2060658 Jack (John Victor) BYRNE, DCM, Gordon Highlanders & SAS

Discussion in 'Special Forces' started by Jedburgh22, Jul 13, 2011.

  1. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    Bayoneted and shot, but the ultimate commando wouldn't die




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    Published Date: 13 July 2011
    By Frank Urquhart
    AN OUTSTANDING collection of medals awarded to a heroic Gordon Highlander hailed the "ultimate commando" are to go on public display in Scotland for the first time in a new exhibition celebrating the regiment's illustrious links to Britain's special forces.
    The exploits of Sergeant Jack Byrne - who was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, one of Britain's highest bravery awards - read like the stories out of the pages of the Commando comic.

    In a truly remarkable journey through the Second World War, he was bayoneted in France while fighting with the Gordons rearguard in 1940 and left for dead in a ditch, only to be saved by French civilians who took him to the evacuation beach at Dunkirk.

    The Englishman was then transferred to the Commandos where he took part in actions in Syria against the Vichy French. He was then selected as one of the original recruits for the 1st Special Service Brigade, the unit formed by Sir David Stirling and forerunner of the SAS Regiment.

    Captured by the Nazis in Libya while returning alone from a special sabotage mission, he was shot in the face at close range by a German officer but survived and was sent to the notorious Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp in Poland.

    After being transferred to another camp, he escaped successfully at the third attempt by crawling through a latrine drain, and made it back to Britain.

    But the extraordinary war of the "soldier who wouldn't die" was far from over. He rejoined the Commandos and stormed ashore at Sword Beach on D-Day before being wounded again. He returned to duty in time for the Battle of the Bulge and remained in the thick of the fighting as his regiment pushed into Germany.

    After the war, Sgt Byrne served with the Kenyan Police until 1948 when he rejoined the Gordons, fighting terrorists in Malaya before transferring to the Malayan Police.

    His incredible service came to a violent and bloody end in 1953 when he was shot in the stomach at point-blank range by a terrorist. Sgt Byrne survived and the terrorist was arrested.

    His collection of medals is the centrepiece of a new exhibition at the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen, which explores the stories of the "extraordinary" members of the regiment who served with the elite units of Special Operations Executive, the Parachute Regiment, Special Air Service, Special Boat Service and the Chindits.

    Jesper Ericsson, the curator of the museum, said: "Some extraordinary characters are celebrated in this special exhibition. But I think it is fair to describe Sergeant Byrne as the 'ultimate commando', considering his service career.

    "The exhibition is tribute to Sgt Byrne and his other extraordinary colleagues."

    Among the other heroes celebrated are Lt-Col Stuart Chant-Sempill, who helped lead the legendary commando raid on the German U-boat base at the French port of St Nazaire in March 1942, and Lt-Col Ivan Lyon, DSO, who led British and Australian commandos of Z Special Unit until he was killed in action.

    Bayoneted and shot, but the ultimate commando wouldn't die - The Scotsman
     
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  2. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    :poppy:
    The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Image Details

    Name Byrne, J V
    Rank: Corporal
    Service No: 2060658
    Regiment: 1 Battalion Gordon Highlanders, 1 Special Air Service Brigade attached Headquarters 8 Army
    Theatre of Combat or Operation: Escape and Evasion and Special Operations
    Award: Distinguished Conduct Medal
    Date of Announcement in London Gazette: 08 October 1943
    Date 1942-1943
    Catalogue reference WO 373/62
     

    Attached Files:

  3. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

  4. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Jedburgh
    good article on the actions of Bryne in WW2 - however - just one very small nit pick
    ths SAS of David Stirling did NOT evolve from the 1st Special Service Brigade which was a joint American/Canadian commando group and founded in Montana long after the SAS was formed in the Desert in 1941.

    The first time the 1stSSB was in action was in Italy and they were the first troops to enter Rome on June 4th 1944 - from the Anzio sector
    Cheers
     
  5. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    Ah Tom nit picking - for a brief period the Commandos were known as "Special Service" and were concentrated in SS Brigades - it was soon realized confusion would rear its head for dim staff oficers marking maps with the designation SS on unit locations and there was also a negative PR connotation with the German SS units hence the term SS in relation to the British was abandoned.
     
  6. Scout Sniper

    Scout Sniper Senior Member

    Jedburgh
    good article on the actions of Bryne in WW2 - however - just one very small nit pick
    ths SAS of David Stirling did NOT evolve from the 1st Special Service Brigade which was a joint American/Canadian commando group and founded in Montana long after the SAS was formed in the Desert in 1941.

    The first time the 1stSSB was in action was in Italy and they were the first troops to enter Rome on June 4th 1944 - from the Anzio sector
    Cheers


    With all due respect Mr. Canning, the joint American Canadian unit you are thinking of is the First Special Service Force (see the following) and not the 1st Special Service Brigade. To the best of my knowledge Jedburgh22 is correct about the 1st Special Service Brigade.

    Devil's Brigade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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  7. Scout Sniper

    Scout Sniper Senior Member

    1st Special Service Brigade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    "First Special Service Brigade:

    The 1st Special Service Brigade was a brigade of the British Army. Formed during World War II, it consisted of elements of the army and the Royal Marines. The brigade's component units saw action individually in Norway and the Dieppe Raid (in France), before being combined under one commander for service in Normandy during Operation Overlord. On 6 December 1944, the Brigade was redesignated 1st Commando Brigade, removing the hated title Special Service and its association with the German SS.[1]"

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  8. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Scout Sniper / jedburgh

    I bow to your correction of the 1st Special Service force of the joint American /Canadian units formed in Montana BUT - not the SAS as a Commando unit
    as it was formed by David Stirling - Paddy Mayne and Jock Lewis in the desert - and had nothing to do with the Army/ Marine Commando which as you explain in your posting #7 was a British based force called #1 Special Service brigade.

    The SAS - or Special Air Service of David Stirling was formed to create havoc in the far flung airports of the enemy in the desert by flying in and parachuting near to the targets - this was not too successful and so they were then driven close to the target by the LRDG - this then became the mode of transport until Jeeps became more available and were converted to their needs. David Stirling was captured in Tunisia and by then the 2nd SAS was formed by Bill Stirling the brother of David Stirling mainly in Algiers - and saw service in Sicily -close to the 40 & 41 Marine Commando- and two other Army Commandos - further action was at Termoli and the east coast and some more action with the partisans in Northern Italy and after D Day in deep behind the lines sabotaging all sorts of targets. One group was led by my old friend Major Roy Farran D.S.O.-M.C & two bars of 2nd SAS.

    Most people of course know them for their exploits at the Iranian Embassy in London as they are now based in Hereford....
    Cheers
     
  9. Scout Sniper

    Scout Sniper Senior Member

    Creation of the SAS:

    Special Air Service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    The Special Air Service was a unit of the British Army during the Second World War, formed in July 1941 by David Stirling and originally called "L" Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade — the "L" designation and Air Service name being a tie-in to a British disinformation campaign, trying to deceive the Axis into thinking there was a paratrooper regiment with numerous units operating in the area (the real SAS would 'prove' to the Axis that the fake one existed).[1][12] It was conceived as a commando force to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign[13] and initially consisted of five officers and 60 other ranks.[14] Its first mission, in November 1941, was a parachute drop in support of the Operation Crusader offensive.[12] Due to enemy resistance and adverse weather conditions, the mission was a disaster: 22 men, a third of the unit, were killed or captured.[15] Its second mission was a success: transported by the Long Range Desert Group, it attacked three airfields in Libya, destroying 60 aircraft without loss.[15] In September 1942 it was renamed 1st SAS, consisting at that time of four British squadrons, one Free French, one Greek, and the Folboat Section.[16]

    In January 1943, Stirling was captured in Tunisia and Paddy Mayne replaced him as commander.[17] In April 1943, the 1st SAS was reorganised into the Special Raiding Squadron under Mayne's command and the Special Boat Squadron was placed under the command of George Jellicoe.[18] The Special Raiding Squadron fought in Sicily and Italy along with the 2nd SAS, which had been formed in North Africa in 1943 in part by the re-naming of the Small Scale Raiding Force.[19][20] The Special Boat Squadron fought in the Aegean Islands and Dodecanese until the end of the war.[21] In 1944 the SAS Brigade was formed from the British 1st and 2nd SAS, the French 3rd and 4th SAS and the Belgian 5th SAS.[22] It was tasked with parachute operations behind the German lines in France[2] and carried out operations supporting the Allied advance through Belgium, the Netherlands, and eventually into Germany.[22]


    ***Note: SAS operations in Europe during WW II have been overshadowed by their exploits in the Desert. There have also been a couple of very interesting books written about the French SAS in WW II.
     
  10. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    Jack Byrne came to the SAS from the Commandos (SSB / Layforce) indeed the 'Orginals' in L Detatchment SAS were mainly Commando veterans who had been with Layforce.
    Byrne returned to the Commandos later in the war.
    There was much cross-pollination in the evolution of Special Forces on the Allied Side in WWII with many of the iconic names such as Stirling, Lovat etc having started out at Inverlairort. The Commandos served in all theatres of war, often misused, by 1944 the Commando units had in effect became specialised assault infantry.
     
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  11. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

  12. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Scout / Jedburgh-
    isn't it much more satisfying to get to the truth of any matter instead of going along with the revisionists- now everyone knows all about the SAS- Layforce - Commandos - Lovatt- et al - Thank you both !
    Cheers
     
  13. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Army Number: 2060658
    Rank: Corporal
    Name: John Vincent BYRNE, DCM
    Unit: 1 Gordon Highlanders attached 1 Special Air Service Brigade, 8 Army


    London Gazette : 7 October 1943
    https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36198/supplement/4438/data.pdf
    The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following awards in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the field: —
    The Distinguished Conduct Medal.
    No. 2060658 Corporal John Vincent Bryne, The Gordon Highlanders.

    London Gazette : 21 October 1943
    https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36217/supplement/4665/data.pdf
    ERRATA.
    The Distinguished Conduct Medal.
    The London Gazette of 7th October, 1943 (No. 36198).
    For No. 2060658 Corporal John Vincent Bryne, The Gordon Highlanders, substitute No. 2060658 Corporal John Vincent Byrne, The Gordon Highlanders.
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2020
  14. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Last edited: Jun 17, 2020

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