Hello!

[Peter Felton]

Hello all, delighted to have found this site.

A dear old friend passed away last Friday and I need to do what I can to ensure his active service with the Merchant Navy is respectfully noted at his funeral service to be held five days from now next Saturday 17 August. It will also be of comfort to his surviving relatives (mainly his now adult children) to have a deeper understanding of some of the realities of their father's life.

To be honest I am not sure whether to post here or in the more appropriate thread but here goes. Dennis 'Jeff' Jeffery served on ocean going salvage tugs during WWII. Typically, he was very reluctant to talk about his service years in which many of his mates died in dreadful circumstances. I suspect very strongly and with good reason that one the many pains he had to endure during the post war years after he was demobbed in Australia, was a lingering guilt at having 'unfairly' cheated death when so many of his close friends were not so fortunate.

I am proceeding now on the basis of very sketchy information which he passed on to me and his immediate family mainly in the last few years before his death last week.

His earlier deployment was in the Atlantic and North Sea. Some time further time the track, he was redeployed to the far East where again he was based at least for some of the time at Subic Bay and/or Hong Kong (?)

Name : Dennis Herbert Jeffery
Born: Staffordshire 22 October 1927

I would like to able to find out in time for this weekends funeral/memorial service near Sydney

His date of enlistment and Service Number.
Service record - The name of the MN unit to which he was attached.
Injury records if any
Service Medals and or Citations.
Any further information via this or other organisations of the was service history of the unit or units to which he was attached. It could be for example that there exists an active organisation of his former Merchant Navy mates with whom I would love to be able to make contact.

Date and place of discharge.

It would be great if anybody is able to help with the task of uncovering this information in the few days available.

[Ivan Cloherty]

The lads will do their best to help Peter, many including my father felt guilty at surviving even though suffering themselves, but the condition wasn't recognised then. Only a suggestion perhaps instead of flowers, if you are having any, then perhaps you could ask the attendees to make a donation to a Merchant Navy Wreath to be placed on your local War Memorial on 3rd September which is National/Commonwealth official 'Merchant Navy Day' each year which commemorates the 57000 Merchant Navy personnel who sacrificed their lives so that others could live. All MN personnel in WWII and other conflicts have been granted 'HM Armed Forces Veteran' status so everything should be okay. A wreath would ensure that Dennis's memory lives on in the appropriate place and that his service is correctly recognised.

[Jim Brady]

He would've only been a young lad when he seen this action,in fact would I be right in saying he would still be under 18 when the war finished.
Regards.
jim.B.

[Peter Felton]

Thank you Ivan for those thoughts. I will indeed aim to lay a wreath for 'Jeff' at the Merchant Navy Day Memorial Service on 3 September at Mosman. A great suggestion.

[Peter Felton]

Yes Jim I had not done the arithmetic but you must of course be correct. Prior to his enlistment he lived close to Ludlow where he went to school at Ashford Carbonell. I suspect he may have been in a hurry to leave home.

Your observations have already added a little bit of the picture I am trying to build. Thank you

[Mike Hall]

Peter,
I would like to welcome to our wonderful site.
Hopefully you will find what you are looking for.

Mike

[Mike Hall]

Peter,
I have had a look at the national archive records concerning his name and date of berth.
They are as follows
Dennis Herbert Jeffrey, Discharge book number R 323997 .
Date of birth given, 22/10/1927.
Place of birth, Enville, Stourbridge.

I do hope this helps

Mike

[Peter F Chard]

This is slightly off topic so I will apologise now. Peter, the middle initial in my name stands for Felton. My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Felton and she hailed from Everton. Have you done any family history on the name ? Regards Peter F Chard, Auckland NZ.

[Peter Felton]

It does indeed help Mike thank you. There is a slight variation to the spelling of the surname which I have as 'Jeffery'. Can you confirm the spelling you found was "JEFFREY" rather than "JEFFERY" ?

[Peter Felton]

Peter
There is some family history available on the tree I have assembled at ancestry.com . My Australian branch of the family are descendents of Maurice Appleby Felton of Hinckley Leicestershire who emigrated with wife and children in 1839. If you Private Message your email address to me I will send you an invite to access it. Cheers