Hi My grandfather was a royal naval commando who landed on Juno beach on Dday. Whilst this was a Canadian beach 48 RM commando landed here too. Would the RN commandos be part of 48 RM commando? or were they separate? thanks
Separate, Royal naval commandos in your case wore green beret's those who landed on Juno were attached to naval force J, with S,P,L and later W commando RN commandos landing on Juno.
thanks my grandfather was royal naval beach signal section B12. Just kinda annoying they often seem to be overlooked in the dday celebrations - though Pegasus bridge museum has a small bit on them. in the film the longest day when you see the wireless operator behind beachmaster maude was my grandfather in real life.
I can add a bit more given that info, as with the last info..... from Beachhead Assault by David Lee, Along with signals section B12,L commando also went into the Juno assault area at Bernieres.Hope this helps,there is also The Beachhead commandos by A Cecil Hampshire.
Last week on 7th June, I took George Brown, a Royal Naval Commando to Juno Beach. He told me that his job was demolishing obstacles and that he landed as part of the beach group on D Day. His daughter told me he had also been a frogman. A charming gentleman.
My father was one of the Royal Marine commando 48 who landed on Juno beach, if anyone interested their is an excellent book by Ken Ford, D Day Commanando.
Hi You may find the attached Table to be of value. I produced it for a hand-out which I used while leading a group of Battlefield guides on JUNO as part of the Guild of Battlefield Guides event in Normandy. It outlines the amphibious structure for JUNO and includes details of the RN Commandos and Landing Craft Obstacle Clearance Units (LCOCU) which were composed of Frogmen who were tasked with destroying beach obstacles. There is also a good photo of the RN Beach Commando party which was taken at COURSEULLES possibly on NAN GREEN which you can find on the imperial War Museum Photo site. We made a point of ensuring all the guides were aware of the role of RN Commandos and the LCOCUs as they are often overlooked by other guides.
My apologies it has been a while since I looked at the forum I suspect I am having problems uploading files to the forum Will try again
Nice find Ramiles! Interestingly, the two pages use two different interpretations of the acronym LCOCU, one with "Obstruction", the other with "Obstacle". Although "Obstacle" is often used in books or articles, the correct one was "Landing Craft Obstruction Clearance Unit". See for example Admiralty Fleet Order 3440/45 dated 28th June, 1945:
Seem to remember that those photos were taken at a pool in Kingston-upon-Thames (since demolished) where they did at least some of their training. (Just a memory, not definite!)