Unveiling of Portrait of ‘P’ Party Member William Brunskell
20 Jul 2026 - I’ve just returned from DDS (Defence Diving School) on Horsea Island where a photo of AB William Brunskell was unveiled this morning in the Officers, Warrant Officers & Senior Rates Mess in the presence of several of his descendants, including his daughter Joan Brown and granddaughter Karen East.
William Brunskell was the only member of the wartime ‘P’ Parties, responsible for clearing the newly liberated European ports of unexploded ordnance and debris, to be killed when a German V2 rocket landed on the Cinema Rex in Antwerp, Belgium where he was watching a film on 16 December 1944. He was pulled from the rubble but died on 19 December and is buried in Schoonselhof Cemetery in Antwerp.
The morning began with briefings about DDS and the Diving branch by Cdr Damian ‘Slatts’ Slattery and WO(D) Nobby Clark.
We then visited the memorial garden where Five Bells were rung in William Brunskell’s memory and the family saw their ancestor’s memorial plaques..
Our party then mustered in the mess for a presentation about the ‘P’ Parties by ex-CD Mike O'Meara, Chairman of the HDS (Historical Diving Society).
Finally, the framed photo of William Brunskell was unveiled by Damian Slattery and Nobby Clark after which Joan was presented with the covering white ensign.
Huge kudos to legendary ex-CD Ginge Fullen QGM for his diligence in tracking down Joan and Brunskell’s other descendants and arranging such a poignant ceremony. He has written about the ‘P’ Parties in one of his divers’ chronicles and was responsible for last year’s unveiling of a blue plaque in their honour at their wartime base, HMS VERNON(D) in Brixham.
Ginge Fullen, Mike O’Meara and John Dadd had hosted the Brunskell descendants at the HDS Diving Museum at Stokes Bay yesterday.
Ginge’s next coup will be the unveiling of a blue plaque in Gibraltar on 19 September commemorating the divers of the wartime UWWP (Under Water Working Party) who confronted the Italian Decima MAS human torpedo-riding divers that attacked shipping anchored in the bay.