Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Enquiries relating to individual men and women who served with HM Light Coastal Forces; help with interpreting service records, or with tracing former comrades
mtrueman
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Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby mtrueman » Mon May 27, 2013 5:27 pm

My father served on ML116 from September 1940 to June 1943. ML116 during this time was based at Dolphin/Hornet/Aggressive/Mantis. His DSM award was gazetted in Jun 1942. Unfortunately the records for the awards of some medals during this period were destroyed. I would be very interested in making contact with any one who served on ML116 during this period. Mike Trueman

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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby Admin » Tue May 28, 2013 2:09 pm

Hello Mike

As you may be aware the only details contained in the London Gazette for the group that included your father reads:
The KING has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the Celebration of His Majesty's Birthday, to give orders for the Appointments to the Distinguished Service Order, and to approve the Awards shown below, for outstanding zeal, patience and cheerfulness, and for never failing to set an example of wholehearted devotion to duty, without which the high tradition of the Royal Navy could not have been upheld:
There are three other known awards to personnel from ML 116 which are as follows:

Temporary Lieutenant Owen Selbourne BROOME RNVR, MID, 2nd June 1943
Temporary Acting Lieutenant-Commander Henry McLean DUFF-STILL RNVR, MID, 1st July 1941
Temporary Sub-Lieutenant Roy Percival PERROTT RNVR, CDG

Regards
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mtrueman
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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby mtrueman » Mon Jun 24, 2013 1:51 pm

Many thanks - that is very useful.

Mike

Brian Holmes
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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby Brian Holmes » Tue Jun 25, 2013 8:02 pm

ML_116 A M Dickie & Sons, Bangor, North Wales & Tarbert Scotland 14/9/40

Birthday Honours 1941
MID TLt Henry Mclean Duff-Still RNVR

Birthday Honours 1942
DSM LSto Bernard Verdun Trueman D/KX88469

Birthday Honours 1943
MID TLt Owen Selbourne Broome RNVR

For Operation Neptune - passage of troops and supplies during the assault on Normandy (Ungazetted)
CdeG TSLt Roy Percival Perrott RNVR

Known Crew
T Lt H N Albone RNVR Commanding Officer 7/8/43
TLt Owen Selbourne Broome RNVR
TLt Henry McLean Duff-Still RNVR TLt 12/12/39 HMS Aston Villa (trawler) 18/1/40 HMS Gaul (trawler) HMS Defiance 17/6/40 HMS Victory HMS Midge (Coastal Forces base, Great Yarmouth) (for motor launches) 16/3/41 ML 116 Commanding Officer MGB 605 18/5/42 and Senior Officer 17th MGB Flotilla 1943 as a LtCdr. Commanding Officer HMS Stevenstone (Destroyer) for which he was awarded a DSC HMS King Alfred 8/8/44 before ending the war in HMS Victory. Born 1903 in Croydon
TSLt Roy Percival Perrott RNVR First Lieutenant 7/8/43 CdeG 1944 HMS Mantis MID 1944
TMid E F Harden RNVR 8/5/44
LSto Bernard Verdun Trueman D/KX88469

Wartime Activities
Temporarily equipped with two 21” Torpedo Tubes removed from lend lease destroyers
2nd ML Flotilla Based on the Nore
ML 112, ML 113, ML 114, ML 116, ML 117, ML 118, ML 119, ML 120 and ML 171
1/1/41 At Portsmouth
1/7/41 2nd ML Flotilla Based at Ramsgate
ML 112, ML 113, ML 114, ML 116, ML 117, ML 118, ML 119, ML 120 and ML 171
1/42 Based at Portsmouth
Operation Neptune Invasion of Normandy
Attached 14th Minesweeping Flotilla for assault

Post War Fate
4/46 For disposal

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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby ML116 » Wed Jan 30, 2019 11:52 am

Thomas Hay McCulloch (TAM) - JX564137 - served on ML116 from 29/8/43 to 25/6/45 (plus HMS Raleigh/Drake/St Christopher/Mantis/Lynx/Lizard/Hornet) .
I am particularly interested in the Boats' activities pre/post and during
D Day/Operation Neptune ,6/6/44, when he was on ML116 for dates -7/5 to 22/5/44 ,28/5 to 20/6/44 and
24/6/44 to 25/6/45 . Can anyone please provide information/leads as below ;
1. Brian Holmes posted on 25/6/13 (re Bernard Trueman) that ML116 was 'Attached to 14th Minesweeping Flotilla for Assault Op Neptune/Normandy - can the source of this info be given so I can do further research ?
2.In the absence of Ship's Logs are there any sources/info available to research the deployment/activities of ML s ,
specific vessels pre/post/during Neptune OP
Regards , Tony Johnson (researching on behalf of Alastair McCulloch son of Tam )

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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby Admin » Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:24 pm

The 2nd ML Flotilla was based at Plymouth during Operation Neptune and comprised MLs 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 119, 120, 171 & 491, with 116 (Albone) & 117 (MacDonald) attached to the 14th Minesweeping Flotilla.

The 14th MSF was attached to Force U which was assigned to Utah Beach in the American sector. The starting points for its invasion vessels were Dartmouth, Tor Bay, Weymouth, Poole, Torquay, Plymouth and Salcombe. During the assault phase on the night of the 5th/6th June, the 14th MSF was tasked with creating the swept channel No. 2, and thereafter, the area between channels 3 & 4, and then as required.

This information is derived from the following work, which is largely based on the official Battle Summary.

Naval Staff Histories of the Second World War Volume 1: Operation Neptune, The D-Day Landings, 6 June 1944: Edited by Tim Benbow: Helion Press 2015

This article provides a useful insight into the role that MLs attached to minesweeping flotillas performed, namely sweeping ahead of the minesweepers themselves to help keep them safe, and thereby heading the entire invasion fleet.
Halcyon-Class D-Day Minesweeping

Other possible sources of information include:
National Archives: Operation Neptune

southwick-house-d-day-map.jpg
Southwick House D-Day Map showing departure points and approach channels
southwick-house-d-day-map.jpg (1006.39 KiB) Viewed 37023 times
operation-neptune-d-day.jpg
Disposition of the Normandy beachheads with swept channels and mooring areas

ML116
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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby ML116 » Sun Feb 03, 2019 8:54 pm

Admin , very many thanks for specific information & the leads you show .
Are there any known caches of information of deployment of these boats pre & post D Day that can be accessed ?
Again v many thanks ,Tony Johnson

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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby Admin » Mon Feb 04, 2019 2:59 am

Hello Tony

The movements of minor war vessels are contained in the Admiralty's Red Lists, but I'm not sure if they are all that informative, merely listing which port the boats for a particular flotilla are working out of for a given month. The Naval History site has some pages were you can see instances, including a reference to the 2nd ML Flotilla, which merely lists its compliment and its location as Portsmouth. It would likely have been situated on the south coast throughout, possibly always at Portsmouth, and in common with most MLs would have been engaged in convoy escort work, taking convoys up the coast as far as Dover or Ramsgate before handing over to MLs there for onward passage around the Thames Estuary and up the East Coast. Certain MLs had torpedos fitted earlier in the war when the threat of invasion was at its height, and others were variously fitted out as minesweepers, minelayers, and navigational leaders with communication towers around the time of D-Day, but apart from that, general patrol work or convoy escort was their stock-in-trade.

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ML116
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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby ML116 » Tue Feb 05, 2019 4:45 pm

Dear Admin , Thanks very much ,once again you have painted a clearer picture of the crucial work that CF sevicemen
were doing at the time & lots to follow up.
Thanks & Regards
Tony Johnson

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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby Admin » Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:59 am

Good luck with your research Tony, and if I turn up any specific reminiscence of 116 or the 2nd ML Flotilla I’ll pass it on. If you have any crew photos you could pass on we’d be grateful to receive them.

ML116
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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby ML116 » Mon Feb 11, 2019 9:09 pm

Dear Admin , I have just received a copy of ' The Naval Histories .....' & am reading through it picking up on more detail in the reports & the Appendices -excellent. If you can home in on any further info I would be obliged .The McCulloch family are going through Photos & I will send them on in due course -There are 2 pics known so far -1 early on in uniform & possibly a pic of him in boxing gear when he competed in RN competitions .
Regards Tony

mtrueman
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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby mtrueman » Fri Aug 16, 2019 10:23 pm

Dear Admin, the attached is a photo shows my father Bernard Trueman (back row 2nd from left with arms folded). I am assuming this is ML116 but unfortunately that is just a guess.
Attachments
FBB26D6B-0EAA-497E-A8CC-CAF1E9AD6E24.jpeg

Terry Keane
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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby Terry Keane » Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:37 am

I think I can confirm that this picture is of ML 116, as I have found the exact same one amongst my late father's pictures, and 116 was the only ML he served on, moving on to MTB's 705 & 5001. He is 2nd from front on far right of picture (wearing jacket).

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Re: Bernard (Barney) Trueman DSM

Postby Admin » Sat Jan 22, 2022 9:50 am

Hello Terry

Thank you for your helpful confirmation of this crew photo as that of ML 116. I have just placed a reply on your early thread on ML 116 itself.

Regards
Admin


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