Levant Schooner Flotilla

Black Hawk Down
Black Hawk Down
By Mark Bowden
In Action with the SAS: Updated Edition of SAS: Phantoms of the Jungle
In Action with the SAS: Updated Edition of SAS: Phantoms of the Jungle
By David Horner
The plaque to Martin Solomon has now been installed on the exterior wall of the Leigh on Sea Heritage centre, organised by myself and donated by Jerry Klinger of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, UK branch

Martin Sugarman (Archivist of AJEX and Author)
 
Newshound15 said:
Martin Solomon was my great uncle by marriage. Indeed, the death was very suspicious.
Click to expand...
Do you know where he is buried? It is thought he may have had PTSD and took sleeping pills at night; his death appears to have been an overdose accident, perhaps after a night's drinking, according to press at the time, BUT if he was an MI6 agents then it may have been the enemy
 
Hello, is this the sam ship that is mentioned in this thread, ( H M S Shiel Levant Flotilla ), if so my grandfather also served as a cook,rank leading hand,
 
killy said:
Hi,

You're welcome, glad you found them of interest. I have added the obituary for Alexander McLeod DSC, who also served with the Levant Schooner Flotilla.

I would love to see the photos of LS7.


Best wishes,

Ian
Click to expand...
Sorry for the poor quality but attached is a picture of LSF7 and crew taken in Chios. The Captain was Albert Priestly R.N.V.R from Cleethorpes and crew, Stoker C Topple from London, Curley Crichley from Broken Hill Rhodesia and my father Arthur Robinson who all took part in activities across the Aegean including the 1944 raid Operation Tenement on Symi.


https://imgur.com/a/ll3cprw
 
killy said:
Hi Mike,

Is the third photo of Crichley ?


Cheers Ian
Click to expand...
Ian,
No that’s Stoker Topper from London. I will check if I have a photo of Curley Chrichley and let you know. I do have a photo of Leading Seaman Dickie Daws who I think was in one of the books I have Dust upon the Sea by Benyon-Tinker. Again I will fish it out. Regards Mike
 
Hi Mike,

Many thanks, it is brilliant to see photos of the men involved in these units and to put faces to names.


Best regards,

Ian
 
Dear John, I wrote a little about Martin Solomon in my own book (George Jellicoe, SAS ans SBS commander). some info came from Thomas Harder, some other from some correspondence from Bruce McComish to my father.
 
John Lee said:
I hope that I am not joining this party too late. I recently had a book published "A Grateful Nation Soon Forgot" from which I learned of an heroic RNVR Sub. Lieut. Martin Solomon who distinguished himself on raids throughout the Agean often together with Dane, Anders Lassen VC., MC** under Lord George Jellicoe's command. I am now writing about Martin Solomon and have bought many books that I am working through that mention him but as he was SOE SIS he acted as anonymously as possible. I am also hampered by the fact that WWII service histories are not to be released for 100 years. Not much help to a researcher! Today, 11th October 2023 my copy of Benyon Tinker's Dust Upon the Sea arrived after months of waiting. It is brilliant for connecting LFS numbered caiques to people but is short on details of their raids. The other books I have are: Adrian Seligman "No Stars to Guide" 1947 (very flowery and written like a novel); Adrian Seligman "War in the Islands" 1996 (very informative but like his other books has no index); John Lodwick "Raiders from the Sea 1947 with foreward by Lord Jellicoe; Richard Capell War "Simiomata" a Greek Notebook 1944-1945 (War Correspondent) 1946?; Artemis Cooper "Patrick Leigh Fermor" 20212; Geoffrey Elliott "A Forgotten Man" John Lodwick 2017; JEA Father of Geoffrey Appleyard "The Story of Apple" 1947; Henry Maude "Scobie, Hero of Greece" The British Campaign 1944 - 1945. 1975; Lew Lind "Flowers of Rethymon" Escape from Greece 1991; David Saul "SBS Silent Warriors" 2021; Noel Baker MP "Greece The Whole Story" (only 64 pages) 1946; Julia Jones "Uncommon Courage" The Yachtsmen Volunteers of WWII 2022; Mike Langley "Anders Lassen of the SAS VC, MC ?; Thomas Harder "Special Forces Hero" Anders Lassen VC, MC** (Incredibly well researched and with index and ref to sources) mentions his close relationship with Martin Solomon 2021; Benyon Tinker "Dust upon the Sea" 1947.

Does anyone have information about Martin Solomon. He had his own team who had mapped the coast of all of the Agean islands and for this reason joined with Lassen and a force of raiders to sabotage German installations and supplies as well as killing or capturing many. Solomon is reported to have gone to Atlit (Palestine) where the British under their anti-semitic Home Secretary in 1945 refused to release Jewish refugees and assisted in their release. Many were survivors of the Holocaust. Needless to say Martin Solomon was Jewish but also a great British subject. After demob he had a business at Pye of Cambridge but with itchy feet he volunteered for Korea. In January 1956 he married Vida Wasteson Bendix a Spanish Norwegian singer / dancer but three months later was found dead in his bed at the Crillon Hotel in Madrid in suspicious circumstances. He was only 41. He was undoubtedly an MI6 agent and I wonder if this had something to do with his death. As you can see I have a lot of research to do but also lots of leads to work on.

Sorry for the length of this. Question to IF. I live at Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. We had a local dentist named Fozzard. As it is an unusual name I wonder if there is any connection.

John Lee
Click to expand...
Martin Solomon was my great uncle by marriage. I’m a little vague on his SBS activities, but can help on other matters.
 
Top