I’ve been waiting to see if any significant obits would surface in the prime media and be picked up by members here and posted. Well, it didn’t happen and no surprise. The media here generally side-stepped the issue with just some column inches, badly and/or inaccurately written, (
viz. “His father was killed on the Somme in 1913” oh really, was it a motoring accident?), and mostly a straight crib from the Press Association, (yawn). The Times, 2 weeks late, has done something and also the Telegraph.
Enough ranting, sad news to pass on, the demise on 12th October of Lt. Commander Patrick Dalzel-Job (pronounced Jobe), age 90, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and 30 Commando (AU) –
Assault Unit.
In 30 Cdo (AU) he served under Ian Fleming (Naval Intelligence Department ‘NID’ [a desk job for Fleming]. The prime function of 30 Cdo. was intelligence gathering. However, to them this meant infiltrating the enemy in advance of a strike force and to search out and seize documents useful to the Allies which the Germans would otherwise be removing or destroying. This concept was actually cribbed from the German Abwehrkommando!
‘James Bond’ is of course a fictional character of Flemming’s with Tuxedo and bottomless expense account. Flemming is sure to have drawn on all the operators he knew, but most core characteristics are those of Patrick’s. He never made much of this association and is only down on record once as saying that Flemming actually told him he was the basis of Bond, plus added sex and glamour. Patrick said:
"I have never read a Bond book or seen a Bond film. They are not my style ... and I only ever loved one woman, and I'm not a drinking man." Flemming never declared who Bond was based on, (think of the royalties they’d have to pay if he did), but he never denied it wasn’t Dalzel-Job either!
Patrick’s comrades said they identified him as Bond as soon as the first book appeared in the 50’s, and indeed several of his traits and talents appeared in Bond stories. On Her Majesty's Secret Service like him, Bond could ski backwards and perform amazing jumps. For Your Eyes Only - Bond manned a midget submarine. The Spy Who Loved Me Bond blows-up up enemy subs and warships. Both were licensed to kill, but Patrick’s number was 036652. Even Bond's gadget maker “Q”' was inspired by wartime Head of Supply Charles Fraser Smith, and Dalzel-Job made good use of his inventions, including a compass hidden in a button. Both were from Scotland (though Patrick was actually born in London), both were multi-lingual, preferred to work alone, had a love of gadgetry, were audaciously daring and had a reputation for disobeying orders.
The usual exploit of Dalzel-Job’s which crops up is the time he was ordered not to get involved with the civilians of Narvik which he believed about to be bombed. He organised the evacuation of some 2’500 women, children and elderly and in the ensuing bombing only a few citizens were killed. Back in London he was up for a Court Martial till King Haakon of Norway, exiled in London, proclaimed him a hero of Norway and personally awarded him the Knight’s Cross of St Olav, first class.
I’ll leave everyone to use their search engines for the various obits on PDJ if you wish, below are a few stats.
Born in 1913; commissioned into Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1939; served as Navigating Officer in a Fleet Tug working out of Scapa Flow, Jan- Mar 1940; served in Norway, Apr-Jun 1940; appointed to staff of Adm Commanding Orkney and Shetland to collect information about the west coast of Norway, 1942; ran special Motor Torpedo Boat operations in Norway, 1942-1943; served with 12 (Special Service) Submarine Flotilla, 1943-1944; appointed to Naval Intelligence Division, Admiralty, 1944, and undertook reconnaissance work with 30 Commando Assault Unit (directed by Ian Fleming); landed at Utah beach, Normandy, with a party of Royal Marines Commandos with an unrestricted authority order signed by Eisenhower to pass through Allied lines and assault specific targets in German held territory; disabled the German destroyer Z29 at Bremerhaven with full crew.
PDJ wrote his memoirs in 1991 titled:
‘From Arctic Snow to Dust of Normandy’, republished with the word ‘From’ omitted, [where they saving ink or what?].
Patrick is survived by his son Maj. Iain Dalzel-Job, 2nd Scots Guards (retd), who commanded G Coy (7, 8 and 9 Platoons) on the assault on Mount Tumbledown during the Falklands War.
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[ 01. November 2003, 12:41 AM: Message edited by: No.9 ]
