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The memorial dedication ceremony will be held on Thursday July 4th 2013 at 1.30 pm in the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire. For more information please click here.

New to Combined Operations? Click here for an easy to follow explanation. News & Information at the bottom of this page. This is an autonomous 'not for profit' website with 160 web pages, 2,000 photos  & 250,000 annual visits.Primary School


 ~ ABOUT THE WEB SITE ~

The website is "not for profit" and has no connection with any military or government organisation. Any income from memberships pays the running costs of the website with surplus funds used in support of forces' charities and the Combined Operations Memorial Fund. For more information visit the website's accounts page.

Donations specifically for the Combined Operations Memorial Fund go directly into the fund bank account which requires my signature and one other before the funds can be used.

Background Website Objectives Website Visits John Glen's War Service

Background

Combined Operations is one of the best kept secrets of WW2. Considering the enormity of its contribution to the war effort there was, and still is, little public awareness of this amazing and ubiquitous organisation. My interest was captured when, in the mid 1990s, my late father-in-law opened a Pandora's box of amazing events he was involved in while working under the Combined Operations Command in WW2.

He had been very secretive about his wartime service but, in 1991 a university student researching early land based radar visited the location of a WW2 radar station near Anstruther in Fife, Scotland. He chanced upon an elderly local man who knew little about the radar station but he knew someone who worked there in the early 40s. This was my father-in-law, John Glen. The student contacted John Glen for information and this was the start of a voyage to recall and record details of his war-time service.

At this time there was virtually no information about Combined Operations on the Internet and I set about writing a few web pages. What I had not anticipated was the extent of the interest in the subject and the support from veterans, their families, students and researchers, literally from around the world. From these modest beginnings the website has grown, and the final chapters are as elusive as ever! Grateful thanks to the countless contributors to the website since 2001 without whom it would not exist.

Website Objectives

The website aims to;

  •  preserve the memory of Combined Ops and the thousands of all nationalities who served,

  •  provide a notice board for the posting of questions, comments, opinions and answers to questions,

  •  publish articles, stories, anecdotes, reminiscences, diary entries, poems, photographs etc sent in by visitors to the site or from our own resources,

  •  provide links to other web sites specialising in the provision of relevant historical information, WW2 records and veterans' welfare,

  •  erect a National Memorial to Combined Operations in the grounds of the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England.

Website Visits

The success of the website is due, in no short measure, to the large number of contributions, advice and comment received from visitors. These have added greatly to the quality and diversity of the content (see List of Members for information on the major contributors). In 2011 the number of visits will be around 225,000.

John Glen's Wartime Service

My late father in law, John Glen, was a radar technician on board Fighter Direction Tender (FDT) 217 which, together with FDT 216 and FDT 13, provided radar cover for allied aircraft during the D-day landings of June 1944. Before his posting to Combined Ops he worked on top secret prototype and early operational radar stations around the coast of Scotland.

On FDT 217 he was in charge of a small team of five or six Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) volunteer servicemen and one or two British servicemen employed on radar and communications maintenance. Radar played a small but important role within the Combined Operations Command off the Normandy beaches.

There was no information about Combined Operations on the Internet when John Glen told me about his wartime service in the late 90s so I started work on the website in the late Autumn of 2000 and published the first pages in the Spring of 2001. Thanks to hundreds of contributions from veterans, their families and friends of Combined Operations, the website has grown into a significant record and educational resource for the benefit of future generations. So long as there is an interest in the website it will be available on line free of charge.

Thank you for your interest and for visiting the website.

Geoff Slee, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Normandy Programme of Events for 2013. A massive amount of information on commemorative events from Tuesday 4th of June to Sunday 9th of June courtesy of Bern and Fay Robins. Click here
Legasee Film Archive. As part of an exciting social history project, the film company Legasee is looking for veterans from any conflict who would like to have their stories filmed for posterity. This footage will be used to launch a unique online archive of interviews for use by schools, colleges and members of the public. Films are now available on line. Click here
A WW2 Prayer for Combined Operations to our Roll of Honour page. Click here
You can now Search for Books direct from our Books page. Don't have the name of a book? Just type in a keyword to get a list of possibilities... and if you want to purchase you can do so on line. Click here
Commando Veterans' Association - for those who wore the green beret for any time from 1940 to the present day. Associate membership also available. Click here

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