Marines

Royal Marine James McConnell's Funeral Attended By 200 Mourners After Vicar's Facebook Plea

More than 200 strangers attended the funeral of a former Royal Marine after a vicar put out a plea on Facebook amid fears that he would be buried without mourners.

James McConnell died last month at the age of 70 and staff at his care home in Southsea, Hampshire, thought they would be the only people at his funeral as he did not have any close family.

But after Reverend Bob Mason posted a message on Facebook and contacted the Royal Marines Association, hundreds of people braved the freezing temperatures to attend the ceremony at Milton Cemetery in Portsmouth.

A small procession through the cemetery was led by Royal British Legion standard bearers followed by a group of flag-bearing motorcycles.

The service concluded with two buglers from the Royal Marines Band Service playing the Last Post.

Mason said to the congregation: "The great majority of you who have come here today did not know James McConnell but wanted him to have a dignified farewell.

"I thank you for that kindness and generosity of spirit."

Danny Marshall, a former Royal Marine, said he attended because the corps was an extended family.

He said: "It was mentioned wrongly that he did not have family; the corps family is bigger and better and than most people would know about.

"We are all family and always will be."

The message posted on Facebook by Mason read: "It is tragic enough that anyone has to leave this world with no-one to mourn their passing.

"I am sure you will agree he deserves a better send-off."

Mason said he received a "marvellous response from around the country" following the appeal.

and saw this earlier today as well:

Yeah i would say that the US really doesnt have an equivalent force to that of the RM commandos. I think they would be more alin to a maritime version of army rangers. A special operations CAPABLE force, meaning they are slightly more well trained in light infantry than normal "line units," and are good at working in support of special operations forces. Marine force recon sort of fits that bill, but they only work in support larger marine forces, and marsoc has been designed more like a true spec ops unit as a part of jsoc

Good story. Glad to see the turnout.

Sounds alot like the way our Marines feel........once a Marine, Always a Marine and all are family.

The Royal Marines were formed as part of the Naval Service in 1755. But it can trace its origins back as far as 1664 when the Duke of York and Albanys maritime regiment of foot was first formed.

They fought at Bunker Hill during our American Revolution.
They fought during the Napoleanic wars and in ever sea battle back then.
They fought in China during the Opium Wars and during the Boxer Rebellion.
In WW1 the Royal Marines landed in Belgium in 1914 to help defend Antwerp and later took part in the amphibious landing at Gallipoli in 1915.
They also fought in many many campaigns during WW2 where they evolved and began to operate much like our own US Marine Corps, more infantry-like (though they still maintained a Commando capability.

After 1945 Royal Marines began training British Commandos and these Commandos have been in many operations around the globe.

From what I can tell, these guys are among the best the world have to offer and it appears that they have much the same capabilities as our own US Navy Seals.

I wouldnt go that far. And now days all royal marine infantry go by commando. If any similar unit to the usn seals were to exist in the uk, it would have to be the sas. Theres just a huge difference in missions. They may have most of the same insertion and extraction methods as the spec ops guys (like the army rangers) but they carry out larger scale green ops, whereas true spec ops units typically carry out smaller unit missions and black ops, and are far better trained and equipped than a spec ops capable unit. Put it this way. If seal team 6 and delta are tier 1, then the regular seals, green berets, and marsoc would be tier two, and the rm commandos would be a tier 3 unit along with the army rangers, 82nd airborne and british para units.

I see your point. Although would you rank the Green Berets ahead of the US Army Rangers? I'd have thought they would have similar capabilities.

I love military history and reading about all this stuff.

I would definately rank the green berets as a step a ove the rangers, as many green berets come from the rangers. But again completely different missions. The rangers and 82nd would be more along the lines of larger formation shock troops. Now the rangers can insert and extract by just about every method short of subs and mini subs, a la the seals. The rangers and 82nd AB are good at taking airfields and other larger enemy installations. But as a spec ops capable unit, they also help out our spec ops guys when they need larger numbers, just as they did in mogadishu.

Put it this way, theyre just a bump above regular infantry.

I do hear that marsoc may have or be qorking on a tier 1 unit. And just for the re ord the wholetier thing simply refers to a units proficiency at counter terrorism/ hostage rescue.

I think theres a tier 0 unit the us has, we just dont know its name unlike team 6 and delta. Force

I believe the special boat squadrons or sbs (the equivelant of the USN SWCC or "swick" crews who ferry the seals into and out of harms way) are also made up of RM commandos. I also know the royal army has the para regiments, which are in the same mold as the both the 82nd airborne and the modern 101st air assault divisions, but idk if there are any such units in the royal marines or not.

Here's something I didnt realize. Seal Team 6...is actually a top tier CIA group. I'd always thought it was just another part of the USN Seals.

Also, the Seal Team 6 moniker is no longer official. That name was retired back in '87 or so. The actual name is The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (or NSWDG...or sometimes DEVGRU).

I heard they dont even go by devgru anymore, but some other classified title now