Rating, Beach Commando 'W', Royal Canadian Navy, 1944
The Royal Canadian Navy had only one unit that bore the famous designation 'commando'. Beach Commando 'W' was trained to go ashore in the dark before the first assault troops. Their mission was to secure beach area and send out signals with information about the conditions for landing. Despite months of training in Scotland, the Canadians were not sent ashore on D-Day. They landed three days later to relieve Beach Commando 'P,’ a British unit. They spent many weeks as troubleshooters and traffic police, guiding landing craft to safely ashore and sending men and equipment to their destinations. This rating is shown in 1942-issue British battle dress, wearing the new Mk III helmet and carrying a Lanchester machine gun. The unit wore the Combined Operations Patch as well as 'Canada' flashes on the upper arm. Reconstruction by Ron Volstad. (Canadian Department of National Defence) (www.cmhg.gc.ca) 
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