Free French Flotilla

[PeterBoyce]

My father was 100 years old in September. He volunteered for the RN when he was 18 in 1942 and was posted to the Free French MTBs in Dartmouth where he served for a year. He was one of the RN Telegraphists assigned to the Flotilla. His name is Geoffrey Boyce. I am trying to find out a couple of pieces of information. The first is which boat he served in and the other - surprisingly - is his service number. Although he lives at home (with my mother, who is 98), his memory has deteriorated and he remembers Dartmouth (Kingswear), but very few details. Is there a RN or Free French Navy record of any kind, such as crew lists, which might help? Any advice would be welcome. Peter Boyce

[Admin]

Hello Peter

Thank you for your enquiry, and how remarkable to learn that both your father and mother are still going strong at such a great age.

The boats listed within the Red Lists as forming the Free French 23rd MTB Flotilla were:

MTBs 90, 91, 92, 94, 96, 98, 227 & 239

I was given to understand that RN Telegraphists who served on the Free French boats — it seems the Admiralty insisted on a RN Telegraphist for each boat to ensure clear lines of communication — were awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Government, and there are some awards of the kind contained in our awards database, but there is no record of your father which would have told us his boat, and his service number. Do you know if he was given an award by the French, and is he bi-lingual?

It should be possible for you to apply free of charge on his behalf — your mother would be eligible too — to the RN Disclosure Cell for details they hold which would at least confirm his service number.

I will continue to look through any resources I have for any refernce to his name.

Kind Regards
Admin

Addendum:
Bearing in mind there may be more than one Telegraphist who served on each of the Free French MTBs, the awards database contains the following awards to Royal Navy ratings of the Croix de Guerre:

MTB 90
Telegraphist Frank Edwin Jones
Leading Seaman Frederick John Wardell

MTB 91
Telegraphist Frederick Norman Tyldesley
Telegraphist Padraig Seosarn Walsh

MTB 92
Telegraphist Alec Stanley Trenwith

MTB 94
Telegraphist George M Morrow

MTB 96
Telegraphist W Kenneth Butler

MTB 98
Telegraphist Sidney John Bennett

MTB 227
Telegraphist John Albert Knight

23rd MTB Flotilla
Telegraphist Ernest Peters

[PeterBoyce]

Thank you very much for this info.
He was with the Flotilla for about a year, which will be pretty much 1943. He was then posted to Mountbatten's HQ in Ceylon (he doesn't know why - he says "you just go where they send you"!).
So if the Croix de Guerre were awarded towards the end, or around D-Day and only to currently serving crew, he will have left by then. Btw, his full name is Geoffrey Burton Boyce

In speaking to him last week, we are pretty sure (but not 100%) that he was on MTB227.

Thanks for the RN Disclosure Cell tip. I'll try that route.
Peter

[David Carter]

]Dear Peter
Thank you for your posts. I am pleased that your father is still here, we thought that there were no WW2 men still alive, as the last from our London Branch ‘crossed the bar’ last year. Please give him our good wishes.
You might like to see: Dartmouth History Research Group if you haven’t already about the free French flotillas.
Kind regards

David Carter

(Secretary CFVA London)