No.11 (Scottish) Commando was raised in Galashiels in the summer of 1940, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Dick Pedder, from volunteers from the Scottish Command. From Galashiels they completed a 100-mile march to Ayr before commencing arduous commando training …
Recipient of the Military Medal (MM), Johnny Dowling of No. 3 Commando, was a fighting man. He learned to box at the famous St. Malachy’s Boxing Club in Liverpool, and after spending three seasons in the city’s tough boxing booths, …
Lieutenant Denis O’Flaherty, Royal Artillery, of 6 Troop, No. 3 Commando is helped by his fellow commandos during the raid on Vaagso, Norway, in December 1941. During the previous hours the commandos had been engaged in fierce fighting on the …
Commando come fighter pilot, Eric Garland MC and Bar, had a remarkable war. In a period full of incredible achievements by extraordinary people, the actions of Eric Garland were of the highest order. During the withdrawal from Dunkirk in …
Lance Corporal Eric Harden of the Royal Army Medical Corps attached to the Royal Marines, posthumously received Britain’s highest award for valour in the presence of the enemy, after giving his life to save his wounded comrades.
It is relatively unknown that the men of No.2 Commando were Britain’s first airborne troops and the unit was the first to be designated as the Special Air Service (SAS). In June 1940 Prime Minister Winston Churchill called for a …
