Hello All,
I am new to this forum but wanted to share with everyone a picture that my father took while serving with the US Navy's PT Squadron #15 in the Mediterranean in 1944. The picture depicts two British officers (and one American) and was taken sometime in the Spring or early Summer of 1944 in Bastia, Corsica.
Does anyone have any idea who these British officers might be?
My father, Lieutenant Robert A. Dearth, was a replacement "skipper" on PT 218 and "Ron" 15 was under the overall command of the British Coastal Forces in that theater of war. Indeed, as is mentioned often in Dudley Pope's book "Flag 4", the commander of the British MTB/MGB flotillas at that time, Lieutenant Commander Robert Allan, often used PT 218 as his command vessel during various interdiction operations along the coast of Italy in the Spring of 1944, most of which included a number of MTBs and other British coastal forces craft.
Unfortunately, my father's PT, along with a companion PT, were hit by mines on August 16th, 1944 during "Operation Dragoon", the invasion of Southern France, and sunk. After a harrowing night of swimming ashore and avoiding German positions, both sets of crews were finally able to make it to the advancing Allied lines and were "safe".
In any event, I hope you enjoy the photo and my best wishes to everyone on this forum and especially to the veterans involved.
Yours truly,
Jeffrey Dearth
Washington, DC