Leif Larsen - The Shetland Bus.

Leif Larson is my great uncle who married Nora Slade my grandmothers sister.

 

welcome to the forum

please post any info or photos if you dont deem them as to personal

 

Sedge,

Hello and welcome to the forum.

You have lots of History with famous exploits in your family.

Regards
Tom

 

Excuse my obsession for detail but;

His name was Leif Andreas Larsen. Larsen will easily be Anglified to Larson, understandable though not quite correct.

 

Leif Larson is my great uncle who married Nora Slade my grandmothers sister.

According to the Norwegian Biographic Encyclopedia (Norsk Biografisk Leksikon) Leif Larsen in 1947 married Anna Justad, who was born on 12th of August 1917 and died on 9th June 1999, outliving Leif by almost 9 years.

Mysterious indeed. Explanation most welcome.

 

Excuse my obsession for detail but;

His name was Leif Andreas Larsen. Larsen will easily be Anglified to Larson, understandable though not quite correct.


SB,

Many thanks for pointing out my error, which I have ammended on the first post.

I hope that I have not offended too many people as it was a purely unintentional gaff on my part for which I apologise.

Regardless of how his name is spelled, he is still a hero.

Regards
Tom

 

On reading David Howarth's "The Shetland Bus" years ago, I became immediately intrigued by the whole operation. Recently I had the opportunity to visit Lunna, the house which was the base of operations, after the organisation moved from Scalloway. Being aware of the importance of the building I turned up on the doorstep genuinely expecting it to be an established museum.
It was only as I walked towards the front door that I had the sinking feeling that it was a private house and duly turned around to head back to my car. After a few paces a voice called me back. I was met by a very friendly lady, mug of tea in hand, who confirmed that it was not a museum. However, I was invited inside (despite interrupting lunch) and shown around the whole house- which is a fascinating building in its own right. It is a place of pilgrimage for members of the Norwegian Special Forces, who see the house as their birthplace.
I've attached a few photos taken during my visit and as they are fairly non-intrusive (not images of living rooms, bedrooms or the occupants) I hope that I'm not abusing my hosts' hospitality: they were lovely people!

 

There are a number of threads on the Shetland Bus, I chose this one as it is the largest and mentions the book by David Howarth:

The American contemporary military and strategic website 'War on The Rocks' has a contemporary article on the possible use today of such a covert operation and has I expect some facts that will be of interest. Notably this passage:

See: The Modern Shetland Bus: The Lure of Covert Maritime Vessels for Great-Power Competition - War on the Rocks