Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Legendary last surviving founding member of SAS 'Originals' dies at 92

Via Theo Spark

He was in the Special Air Service before it was even called the SAS: a member of the formidable L Detachment who carried out stealth raids and daring missions throughout World War Two.

Jimmy Storie, the last surviving veteran of ‘The Originals’ who went down in history as the founders of the legendary SAS, has died aged 92.

Ayr-born Mr Storie was one of a handful of men brought together as the first raw form of the regiment, born out of fighting Rommel’s Afrika Korps in North Africa.

After a disastrous first mission that claimed two thirds of their original team, L Detachment soon became a byword for bravery and the scourge of the German and Italian forces.

Often, they simply walked on to enemy airfields, planting bombs and blowing up scores of planes. On one mission at Sidi Haneish in Egypt, they drove jeeps on to the airfield, shooting up planes with a range of firepower running to 90,000 rounds a minute.

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