The kind of war hero about whom movies are made

[old medic]

The kind of war hero about whom movies are made
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/05/06/f-langan-dartois-war-hero.html
07 May 2010
By Fred Langan

Growing up, "the Major" was simply the father of a couple of close friends of mine, an affable, quiet-spoken man with whom I would play chess from time to time.

I didn't know until much later that Guy d'Artois was the type of war hero about whom movies are made.

It is a thought that comes back to me now every time we mark the end of the Second World War, particularly on its European front. His is a story not many people know.

During the run-up to the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, d'Artois and about 25 other French-speaking Canadians — almost all of them from Quebec — were dropped into France to wreak havoc.

They had been trained to blow up railway lines, assassinate German soldiers and lead the maquis, those disorganized bands of the French Resistance who needed not just weapons but instructions on how to use them.

D'Artois's group was part of the secretive Special Operations Executive, an undercover agency set up by British prime minister Winston Churchill with the objective, in his phrase, "to set Europe ablaze."

The SOE never achieved that somewhat romantic objective. The German grip on Europe was too strong and many SOE agents were captured, tortured and executed by the Gestapo.

One of those was Frank Pickersgill, brother of Jack Pickersgill, then secretary to Canada's war-time prime minister, Mackenzie King.
Send in the Van Doos

Almost all of the Canadian officers who parachuted into France during that period were from the Royal 22nd Regiment, known as the Van Doos. These were men whose native language was French and who could blend into everyday life in occupied France.

The SOE certainly had some successes, including the assassination in November 1942 of Reinhard Heydrich, the SS general in Prague who helped plan the extermination of Europe's Jews.

But there were also terrible reprisals for that assassination, including the liquidation of almost the entire village of Lidice in Czechoslovakia.

Guy d'Artois didn't know he would be part of the SOE when he joined the Canadian Army early in the war.

He volunteered for special commando training and was sent to a special base in Helena, Montana, which trained both Americans and Canadians in the darker arts of combat.

From Montana, d'Artois moved to Britain and a camp in Scotland where SOE agents learned what they were to do in France.

During a parachute training exercise, a beautiful young Englishwoman winked at him.

She was Sonya Butt, the 19-year-old daughter of a senior Royal Air Force officer. As she had been to school in France and was fluent in French, she volunteered for the SOE. 

......................... Continues at the link with photos

 

[medicineman]

It's always interesting to see stuff like that...I was reading an article in The Beaver (which has recently been renamed) that was about a couple of Canadian SOE agents.  Turned out that one of them was directly related to one of our docs at work.  We had a project in Grade 10 English where we had to interview a senior citizen for writing a short bio..one dude a few years previous had gone to a senior's home and met someone who agreed to be interviewed - turned out was George Pearkes, a VC winner and former Governor General.  There's lots of really cool history around, sometimes right under your nose - you just have to look and listen.

MM

 

[Old Sweat]

His service in the SOE was not the only occasion on which he provided service far above and beyond. In 1947 he led a four person team that parachuted into the High Arctic to succor a severly wounded Anglican priest. The operation took seven weeks from start to actual evacuation, in part because the forces did not have anything approaching a national search and rescue system that covered the complete country. I once read a more detailed account. It is mind-boggling. The other members of the team, all of whom were based at the Canadian Joint Air Training Centre at Rivers, MB, were a Captain MO and two Signal Corps NCOs. At one stage, d'Artois kept watch for a Dakota that was trying to reach them by living in a snow cave at the landing ground for several days.

There is a sketchy account here: http://www.canadaveteranshallofvalour.com/D'ArtoisLG.htm

 

[jollyjacktar]

I There's lots of really cool history around, sometimes right under your nose - you just have to look and listen.

MM

How true.  There was a friend of the family when I was young (11-12) who served with the Black Watch of Canada in WW1.  I know he had many stories that now I would gnaw off my right arm to hear.  Sadly, I was at the time not interested to make the time for listening and missed a golden opportunity.  BGen Harvey VC lived just down the block from where I grew up too.  Now all that generation is gone and the next is quickly passing too, but you're right MM it's out there if you look.  Of course my Dad will always be my # 1 hero.

 

[40below]

His service in the SOE was not the only occasion on which he provided service far above and beyond. In 1947 he led a four person team that parachuted into the High Arctic to succor a severly wounded Anglican priest. The operation took seven weeks from start to actual evacuation, in part because the forces did not have anything approaching a national search and rescue system that covered the complete country. I once read a more detailed account. It is mind-boggling. The other members of the team, all of whom were based at the Canadian Joint Air Training Centre at Rivers, MB, were a Captain MO and two Signal Corps NCOs. At one stage, d'Artois kept watch for a Dakota that was trying to reach them by living in a snow cave at the landing ground for several days.

There is a sketchy account here: http://www.canadaveteranshallofvalour.com/D'ArtoisLG.htm

I used to live in the Arctic and that one has been kept alive in the oral history up there.

 

[Jungle]

His service in the SOE was not the only occasion on which he provided service far above and beyond. In 1947 he led a four person team that parachuted into the High Arctic to succor a severly wounded Anglican priest. The operation took seven weeks from start to actual evacuation, in part because the forces did not have anything approaching a national search and rescue system that covered the complete country. I once read a more detailed account. It is mind-boggling. The other members of the team, all of whom were based at the Canadian Joint Air Training Centre at Rivers, MB, were a Captain MO and two Signal Corps NCOs. At one stage, d'Artois kept watch for a Dakota that was trying to reach them by living in a snow cave at the landing ground for several days.

There is a sketchy account here: http://www.canadaveteranshallofvalour.com/D'ArtoisLG.htm

Guy D'Artois was also the Commander of the Cdn SAS Coy (1947-1949) and went on to serve as a Coy commander in the R22eR in Korea.

Sonya Butt paid a visit to the Cdn AB Regt during the 20th anniversary celebrations in 1988; very interesting stories.