Our story
The Full Story
Our Inspiration and Our Mission
Inspiration
In 2017 our founder and commanding officer Commodore White settled down to watch a documentary on the Royal Navy Beach Assault Commandos. Being a former Royal Navy Commando himself he was hooked from the opening titles until the end credits rolled. As tales of daring do, and contemporary footage flashed across his screen he was captivated by this brave body of men.
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During the documentary there was an interview with one of the surviving members of Commando ‘R’ Leading Seaman Ken Oakley. The interviewer asked “Do you have any regrets Ken?” his reply resonated with the boss and has stayed with him from that day to this. ”History forgot us."
How could history forget the actions of these brave men? That was the question in the boss’s mind, as he threw himself into research about these brave men, reading every text he could find to gain more and more detail.
The boss then set about gathering equipment and men, 3 at first, and with 3 men and a tent, they attended their first show.
At Tutbury Castle in 2018, the Royal Navy Beach Assault Commandos, and No6 Beach Group LHG was born.
Since then we have grown from those beginnings to a multi award winning group numbering on a full turn out over 35 members, and still growing.
Our Mission
Our mission is a simple one to ensure that the actions of the Royal Navy Commandos and No6 beach group are remembered and that future generations will know of the sacrifices that these men made for their freedom.
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What we do
We have been described as “A group of enthusiastic and knowledgeable historians”, we aim to not just talk about history but to bring it to life. When we put on our uniforms we become the people that we represent, we live their lives, and tell their individual stories.
We represent Royal Navy Commando ‘R’ and No6 Beach group, which drew personnel from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force, conducting final kit checks and briefings ahead of the most audacious operations of the Second World War. Operation Neptune. D-Day.
We display an extensive and still growing collection of period accurate weapons, explosives, and equipment, and give detailed talks on their use, the great thing though. you can actually handle the kit, and feel what it would have been like to carry and use it.
We don’t just focus on the men though. There are plenty of stories to be told about the bravery and actions of the women at war also. To that end we have representatives from The Women’s Royal Naval Service (Wrens), Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), and also the civilian services The Royal Observer Corps (ROC), Women’s Land Army (WLA) and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY)