Hi, My Wife's Grandfather servered on Boom Defence ships in WW2 and from his naval servie record, it appears that he only served on mainland shore bases. So I think that his medal entitlement would have been teh Defence and War medal, but would appreciate a second diagnosis ! His ships were as follow: HMS Pembroke IV - 16/04/1941 - 23/04/1941 HMS Wildfire - 24/04/1941 - 01/07/1941 - Sheerness HMS Proserpine - 02/07/1941 - 18/08/1942 - Boom Defence depot Scapa Flow Lyness Naval Base, Hoy HMS Wildfire - 19/08/1942 - 17/07/1944 Lent to HMS Pembroke between 22/11/1942 - 28/11/1942 HMS Beehive - 18/07/1944 - 12/11/1944 - Boom Defence Guard at Felixstowe Costal base for MTB / MGB HMS Rooke - 13/11/1944 - 29/01/1945 - Boom Defence Central Depot at Rosyth HMS Wildfire - 31/01/1945 - 19/12/1945 Family say that he served on HM Barndale, which I think was at Rosyth, although find reference to it later being at Anzio landing ? He was injured on one of the boom vessels somewhere while it was loading coal and was locked overboard. There is a reference on his records for war gratiuty paid in 1952 with HMS Wildfire No: 1208, which I am not to sure on ? Perhaps pension ! One thing I am disappointed with is that although it gives shore bases, he must have served on a ship but these are not recorded ? HMS Barndale for example. The other question I have is that in his photo in uniform he wears the rating badge of a 3rd class Quarter deck gunner and not the rating badge of boom defence as a pin and chain ? Would this mean he did not work on the nets, but would have been responsible for the protection of the ship and what type of gun would this have been ? A bren or lewis or something heavy calibre ? Again as a quarter deck gunner I would have thought that his records would have shown a ships name ? I also attach a photo of HMS Barndale, which had a long life until scrapped in 1970. Any help or advise would be most welcome. Thanks, Alan
next to those ships names are there any names in brackets? My grandfather served rooke wildfire and various other bases as well as barmill and kerriemoor. Do you have his original service record? or is it supplied from the mod, His service number is it R/JX****** or p/jx*****, C/JX**** ,D/JX******* he would have been a gunner on the boom vessels. regards James
Hi James, Thanks for reply. The record was not the original but a typed version from the RN. No such bracketed names either on the letter, just the shore bases. His full number provided by RN was just JX268546, again no prefix. Do you think there could be detail missing ? Tom, I did not include the 1939 star as I thought you had to have served at least 6 months in an operational command overseas ? William is not thought to have left the UK whilst in the RN !
..... what type of gun would this have been ? A bren or lewis or something heavy calibre ? Hi Alan. All the ones that I have seen have been armed with a 1 3" AA Gun. TBH, I don't know if that reads: Armed with One 3" AA Gun or Armed with a 1.3" AA Gun
Hi Alan. Did you ever find out if your wife's GF did serve on Barndale? With reference to the Anzio link: Barndale was part of a BDV salvage team clearing Naples Harbour in October 1943 so it's entirely possible that she then provided anti-sub & anti-torpedo net defences to the Ships moored there before they sailed up the coast to Anzio in January 1944.
With ref to the gun question. I've since learned / seen this refered to as a 3" AA, 76.2mm, and a 12 Pounder.
RJL/ Alan - exactly my point - but the thread disappeared for a while and it slipped my mind - if in fact he did serve on Barndale at that time before Anzio then he certainly qualified for the 1939-45 STAR - otherwise just the Defence and 1939/45 MEDAL Cheers
RJL/ Alan - - if in fact he did serve on Barndale at that time before Anzio then he certainly qualified for the 1939-45 STAR - Hi Tom - true, assuming that he'd done the 6 months / 180 days in an active operational area to qualify. If he had done so then he'd also qualify for the Italy Star as the rule for RN was " ........service at sea in the Mediterranean during this period will be a qualification provided it was directly connected with active operations in the Mediterranean theatre, including those in the Aegean and the South of France"
If he was on barndale in a U.K. Port for 6 months then would qualify for 39-45 star as it is laid down in the regulations If you write to the mod medal office they will confirm medal entitlement My grandfather was also at wildfire Jan 45 - sept 46 on the boom defence
