Donald Roy DSO (21 January 1908 – 31 December 1997) was a British

Commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

officer during the Second World War. As a captain in No.2 Commando, Roy led an assault troop in the

St. Nazaire Raid The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) a ...

in March 1942.

Early life

Donald William Roy was born into an upper middle class family in Ainsdale,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, on 21 January 1908 to Katherine Roy (nee McLaren) and William Roy. He was the eldest of three children, brother to

Allan Allan may refer to: People * Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name * Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker * Allan (footballer, born 1989) ...

, a scratch golfer who won six caps at Rugby for Scotland and Elizabeth (Betty). His uncle, Sir John Travis-Clegg, was the

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

Second World War service

At 1:30am on 28 March 1942 Roy was on the deck of , an old

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, formerly , with her

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models emplo ...

blazing at the German guns only a few yards away. The ship was loaded with 4.5 tons of explosives on its way to ram the dock gate in

St. Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. T ...

port during the

St Nazaire Raid The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) a ...

, as part of

Operation Chariot The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) an ...

. The raid was described by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

as "a deed of glory intimately involved in high strategy". The kilt-wearing Roy, nicknamed "The Laird", and his 14-man assault troop were tasked with disabling 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 Sergeant Don Randall used scaling ladders and grenades to accomplish the former and, although depleted by casualties, they launched a head-on rush to secure 'Bridge G' (later known as Pont du Roi – Roy's Bridge) and form a bridgehead that enabled Captain Bob Montgomery and Lieutenant

Corran Purdon Major-General Corran William Brooke Purdon (4 May 1921 – 27 June 2018) was an Irish-born career soldier in the British Army, who took part in the raid on St Nazaire as a commando for which he was awarded the Military Cross. He was subsequent ...

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 Captain Michael Clive Burn, Military Cross, MC (11 December 1912 – 3 September 2010) was an English journalist, commando, writer and poet. Early life Michael Clive "Micky" Burn, born 11 December 1912 in London, was the eldest of four children ...

, Bill "Tiger" Watson and Corran Purdon to Oflag IX-A, Spangenberg Castle. He later 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 achievements, 89 decorations were awarded to participants in the raid. This total includes five

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

es awarded to Lieutenant Commander Beattie, Lieutenant Colonel Newman and Commander Ryder, Sergeant Durrant and Able Seaman Savage and four

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

s awarded to Roy, Major William Copland, Lieutenant T Boyd and Lieutenant TDL Platt.''Storming St. Nazaire: The Gripping Story of the Dock-Busting Raid, March, 1942'',

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