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Royal Navy divers honour WW2 frogmen from Devon who were key to liberation and peace in occupied Europe
16 May 2025
The hazardous work of sailors who paved the way for victory – and cleared the path for peace – has been recognised with memorial plaques in Devon.
As the Allies began liberating Europe from the Nazi yoke, specialist teams of Royal Navy divers were needed to clear beaches of obstacles so landing craft would not be ripped apart or blown up.
And once the fighting had moved inland, another team of divers was called upon to render ports safe of booby traps and unexploded ordnance.
Blue plaques now honour both teams – Landing Craft Obstruction Clearance Units or LCOCUs and P Parties – in the village of Appledore and fishing port of Brixham respectively thanks to the efforts of the Royal Navy divers who’ve served in the wartime men’s wake.
In the final months of WW2 – October 1944 until November 1945 – the small fishing port served as home to the P Parties. The 80th anniversary of VE Day served as a fitting date to dedicate the memorial plaque, supported by Torbay Civic Society.
Among those present were families of a dozen P Party men, including the widow of Peter Longhurst; at 101, Joan Longhurst proved to be the star of proceedings.
They joined local dignitaries and representatives of the RN diving community, headed by one of the RN’s most senior and experienced modern-day practitioners of mine warfare, Captain Al Nekrews who performed the honours of revealing the memorial.
That was followed by a poignant act as Capt Nekrews and veteran diver Ginge Fullen plunged into Brixham Harbour to place the ashes of Boyd Salmon – one of the last, if not the last P Party men, who died last year aged 100 – on the seabed beneath the plaque.
Capt Nekrews was on hand to do the same in Appledore 24 hours later. The village at the confluence of the Taw and Torridge Rivers played a key – and often overlooked – role in D-Day as home to the 120 men who learned how to neutralise Rommel’s comprehensive series of obstacles from Normandy’s beaches, allowing landing craft to put thousands of troops ashore on June 6 1944.
The descendants and relatives of seven of LCOCU members, including the granddaughter of CPO Douglas Reid who supervised 20,000 ‘dives’ while training men for their crucial missions at what was then HMS Appledore.
The plaque can be seen facing the river on the small stone hut next to the village’s RNLI station.