Navies

US NAVY’s vital 13th FLOTILLA/TF13 Amphibious Force, PACIFIC LANDING SHIP TANKS & destroyer escorts, Hawaii ISLAND battles; wife’s brothers: PATTON’s 2nd Arm’s DIV & USN. Representing MARINES wounded.

P/JX 168938 Petty Officer Robert Walter WEBB DSM, born in Ramsgate 14 Feb 1919, volunteered in Jun 1939, then a cinema operator, and began his RN training in Nov 1939 (at HMS Royal Arthur, the Butlin's Camp at Skegness - two to a chalet and six weeks of rifle drill and training).

Chief Petty Officer George TREADWELL RN was the ALDERSHOT son of a regular soldier (who survived 21 years with 9th LANCERS in 1919) and was born in 1911.  He had two elder brothers in the Royal Marines and RN, & two soldier brothers in law

Lt Thomas A SUTTON RNVR for the contribution of LANDING CRAFT and for those lead ships for the NORMANDY INVASION, here onto GOLD BEACH, and later for the important capture of WALCHEREN

Chief Ordnance Artificer Sidney J SQUANCE MiD RN represents ALL ARTIFICERS, the CREWS of the BATTLESHIPS, and specifically the traditional role of NAVAL GUNNERY (with RN neglecting newer Cinderella "AIRCRAFT" &, with its powerful FLEET, having hoped to negotiate the SUBMARINES away by treaty interwar), here specifically its big 16" GUNS (shell wt 2,0501b & range 39,100yds at 40 degrees).

Petty Officer Albert ROBINSON represents the remarkable wartime battle scarred career of the CRUISER. HMS PENELOPE, affectionately described as "Pepperpot".

Lieutenant Frank H T PANTER DSC RN joined 22 Aug 1921 on cruisers & AIRCRAFT CARRIER FURIOUS pre-war & ILLUSTRIOUS 4 VICTORIOUS post-war, retiring 5 Apr 1956; for all ROYAL NAVY SHIPWRIGHTS and SUCCESS of AJAX in the BATTLE of the RIVER PLATE on 13 Dec 1939

Lt Peter PALLOT RNVR, a talented artist represents the necessary expansion of Royal Naval MINESWEEPING Operations, which were so important not just during the war but well beyond into ‘peacetime’ dangerous operations to safeguard shipping in national and international waters. About one in five minesweepers were lost and Peter served on 11 of them, witnessing at close hand mine explosions.

Captain (earlier Lt Cdr) Konstantyn ZUBKOWSKI POLISH NAVY: for POLAND's gallant fighting servicemen and their 37 MAJOR POLISH NAVY WARSHIPS and 10 Motor Torpedo & Gun Boats at SEA, as in the AIR & on LAND, also recalling POLISH service men and women in all three of their fighting services.

Chief Petty Officer John "Jock" MUNRO, one wartime TELEGRAPHIST AIR GUNNER of 816 & 845 SQNs to represent all the RN “TAGs”, especially those flying in the primitive but remarkably effective Swordfish “Stringbags"

Leading TORPEDO OPERATOR in DESTROYERS was originally working for the Stepney Electricity Board when called up, already married, in May, 1940. He trained at HMS Raleigh at Torpoint in Cornwall and was assigned to HMS Pembroke at Chatham then as a seaman-torpedoman at HMS Actaeon and HMS St Vincent at Gosport for electrical courses.

Lieutenant John W MAYBANK RNZNVR: for the NEW ZEALAND and COMMONWEALTH contribution to the ROYAL NAVY, here a "Hostilities Only" pilot on CORSAIRS, who joined the BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET after converting on to CORSAIRS in CEYLON, firstly in 1830 SOUADRON

Mr Roddie MacLENNAN MERCHANT NAVY has the specially placed signature ‘for CONVOY HX84' to symbolise the daily, non stop, 24 hour endurance & sacrifice of the MERCHANT MARINE and the CONVOY SYSTEM, in the ATLANTIC OCEAN, literally Britain’s LIFELINE. 

Lt Cdr Paul B KINCADE USN: his elder brother, RAY, was a US NAVY enlisted PILOT, test flying TRANSPORTS (mainly S-2 Fs) after repair or rebuilds & delivering personnel & VIPs to AUSTRALIA & across the PACIFIC; Paul joined the day after Pearl Harbor (7Dec41) & completed his SAN DIEGO training 2Feb42, aged 17yrs, and was to stay in the US NAVY for 27 years, having three WW2 Campaign Battle Stars for the AMERICAN Theatre of War, EUROPE & AFRICA and the PACIFIC; in SIGNALS & also as GUNNER's MATE.

Able Seaman Arnold HARGREAVES MiD of HMS BULLDOG, born in October 1917, represents the vital recovery, by the eight members of the boarding party under Sub-Lt D E Balme RN, of that most vital ENIGMA Machine and in particular the “Offizier” short Codes and procedures, retrieved from German Submarine U-Boat U-110 on 9th May 1941, which was one of the most important single actions in WW2.

Chief Petty Officer George M ELLIOTT, as ROYAL NAVY COXSWAIN and SURVIVOR, to commemorate the massive losses of NAVAL VESSELS in action, here the unforgettable (censored long time) explosive end on 25 Nov 1941 off SOLLUM

Commander Joseph DRISCOLL USN for the dramatic and important expansion of the UNITED STATES NAVY, which he joined on 13 Dec 1942

Captain Michael T DODDS of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary signs for his long service and that of the important OILERS, and the role of TROOP TRANSPORT of literally millions of servicemen between theatres and the most important ATLANTIC TROOPING

Lt Cdr Geoffrey CRAVEN DSC RNVR commemorates the heart-lifting night surprise attack bv Captain Philip VIAN and HMS COSSACK on ALTMARK (the Graf Spee's supply ship, which entered Norwegian waters).   The rescue, "The Navy's here", at 2230hr and rapid release back of British merchant marine prisoners into HM Warships took place on Friday night, 16Feb40. Geoffrey's DSC was awarded for his part in the boarding and overcoming German resistance with relatively small forces.