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#1
15-09-16, 05:24 PM
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David Niven,Phantom GHQ Liaison Regiment
HU 99822
Lieutenant-Colonel David Niven, the film actor, smiles for the photographer while sitting in a commandeered Citroen car with a Royal Engineers officer, during his service with Phantom GHQ Liaison Regiment in France. http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib...4888/large.jpg HU 99821 Lieutenant-Colonel David Niven, the film actor, sitting in a commandeered Citroen car with a Royal Engineers officer, while serving with Phantom GHQ Liaison Regiment in France. http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib...4887/large.jpg
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"There truly exists but one perfect order: that of cemeteries. The dead never complain and they enjoy their equality in silence." - “There are things we know that we know,” “There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know.” Donald Rumsfeld, before the Iraqi Invasion,2003. Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese. 
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#2
15-09-16, 05:50 PM
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Nice
What cap badge is he wearing? Rob
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#4
15-09-16, 06:12 PM
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tonyb - just pipped me to it
Good question. I thought I had read he was Highland Light Infantry but it is some time that I read his Biography 'The moon's a balloon'. That is what it says here too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Niven Looks like Rifle Brigade to me Yes - It says Rifle Brigade here: David Niven was named after the Saint's Day on which he was born, St. David, patron Saint of Wales. He attended Stowe School and Sandhurst Military Academy and served for two years in Malta with the Highland Light Infantry. At the outbreak of World War II, although a top-line star, he re-joined the army (Rifle Brigade). He did, however, consent to play in two films during the war, both of strong propaganda value--Spitfire (1942) and The Way Ahead (1944). In spite of six years' virtual absence from the screen, he came in second in the 1945 Popularity Poll of British film stars. On his return to Hollywood after the war he was made a Legionnaire of the Order of Merit (the highest American order that can be earned by an alien). This was presented to Lt. Col. David Niven by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. From memory Niven was also linked with Lochailort Special Training Centre for a brief time. I hope this helps (I will check some more) Mike
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#5
15-09-16, 06:19 PM
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Interesting photos.
No sign of the Phantom sign on his arms, only that of SHAEF. Jon
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#6
15-09-16, 06:20 PM
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I just found the Lochailort STC reference - APOLOGIES FOR THE COLOURFUL LANGUAGE
https://waryears.wordpress.com/david-niven/ David Niven In The Moon’s a Balloon, David Niven gives a brief account of his own experience of training at Lochailort. I reproduce an extract here: In the meantime, I was to report to a prohibited area in Scotland – Lochailort Castle in the Western Highlands for special training with the other volunteers. Volunteers usually fall into two groups. There are the genuinely courageous who are itching to get at the throat of the enemy, and the restless who will volunteer for anything in order to escape from the boredom of what they are presently doing. There were a few in my category but most of the people I was thrown together with were made of sterner stuff. Bill Stirling, Brian Mayfield and the Everest climber, Jim Gavin, were the founder members of the group. They were lately recovered from being depth-charged almost to death while returning in a submarine from some secret operation on the coast of Norway. Other instructors were David Stirling (younger brother of Bill), who later collected a record three DSOs for desert raids deep behind the enemy lines; ‘Mad Mike’ Calvert, a demolitions expert; Lord Lovat, who became the great commando leader of the Dieppe Raid and the Normandy landings, where he also lost half his stomach; Colonel Newman, who collected a Victoria Cross when he raided St. Nazaire and blew up the dock gates; the highly decorated Freddie Chapman, who spent three and a half years behind the Japanese lines in the Malayan jungle; and two very formidable Shanghai police, Mr. Sykes and Mr. Fairbairn, who concentrated on teaching us a dozen different ways of killing people without making any noise [Ed: the title of their book was ‘A Hundred Ways to Kill a Man’, which my father illustrated]. Volunteers of all ranks came from every conceivable outfit and were a tough adventurous group prepared for any hardship. Mixed with us, for a while, were the semi-mutinous remains of the independent companies, defeated in Norway and now awaiting either absorption into the Commandos or disbandment. The Regimental Sergeant Major of this rugged conglomeration was a huge man, brought by Brian Mayfield and Bill Stirling from their parent regiment, the Scots Guards. The first morning I was at Lochailort, this splendid creature passed me, ramrod straight and moustache bristling. He let fly a tremendous salute which I acknowledged. He replied to this with an unmistakable and very loud Bronx cheer or common raspberry. I spun round as if shot and shouted after him, ‘Sergeant Major!’ ‘SAH!’ ‘Come back here!’ ‘SAH!’ He came back, halted and snapped off another salute. ‘Did you make that rude noise?’ ‘YESSIR!’ ‘Why, may I ask?’ ‘Because you look such a cunt in a Rifle Brigade hat – SAH!’ Only then did I catch on – it was John Royal of Green Beer fame! While I gaped at him he said, ‘I heard you were coming … I have a room in a crofter’s cottage, name of Lachlan, just behind the kirk in the village – see you there this evening … SAH!’ Another Scots Guards salute and he was gone. John’s cottage was a godsend. Every evening, I repaired there and tried to forget my aching, bruised body and my ‘fleabag bed’ on the hard wooden floor of a loft, shared with forty or fifty others. John, after his problems in India, had found it impossible to obtain a commission so he had joined the Scots Guards as a guardsman and within a few months had risen to his present dizzy height. Later he became a parachutist and at last got back his commission as a glider pilot. He was killed at Arnhem.
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#7
16-09-16, 12:34 PM
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Quote:
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#8
16-09-16, 12:42 PM
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"The Moons a Balloon" is a superb read although it is some time since I last read it, time I think to read it again.
P.B. ( any Regiment except the Highland Light Infantry )
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Interested in all aspects of militaria/military history but especially insignia and history of non regular units with a Liverpool connection Members welcome in my private Facebook group “The Kings Liverpool Regiment ( 1685-1958 )”
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#9
16-09-16, 02:31 PM
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Quote:
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...verlay&first=1
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#11
26-12-16, 10:05 AM
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Quote:
After Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, Niven returned home and rejoined the British Army. He was alone among British stars in Hollywood in doing so; the British Embassy advised most actors to stay.[17] Niven was recommissioned as a lieutenant into the Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) on 25 February 1940,[18] and was assigned to a motor training battalion. He wanted something more exciting, however, and transferred into the Commandos. He was assigned to a training base at Inverailort House in the Western Highlands. Niven later claimed credit for bringing future Major General Sir Robert E. Laycock to the Commandos. Niven commanded "A" Squadron GHQ Liaison Regiment, better known as "Phantom". He worked with the Army Film Unit. He acted in two films made during the war, The First of the Few (1942) and The Way Ahead (1944). Both were made with a view to winning support for the British war effort, especially in the United States. Niven's Film Unit work included a small part in the deception operation that used minor actor M.E. Clifton James to impersonate General Sir Bernard Montgomery.
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Regards, Jerry
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#12
26-12-16, 11:46 AM
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A good chap and all that, but he did not readily admit to having tried his best c 1943/44 to convince the authorities that he could make a greater contribution to the war effort by returning to Hollywood rather than helping liberate Europe. A good try, but the authorities disagreed - hence his service in NW Europe (and the SHAEF sign on his arm). On a more cheerful note - if you visit the Spread Eagle, a pub on the National Trust Stourhead estate, you may find David Nivens's signature scratched - with a diamond ring I assume - on the window glass in the lounge. His Squadron was based at Stourhead early in the War.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...4o0&ajaxhist=0
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