by Mehlo, Noel
I asked Mr. Copeland if he remembered my grandpa. He said that he did. He stated, “He was a good man. He took his job seriously. He took care of his men.” He told me that he did not know him in the 35th Infantry Division, and that they first became acquainted after joining the Rangers. He told me they were both Privates. He indicated that as he recalled, he was a PFC and Herb was a Private.
He went on to tell of another man who had come in as a Sergeant. He could not recall his name. He recounted that he and Herb had become good friends. He went on to say that they eventually rose in the ranks to Staff Sergeant, while the Sgt did not get promoted. Mr. Copeland said that he and Herb use to joke with the Sgt that “he and Herb were the brains of the outfit” joking with him about why they rose in rank above him. He went on to say again “they were great friends.”
I asked him why Grandpa Hull got promoted so quickly. He told me that he got promoted for being a good soldier. Their last promotion to Staff Sergeant was together in Scotland. He said that “They were both well thought of in the Rangers.” He told me that Herb had a machine gun squad of around twelve men. He said that “He always took care of his men and he placed them ahead of himself.” He restated that they were good friends.
On February 4th, 1944, ten Sergeants were promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant in B Company. These men were: James R. Copeland, Vern L. Detlefsen, Pierre D, Gunnoe, Herbert S. Hull, Edward J. McEleney, Walter N. McIlwein, Gordon R. Powell, Surowitz, Thornhill, and Grady J. West. Four Rangers also were promoted from Corporal to Sergeant.
The Friendly Invasion of Leominster describes that the War Department had requisitioned land on the then western outskirts of town. The Army then built a nissen hut camp on land adjacent to Green Lane. The battalion or part of it was reported to have been billeted at this location.
The book describes how in one training event, a group of Rangers was woken up in the middle of the night and transported about an hour from camp in the back of a truck under blackout conditions. The men were then told to get out of the truck and shown a map briefly with no place names. Their Captain told them they were in enemy territory and that they had to make their way back to the barracks for morning assembly. This group of Rangers then set off in the English countryside on their own devices to make their way back. They put their heads together and made some educated guesses as to where they were. They used the training from their previous training cycles to use and made their way back. They “captured” a local minister and his wife, ultimately befriending them. They then used the church steeple to get the lay of the land and complete their return journey. This was typical of accounts of training while there.1
Figure 142: 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion, B Company Morning Report, February 4, 1944 Figure 143: Map of Leominster drawn by S/Sgt Hull in February, 1944. The training cycle at Leominster included cliff scaling, rappelling, rope bridge crossing and various field exercises. S/Sgt Hull drew the map on the preceding page, undoubtedly for one such exercise. This would have been drawn between February 4 and February 29, 1944 based on his rank noted on the map (Figure 143). This document had been folded and tucked away in some of his papers that my aunt provided to me shortly after sending me his uniform in 2012. It provided valuable research clues into his history in the unit. A close examination of the map reveals Leominster in the north and Wellington in the south of the map. A direct comparison between this map and the ordinance survey maps reveals that this hand drawn map is intricate in detail. It notes a large area noted as Battalion area bounded by present day Monkland Road (A44) to the north, Wellington Wood to the south, Hereford Road (A49) to the east and A4110 to the west. There was a smaller Battalion area noted in and around Brierly Wood and Camp Wood in the northern portion of the area. This just goes to show how small, seemingly unimportant bits of information can develop into extremely important leads telling a much larger story. But for the map, I might not have known to look for his promotion between December 1943 and February, 1944.
In a conversation with General Raaen, he described his time at Leominster in the following way. “Wellington is about seven plus miles south of Leominster (pronounced Lemster). During the time I was there, late January into April, I think, I never went to the training areas. I was always on the road, picking up vehicles, weapons and other equipment for the battalion. We brought nothing except clothing and other personal items on the Mauritania.
As for billeting, I think we were all in town. Some in warehouses, some in private homes. At least headquarters company and the officers were billeted in town. There were two pubs in town. The larger, the Royal Oak, was reserved for enlisted men. The smaller, can't remember the name, was due west of the Royal Oak, a couple of blocks and on the main east west street and was reserved for the officers. Both were small hotels.” Upon sending him a copy of the map my Grandpa had drawn, he responded to me that he thought my Grandpa was a very good map maker.
Victor Miller told a story of the Rangers killing one of His Majesty’s swans in a field that stood between the men and their objective, a local pub near Wales. The men did not know that wildlife in England belongs to the King, and that is quite against the law to kill it.
In another instance, there were a series of altercations between men of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion and African American soldiers from a Quartermaster unit that was stationed in the area over racial tensions. It is unknown how involved the Rangers were in these fights, but the result was that the military leadership began to alternate days between white and black units being able to go to the local establishments. There reportedly was a raid of the Quartermaster unit, but the Rangers denied all knowledge of the incident according to the book by Collins.
The Rangers completed their training cycle at Leominster on February 29, 1944 and then they boarded a train at 1530 hours. They arrived in Thornhill Dumfriesshire, Scotland at 2345 hours, after travelling a distance of 250 miles.
11 VACATIONING IN SCOTLAND
After training hard at Leominster, the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion departed on February 29 for Tighnabruaich, Scotland. They had an overnight layover in Dumfriesshire, Scotland arriving at 2345 hours after travelling 260 miles by rail. They departed by train at 0015 hours on March 1 and travelled about 90 miles by rail north to Greenock, Scotland and arrived at 0235 hours. From Greenock, they travelled 30 miles by water aboard the T.S.S. Santonia and sailed out the Firth of Clyde to the village of Tighnabruaich. They embarked at 0245 hours and arrived at 1000 hours. I was unable to determine any additional information about the T.S.S Santonia listed in the B Company Morning Report. I was able to determine that T.S.S means Turbine Steam Ship. This class of vessels began to appear around the 1890s. It would have made sense to me to make use of these vessels to ferry people in and around the British Isles.
General Raaen told me that the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion “trained at Tighnabruach, Auchenlochan and Kames, three small villages on the Ardlamont peninsula. The Second on the Isle of Wight, as I recall without looking up references. The 5th was under the West Scottish Command, whatever that was. Commandos were heavily involved in our training.” In looking up the facts of this communication to expand upon it, I was able to map the three locations on the 1940 Ordinance Survey of Scotland Popular Edition as shown in Figure 146. I also uncovered two postcards on the next page showing the area from opposing directions (Figures 144 and 145). We continued our dialogue at a later date reviewing the new research and he recalled additional information. “Our training area extended from Kames to the west some 1500 meters (perhaps more), then south 5 km to the Ardlamont Bay. I remember standing on the bluffs overlooking Ardlamont Bay and having a Scottish Commando Officer pointing out the distant shore to the south of us. He said that's Campbelltown where the hated (and dreaded) Campbells live. The Campbells used to raid the Ardlamont Peninsula and carry off loot and women”.
What is known from various written accounts is that the Rangers trained in Scotland for a one month training cycle. The accounts
indicate that the Rangers trained at a site of British Commando Training and that the Commandos had a direct role in this training. General Raaen recalled that “the 5th was under the West Scottish Command”. He also told me that the Commandos had been heavily involved in the Ranger’s training. In researching the West Scottish Command, I was able to determine a few things, but what I will present here is not factually backed at this point by hard records, and presents an opportunity for additional research from the British side of things.
Research suggests that the area in and around Tighnabruaich was used by the British as a formal training base during World War II. There was a property known as Glen Caladh Castle or Glen Caladh House that lay on the approach to Loch Riddon on the western side and north of the Isle of Butte.1 The history of the castle included famous British owners such as railway engineer George Stephenson (1781-1848), with possible undocumented ties to the famous author Robert Louis Stevenson.2 The property was reportedly demolished in 1960 having succumbed to neglect and dry rot.3 The British government requisitioned the castle and an unspecified amount of land in and around Tighnabruaich for use as a training base by British Combined Operations sometime during 1942.4 The base was commissioned on November 11, 1942 and was in operation until September 9, 1945. Like many British training bases used for these types of purposes, the facility was organized and run as if a Royal Navy vessel. This is not unlike the
Figure 144: SJX Early Postcard, Tignabruaich from East, Kyles of Bute; Argyllshire, Scotland; (public domain)
Figure 145: Kyles of Bute at Tighnabruaich - from original by Brian Gerlad - No.A.796, circa 1934 (public domain)
Figure 146: Map showing areas described in the email above. Auchenlachen, Kames and Tighnabruaich are circled. Ordinance Survey of Scotland Popular Edition, Sheet 65 – Dunoon and Loch Fynne
organization of Fort Pierce, Florida in the United States. It was designated H.M.S. James Cook in honor of the Founder of Australia. James Cook had introduced many navigational skills into the Royal Navy, and the use of his name was reflective of the training conducted at the facility. The training developed at this facility included that of instructing operators of troop landing craft how to land cargoes of men and equipment safely. This facility or portions thereof became known as the Beach Pilotage School from 1942 until 1945 and in March 1944, was under the command of Major General Robert Laycock.
Glen Caladh Harbour is located to the east and just below the castle. It is also refereed to as Caladh Harbour and is in the Kyles of Bute just off the Cowal peninsula, north of the Isle of Bute. The small island of Eilean Dubh shelters the harbor (Secret Scotland website). The etymology of the name of the island comes from Scottish Gaelic meaning Black Island. Eilean Dearg is situated to the north and the Burnt Islands are to the east.5
The Munros Mountains are the highest mountains in Scotland. They rise to over 3000 feet, which considering that Scotland is a series of islands collectively with the remainder of Great Britain are not much larger geographically than Pennsylvania is impressive in terms of relief on the landscape. Tighnabruaich is in this region of Scotland.
There does not seem to be much source material available regarding the H.M.S. James Cook. I have already indicated it was headquartered out of the Glen Caladh Castle. One report of the HMS Cook was that the base specialized in training for canoe-based operations. It has been indicated that they trained in “clandestine reconnaissance of enemy-held beaches ahead of amphibious assaults to check for underwater obstacles, enemy defenses, beach load-bearing capacities, etc.” It is believed HMS James Cook primarily served as a landing craft training base, and offered navigation courses leading up to D-Day. There are several names and designations that seem to refer to it, although I have been unable to determine which of these the official one was. Names associated with it are:
H.M.S. James Cook, Combined Operations Beach Training Establishment H.M.S. James Cook, Naval Beach Training Establishment
H.M.S. James Cook, Beach Pilotage School
The Naval Beach Training Establishment providing training in the practice and theory of Navigational Training for officers of minor landing craft flotillas. It is said that many of the British personnel referred to the HMS Cook as the “Ton of Bricks”. The address for the facility was HMS James Cook, Combined Operations Training Establishment, Glen Caladh, Nr Tighnabruaich, Argyll, Scotland.
The British first introduced the term “combined operations” during the Second World War. It refers to multiservice activities. It may include elements of land, naval and air forces acting together under a single coordinated command. This thought serves as the basis for both British and later American Special Warfare doctrine. The single command came to be known as the Combined Operations Headquarters in the British system.6 It was established on July 17, 1940. The British War Office set up the Combined Operations Headquarters in order to plan and execute harassment of the German forces on the European continent through raiding. The Command had the task of strategizing operations, training and outfitting the units to be utilized during these raids. The command also expanded in scope to cover all those units and personnel involved in landing craft operations. The insignia of the Combined Operations was an eagle over a submachine gun over an anchor. This emblem symbolized the nature of combined operations. It was the basis for the U.S. Amphibious Forces patch (Figure 147).
Figure 147: British Combined Operations badge The Western Scottish Command that General Raaen referred to in our discussions appears to be in reference to the British Scottish Command in defense of the United Kingdom. This seems to not be dissimilar to the commands set up in the U.S. during the war. This command seems to be the British Army structure that was charged with homeland defense. It was organized geographically. The area around Tighnabruaich seems to fall within the subcommand that General Raaen referred to. It makes sense then that the Rangers would have fallen under this command while training in Scotland for logistical and other purposes.
Not much physically remains of the HMS James Cook. An amateur explorer and photographer documented what remains on his personal blog by Douglas Wilcox.5 He documented a rusting hulk of a derrick that lies in Glen Caladh Harbour. In the Wilcox exchange of information, he and others describe that the HMS James Cook was a shore based station for training landing craft crew. He explained that exercises in the Kyles of Bute and the surrounding area prepared servicemen to land on D-Day. Further discussion surrounded the British Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPPs) training at Tighnabruaich. Mr. Wilcox’s blog also described Commando training near the Spean Bridge involved canoes. This might be an excellent topic to research in more detail in the future, as there does not seem to be enough developed about it.
There are several pictures that depending upon who has written a description of them attribute them to Ranger training in Scotland. It is unknown if these pictures are of the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion, but they are presented here as a point of reference to their training.
Figure 148: Ranger training in Scotland (left) and Rangers practicing assault landings in Scotland (right)(NARA) The 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion accounts of the training at Scotland are limited, but consistent. They describe a training phase that “the Rangers have never stopped discussing”7 and “Scotland in March was a month of activities none of us will ever forget.”8 As previously stated, all of the accounts indicated that this site was a location of British Commando training and that the Commandos were heavily involved in the Ranger’s training. It is unknown which specific Commando unit or units were involved with the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion in March 1944. It was reported that this region had two or three inches of snow on the ground when the Rangers arrived and that it was cold. All of the accounts seem to discuss the need for stoves in the quarters. The men shared a mess hall located along the coast, and had to make their way to it to eat. Some of the men made other arrangements during this time. Some of them broke bread with their hosts. Figures 148-150 show some of the rigors of Ranger t
raining in Scotland.
The British War Ministry billeted military personnel in private homes under order of the King. For any student of American history, this was one of the chief complaints against the crown during the American Revolution, resulting ultimately in the Third Amendment of the United States Constitution as part of the Bill of Rights. This Amendment was in direct response to the British Quartering Acts passed by British Parliament during the Revolutionary War. The Third Amendment States: No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. For the Rangers in World War II, this little connection with our own national history was probably the furthest thing from their minds.
Ranger JR Copeland recalled “Without question, the Commando training prepared them for the difficult task ahead,” in his biography. He went on to say that the Rangers had never experienced any training like the British Commando training before.9 This statement is pretty telling considering the training the men had undergone to date. The training included difficult marches and field problems in the Scotland countryside. This was described as the most tiring training endured by any soldier. Several of the Rangers, and the U.S. Army itself would later credit this training as being the reason that the Rangers succeeded on D-Day and later missions. Both Richard Hathaway and Victor Miller recall stories of live fire exercises that involved scaring, wounding or killing local livestock. They also reported scaring local residents with live fire on more than one occasion.
