Tim, do you know this men?

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greendragon
Posts: 179
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2019 6:16 am

Tim, do you know this men?

Unread post by greendragon »

Attached a nice story in which Ashanti is mentioned.
SubLt David Borroughs - apparently the Ashanti officer- is mentioned.
Besides also the man who "called himself the the Greek Prince".
And two cats - one which belonged to the Prince - had been rescued by the Sub.

Regards,

GD
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peoples ... 8891.shtml
timlewin
Posts: 916
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2018 12:18 pm

Re: Tim, do you know this men?

Unread post by timlewin »

I know the Greek Prince, but cant remember which ship/posting he was in by then. After Valiant he went to Wallace (V&W) on the East Coast convoys, he and TTL used to meet from time to time in Immingham for a beer when their ships were in port together (Ashanti/Wallace)
TTL stayed with Ashanti from Jan 1942 until the end of 1944, beginning of 1945 when she went to refit. In the D-day period and prelude they were in the 10th DF based at Plymouth and on a very short lead for going ashore, its about 30-35 miles from Plymouth to Dartmouth, I know the area reasonably well. I cannot say I remember the name of this chap. I will check. When my parents were married, 14th Feb 1944, the Wardroom presented them with a silver cigarette box (now in the Maritime Museum) the lid of which has the signature of all of them including the captain, Jimmy Barnes. The only other name that springs to mind is Alan "Tassie" Richmond who made the attached film on his wind up camera. In this you can see at the beginning the Canadian Athabaskan (lost a few months later) and KG5 on their way to Morocco to collect Churchill returning from Tehran and having recuperated from pneumonia there. It was this journey back into a force 12 NE gale that damaged the destroyers so much they needed 2 weeks in drydock at Plymouth to replace bottom plating. Its possible your chap is in the scraps of film.
https://vimeo.com/154011412
and a picture of Ashanti, AthaB and KG5 in the storm....
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timlewin
Posts: 916
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2018 12:18 pm

Re: Tim, do you know this men?

Unread post by timlewin »

I had a quick check where the Greek Prince might have been in the first part of 1944. I believe he left Wallace in late 1943, early 1944 and was posted to Whelp, then building, completing, at Hawthorn Leslie on the Tyne as one of the "W" flotilla of emergency destroyers. Whelp was accepted into the RN in April, did some exercises in May 1944 in preparation for D-day, it is this time that HRH might have joined and been based in her as First Lieutenant at Plymouth.I don't know if Whelp went to D day, think not, because in July she was part of operation Gearbox in the Arctic (Spitzbergen) before joining the 27th Destroyer flotilla and sailing for the Far East which had been her original destination from the start.

My guess then is that it was in May that this meeting took place!

here is the cigarette box, I grew up with this (My mother smoked but not my father) on which you can clearly read the signature of the chap in the BBC report. This "Peoples War" series was an excellent initiative, there are so many wonderful insights in it.

Whelp was eventually sold to South Africa and served until 1976, pretty good service for an emergency destroyer, the quality of steel was not great by then.
Ashant cig box.jpg
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greendragon
Posts: 179
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2019 6:16 am

Re: Tim, do you know this men?

Unread post by greendragon »

I am glad it has been discovered that one of the man who signed your father wedding cigarette box is not just a name of an unknown officer but he might be linked to a nice story about him as told by his sister.

Regards
GD
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