Messages posted by: John Martin

Thank you very much, Pete, for posting this interview. I had never seen it before. It provides yet one more reminder of what a wonderful human being Jimmy was.

This will now provide the most wonderful lasting legacy.
Very well done indeed.
John Martin

As Pete knows, the Brigadier scored a well deserved whole page obituary in The Times today. He clearly lived a charmed life. It recounts that, in his time, he survived "a landmine, a bullet, a rhino and a faulty parachute"! His love a animals also features. A charming photograph shows him in his later years watching TV with an owl on his head. There can be no doubt that he combined utmost bravery with delightful eccentricity. If only there were more of his ilk these days.

In 2007, Jeremy Clarkson - on that occasion quietly impressive - produced for, and presented on, BBC TV a programme on Operation Chariot. It was widely acclaimed. One of those interviewed was Bill "Tiger" Watson. He came across as a quietly humorous, totally modest and self-effacing man. (All of those interviewed in one way or another shone, as you might expect.) What I did not realise until I read his obituary was that he was also - in his post war years as a doctor - an entire force for good. His kind are sorely missed.

I hope that this will be successful.

If it is, you will find attached a short but rather amusing piece about Captain Bryan from The Daily Telegraph that also appeared in yesterday's Sunday Times.

Col Thorburn later went on to command 1 KOSB in Aden between 1962 and 1964.

Sadly, the death on 9th July 2017 of Col Alastair Thorburn, late of the King's Own Scottish Borderers and 4 Commando, has been announced in The Times. Col Thorburn was aged 96. His funeral is to take place at St Andrew's Parish Church, Farnham, Surrey at 11.30 am on 4th August 2017. Captain Thorburn, as he then was, commanded A Troop 4 Cdo during the Normandy campaign and 1 Troop 4 Cdo during the Walcheren campaign and afterwards. Major James Dunning, in his book "The Fighting Fourth", recounts that he gained the endearing nickname of "Bambi" from his men when mountain training in the Cairngorms. My late uncle served under him in 1 Troop, and described him as a very popular officer. I received a very gracious reply from Col Thorburn when I wrote to him many years ago telling him of my uncle's death.

The US has had similar legislation in place since, I believe, 2014.

That said, there do seem to be much more structured ties in that country between the armed services and their former members.

John

I, too, was very sorry to hear of your father's death, Jools.

As you will see from Pete's very thoughtful entry above, I had the pleasure of meeting him in Normandy on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day.

From memory, I think that until then he had not met up with my late uncle - nor Duncan McCubbin and Bill Johnson who also served with him in C Troop 4 Cdo - since the end of the conflict.

I also remember him telling me a very amusing story of how his career as a stuntman started very soon after 4Cdo was disbanded.

Best wishes,

John Martin

Good morning again, Shelagh.

I am sorry for the piecemeal approach, but I have been doing some scratching around.

In the same area, you will find memorials to 3 Cdo in Petiville and Merville - Franceville.

(The latter contains the site of the Merville Battery, where two troops were detached from 3 Cdo to help retake the battery from German forces.)

Throughout this spell, the CO of 3 Cdo was Lt Col Peter Young.

Close to Amfreville there is a very touching - aren't they all - Commonwealth war cemetery in Ranville where in addition to airborne forces a number of Commando soldiers also lie buried.

Again, I hope that this helps.

Yours,

John

Good morning, Shelagh.

From memory, there is a memorial to 3 Cdo in the village of Amfreville sited on the grassy square in the middle of the village, close to the church and the Saulnier farm.

(It is some years since I have been there.)

Amfreville is quite close to the ferry terminal in Ouistreham, and even closer to the Pegasus Bridge in Benouville.

Following D-Day, there was some very hard fighting in and around Amfreville involving not only 3 Cdo but also 4 Cdo.

In the neighbouring hamlet of Oger, a small square is named after Lt Colonel Robert Dawson, who was the CO of 4 Cdo at the time.

I hope that this helps.

Best wishes,

John

The Secret Scotland website - which I find very useful in the context - states as follows:

"Although Morar Lodge is referred to as having been used as for training by the Special Operations Executive during World War II, specific details have still to be located."

(The editors seem a little more certain about the use of nearby Camusdarroch Lodge by that organisation.)

Both properties are close to Arisaig House, which definitely was used for training SOE agents.

My understanding is that other country houses in the vicinity had satellite uses, such as providing sleeping accommodation.

Best wishes,

John

It seemed appropriate on the 73rd anniversary of Operation Cauldron, and just four days after Jimmy's sad death, to look back at Will Fowler's book "The Commandos at Dieppe: Rehearsal for D-Day". These brief extracts are from the foreword, in which the author separately acknowledges the advice and guidance that he received throughout from Jimmy.

"In a television programme about the attack on Dieppe, Pat Porteous VC, standing on the site of a German coastal battery, described how the Troop Sergeant Major (TSM) of C Troop No 4 Commando with a 2-inch mortar crew had landed HE bombs with great accuracy on the position. One had hit stored ammunition and triggered a huge secondary explosion effectively destroying the battery."

"Some years later, at a military dining club, I discovered that one of the members had been an Army Commando in World War II."

"It was only later that I realised that Jimmy Dunning had been the young TSM commanding the 2-inch mortar crew at Dieppe. With characteristic modesty he explained that he had little part in the success which was the result of hard training by the mortar crew of Privates Dale and Horne."

That was typical of the modesty that marked Jimmy out during the whole of his life.

I, too, am so very sad. I knew Jimmy well for quite a number of years. He was the most gentle, modest and kindly soul. My late uncle, who served with him in 4 Cdo, described him as the only gentleman in their troop! We all owe a huge debt to him for the books that he wrote; likewise, his contributions to a number of TV programmes about the Commandos. I still have a note that he wrote to me after travelling with Jane to Achnacarry - at the age of 92 - to help with the making of a programme by BBC Scotland. (It went out in January 2012.) We shall not see his like again.

I think that I may be able to help with the first named. Lt Peter King of 1 Troop 4 Cdo was awarded the MC largely in relation to his role in command of a three man team carrying out a reconnaissance operation behind enemy lines in Holland in April 1945. I believe that any further promotions or awards were achieved post war, and after the Commandos had been disbanded. I also believe that he died in an accident in New Zealand at a later stage.