Donald W. Roy

Donald Roy DSO (21 Jan 1908 - 31 December 1997) As a Captain in No.2 Commando Donald Roy (The Laird) led his troop in the Combined Operations St. Nazaire Raid in March 1942.

Donald William Roy was born into an upper middle class family in Ainsdale, Lancashire on 21st January 1908 to Katherine Roy (nee McLaren) and William Roy. The eldest of three children, brother to Allan, a scratch golfer who won 9 caps at Rugby for Scotland and Elizebeth (Betty). His uncle Sir John Travis-Clegg was the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire.

1:30am on 28th March 1942 Roy was on the deck of the HMS Campbeltown an old First World War destroyer USS Buchanan, with her Oerlikons blazing at the German guns only a few yards away. The ship was loaded with 10,000 tons of explosives on its way to ram the dock gate in St. Nazaire port as part of The Greatest Raid of All or more formally Operation Chariot. A raid described by Winston Churchill as 'A deed of glory intimately involved in high strategy'. The kilt-wearing Roy - 'The Laird' - and his 14-man assault troop were tasked with inactivating two pump-house roof-top gun emplacements high above the quayside and securing a bridge to provide a route for the raiding parties to exit the dock area. Roy and Sgt Don Randall used scaling ladders and grenades to accomplish the former and, although depleted by casualties, a head-on rush to secure 'Bridge G' (later known as Pont du Roi - Roy's Bridge) and form a bridgehead that enabled Capt. Bob Montgomery and Lt Corran Purdon and their demolition teams to exit the area.

The position was extremely exposed and with only the flimsiest cover they hung on for one and a half hours suffering casualties to half of the troop from a continuous fire that was directed onto them from unreachable guns on elevated positions on the far side of the St. Nazaire Submarine Basin, particularly two quadruple Oerlikons, and from ships in the Submarine Basin itself.

Roy was captured two days after the raid when a French policeman gave away their hiding place in a cellar. He was taken with other officers including Micky Burn, Bill "Tiger" Watson and Corran Purdon to Oflag IX-A, Spangenberg Castle from where he escaped in 1943 but was recaptured after 10 days and returned to Spangenberg. He was part of another failed escape attempt but remained as a POW until the end of the war.

To recognise their achievement, 89 decorations were awarded for the raid. This total includes five Victoria Crosses awarded to Lieutenant Commander Beattie, Lieutenant Colonel Newman and Commander Ryder, Sergeant Durrant and Able Seaman Savage and four Distinguished Service Orders awarded to Roy, Major William Copland, Lieutenant T Boyd and Lieutenant T D L Platt.