This is my first post and here goes...
I am tying to put together a book for my mum which describes my dad's service in the Royal Navy during WW2. I have his service record, an old photo album and some recollections of what he told my mum, but like most service personnel from that era, there isn't a lot.
His name is George Buchanan and he joined up on the 25th August 1941 and did his training at Gravesend. On the 29th November 1941 he went from Pembroke to the Calpe and was part of the Dieppe raid, where on 19th August 1942, he was badly wounded and spent 3 months in hospital. In October 42 he is at the Coastal Forces Base Wildfire and finds himself on board the paddle steamer Golden Eagle.In January 43 he goes to officer training at King Alfred but doesn't make the grade(which I have never been able to understand, but I did love him a lot). He then spends 5/6 months at Victory and Pembroke and there is no clue to what he was doing. In Feb 43 he is sent to St Christopher in Fort William which is the coastal forces training base. On 19 May 43 he finally gets ML 214 and spends until September 44 presumably on the south coast. At some point he becomes coxswain. The only thing he told my mum about this time was that he once had to go into the coastal waters of France to pick up documents from the resistance. He never mentioned D Day but I assume he must have been there. In October 44 he and ML 214 are in Ceylon. I have a map which he drew of his journey and several photos of him on the little ship. He told my mum he was going round islands picking up POWs but I have a photo of him and some others of the crew guarding Japanese soldiers. He also picked up some Australian nurses who had been held prisoner and badly abused. My dad never really got over that exerience. Amongst his photos there is one of a French hospital ship moored in a harbour. In October 45 he transferred to ML 193 and on 23 Dec he was back at Pembroke. He was demobbed in May 46.
I have searched dozens of websites but can find no specific mention of ML 214 or how it ended up in Ceylon doing the job it was doing.
I would be extremely grateful if anybody could fill in the gaps and suggest what he might have been doing, both in Ceylon and in the channel. I am surprised that information about the little ships isn't more widely available.
I apologise if I have gone on a bit and hope that somebody can help. Thank you.