled that the PO Cox of 671, ”Dixie” Dean, had some suspicion of his age and called down the For’d Hatchway one day - “Munns! The CO wants to see you in the Wardroom at mid-day!” Suspecting that his age had been tumbled – or worse still - that a bottle of rum that he had managed to smuggle off the boat to post home (gained by swapping his tobacco ration for the daily rum issue not available to him) had been discovered, he became very nervous as the time approached. A laughing “Dixie” Dean eventually arrived and said that he was pulling his leg but to “be careful in the future” as he had seen him tying the bottle to his leg before the last Shore Leave. He remembered with deep affection all his shipmates – he met up with the two survivors of that fateful night - Sub Lt Colin Morley – Navigating Officer and A/B Alfred Day DSM – Twin Oerlikon Gunner – after the War. He was the very last member of the crew of 671. During the latter part of his life Mike managed to obtain a commemorative car number plate (in Australia) and it is fitting that it is repeated here “LEST WE FORGET”

    Mike Munns
    1926 – April 13 2007.

    BMPT Forum: Obituaries
     
  7. izzy

    izzy Senior Member

    Mathsmal and Phil just got in and very impressed with what i,ve found. I have quite a bit of information on the M.T.B 671 but very little on the crew. Nice to see a picture of Job Lambert. I have a couple of pictures of the boat and her crew which were supplied by an ex crew member who lived in Chester[now sadly deceased] The boat was built by Dickies Boatyard in Bangor which still exists although all there records were destroyed in a fire in the 1970's.Phil thanks for the link regarding my mothers cousin i had forgotten all about it nice picture of the Memorial panel.
     
  8. red devil

    red devil Senior Member

  9. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Telegraphist FREDERICK THOMAS WHARTON

    P/JX 405825, H.M.M.T.B. 671, Royal Navy
    who died age 19
    on 24 April 1944
    Son of Samuel T. Wharton and Bertha A. Wharton, of Wycombe Marsh, High Wycombe.
    Remembered with honour
    HIGH WYCOMBE CEMETERY
     

    Attached Files:

  10. red devil

    red devil Senior Member

    Thanks for that info, appreciated.
     
  11. Jon Horley

    Jon Horley Member

    Amazed to find this reference during a look for info in general! I've joined the forum so I can respond a bit to you, Izzy. I can tell you that T/Lt. John Lewis Horley was my father, married to my mother, Beatrice, and that I was born in the December of the year he was killed, so never knew him. He was great mates with T/Lt. Lawrence (Larry) Toogood, who was also married, and they were best man at each other's wedding.

    Larry's widow went to live in Canada after the war, re-marrying and I believe having a couple of children. My mother re-married, too - to John's brother Peter, following his release from POW camp, having been captured during the infamous Operation Market Garden parachute drop over Arnhem. They didn't have any children of their own, but he was a super Dad, sadly dying of kidney failure in 1963, when only just 46. We lived for several years in Lusaka and Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, where John and Peter's mother also lived with us for some time.

    Colin William Morley was one of the two survivors from the MTB, having stayed afloat for five hours before rescue. He was born in 1925, so younger than John or Larry. He very sweetly came to visit my Mother after getting back safely, to comfort her. Mother said he was very kind and sweet, and this seems to have been a feature of his life, as he went on to qualify as a General Practitioner at Cambridge, practising in Eastbourne. He died there in 1999 following a long illness. He was married, had two sons, and three grandchildren. I am currently hoping that it might be possible to contact the sons and to tell them how kind their Dad was, but his obituary in the British Medical Journal (online, 1999 if you search under his name) says he was known for his good sense of humour, kindness, and patience.

    John and Larry are buried in Haslar Naval Cemetery, near Portsmouth, just one grave apart. I visited there for the first time when my Mother was 85. She had never seen the graves, because when John was killed, she was rushed, newly pregnant with me, to hospital with appendicitis. After the operation to remove the appendix, she recuperated at the London flat of a girlfriend, the dreaded telegramme arriving to her own flat, which was, of course, empty. John and Larry had both been buried by the time her in-laws found where she was and told her the awful news.

    I am named for both my father, John, and for Larry (being called Laurie) - in spite of turning out to be a girl, not a boy! The family was more than surprised, as was the vicar at my christening, where he finally decided I could be given a 'man's names' if he thought they were Scandinavian! Goodness knows what vicars make of many of today's names, then.

    For a little more about John: his mother was Evelyn Gertrude Lawton, who married his father, Harry Herbert Horley, in Southsea, near Portsmouth. Evelyn had worked for some years as an assistant to Fred Jane, the founder of Jane's Fighting Ships, helping him to make the silhouette models which appeared in the early books. She was, I believe, the first lady driver in Portsmouth, as she had to drive Fred around in his Lagonda! Harry became a square-rigged captain, taking both John and Peter, in their teens, to Rio. He was a merchant seaman and during WWII acted as a liaison officer between the RNR and the American 8th Airborne at Huntingdon, Cambs.

    If I have any luck in contacting the Morley family, I will let you know by PM. I have a couple of photos of John and a photo of Larry Toogood on his wedding day. I don't yet have a scanner (or even know how to use one!) but I plan to get one and have a pal put up the photos for you, if you like.

    By the way, we had some MTB memorabilia which we (Mother and I) donated to the Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth. There was a plaque and a very smart silver cigarette box, which Mother suggested John, a smoker, might've 'borrowed' during one of his stints - not from 671, though.

    And I found Dog Boats of War, with its very graphic account of 671's engagement, at an airshow, of all places, some years ago. I wrote to the author and thanked him for filling in the blanks for me. An unpleasant engagement, 671 being 'tail-end Charlie' of the three, and the Moewes continuing to fire into the water when men were in it or on the raft (on which John died).
     
  12. Mike L

    Mike L Very Senior Member

    Jon, welcome to the forum. Great account of family related history, I will follow this thread with interest.

    Mike
     
  13. Jon Horley

    Jon Horley Member

    Thanks so much, Mike L. I didn't know there were forums like this! I'd love to have visited much earlier on, because there's so much of interest. My father's brother (Peter) was at Arnhem, one of my Mother's brothers was among the thousands rescued from Dunkirk (the other was in a - what was it called? - Reserved Occupation? as a technical engineer), a cousin's husband was captured by the Japanese and served time on the Changi railways. The family also had one or two friends serving in the Egyptian theatre, so the war was very international!

    I don't have the technical knowledge that folks on here have, but I look forward to people correcting any mistakes I make and helping me out a bit here and there. It's a fascinating forum.
     
  14. izzy

    izzy Senior Member

    Jon welcome to the forum.I have a detailed account of the sinking of the M.T.B 671 that i obtained from the Naval Historical Branch a good few years ago. I have pictures of her in the Menai Straits[she was built by Dickies Boatyard in Bangor] along with a few pictures of the crew but alas i do not posses a scanner. Intresting to see that there are family members still out there.Do you know of any Memorials for your father or to Larry Toogood. I was in touch with a crew member sadly deceased who served on the 671 but left shortly before she was sunk and if i remember correctly there was another crew member alive in Australia.
     
  15. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Remembered High Wycombe,Buckinghamshire

    WHARTON, FREDERICK THOMAS

    Rank:
    Telegraphist
    Service No:
    P/JX 405825
    Date of Death:
    24/04/1944
    Age:
    19
    Regiment/Service:
    Royal Navy

    H.M.M.T.B. 671
    Grave Reference
    Sec. F.1. Grave 213.
    Cemetery
    HIGH WYCOMBE CEMETERY
    Additional Information:
    Son of Samuel T. Wharton and Bertha A. Wharton, of Wycombe Marsh, High Wycombe.
     

    Attached Files:

  16. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Remembered Wheathampstead,Hertfordshire


    SMALLWOOD, PATRICK LOVELL

    Rank:
    Sub-Lieutenant
    Date of Death:
    24/04/1944
    Age:
    21
    Regiment/Service:
    Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

    H.M.M.T.B. 650 Serving in H.M.M.T.B. 671.
    Grave Reference
    G. 10. 20.
    Cemetery
    HASLAR ROYAL NAVAL CEMETERY
    Additional Information:
    Son of Matthew Edmund and Elinor Katherine Smallwood, of Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire. His brother David Lovell Smallwood, also died on service.
     

    Attached Files:

  17. izzy

    izzy Senior Member

    CL1 Many thanks for sharing the pictures of the memorials. Sad to see the name Smallwood twice on the memorial.
     
  18. Jon Horley

    Jon Horley Member

    Izzy, yes, my father and Larry Toogood have gravestones - one apart - in Haslar Naval Cemetery outside Portsmouth. I took photos of both, but I didn't realise that Sub.Lt. Smallwood was also buried in the same cemetery. It's in a lovely setting, with many trees and the Solent running alongside. The sexton at the time was a gent called Peter Shilling, who was very helpful. When I visited I was affected by not just the youth of those taken in WWII, but the little square metal burial markers which went back very much further than that, with brief inscriptions saying, CABIN BOY, 15, and so on. Dozens of them, all so very young, all taken so soon.
     
  19. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Please find attached Headstone for

    WHARTON, FREDERICK THOMAS

    Rank:
    Telegraphist
    Service No:
    P/JX 405825
    Date of Death:
    24/04/1944
    Age:
    19
    Regiment/Service:
    Royal Navy

    H.M.M.T.B. 671
    Grave Reference
    Sec. F.1. Grave 213.
    Cemetery
    HIGH WYCOMBE CEMETERY
    Additional Information:
    Son of Samuel T. Wharton and Bertha A. Wharton, of Wycombe Marsh, High Wycombe.
     

    Attached Files:

  20. izzy

    izzy Senior Member

    If i recall correctly there were a few of the 671's crew buried in Haslar Naval Cemetery. A few are named on the Naval Memorials to the missing and a few graves scattered around the U.K two of the casualties were washed ashore in France and are buried there.
     

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