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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddy...obert Blair "Paddy,Special Air Service (SAS).
http://www.irishmasonichistory.com/lt-col-robert-blair-paddy-mayne-dso-freemason.html
Brief wartime biography:
In March 1939 Mayne joined the Territorial Army in Newtownards. After training with the Queen's University Officer Training Corps he received a commission in the 5th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery. In April 1940 he transferred to the Royal Ulster Rifles. Following Churchill's call to form a "butcher and bolt" raiding force following Dunkirk, Mayne volunteered for the newly formed 11 (Scottish) Commando. He first saw action in June 1941 as a lieutenant with 11 Commando during the Syria–Lebanon Campaign, successfully leading his men during the Litani River operation in Lebanon against the Vichy French Forces.
Mayne's name was recommended to Captain David Stirling by his friend Lt. Eoin McGonigal, a fellow officer of No. 11 (Scottish) Commando, and an early volunteer for the Special Air Service (SAS) – then known simply as the Parachute Unit. It is widely believed that Mayne was under arrest for hitting his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Charles Tasker Keyes when Stirling met him. This story is untrue. A hand-written entry in Keyes' personal diary proves conclusively that he was not at the officer's mess of No. 11 (Scottish) Commando at Salamis on Cyprus on the evening of 21 June 1941, the date on which Mayne was accused of beating up a fellow officer, Major Charles Napier. Keyes had stayed the night elsewhere, and arrived at Salamis the following day, 22 June 1941, when the trouble was already over. Keyes states in his diary that he conducted an investigation and found Mayne responsible.
Keyes' diary makes it clear that Mayne was brought before the divisional commander, Brigadier Rodwell, on 23 June, for assaulting Napier, the second-in-command of his battalion. Mayne had a grudge against Napier, who had not taken part in the Litani raid, and who, according to a serving member of 11 Commando, had shot Mayne's pet dog while Mayne had been away. Mayne was attached to his pet (there is a famous photo of him carrying a dog on his shoulders), and was furious about this. Keyes' diary records that, on the evening of 21 June, after drinking heavily in the mess, Mayne waited by Napier's tent and assaulted him when he returned. Keyes also records in his diary that Mayne was dismissed from 11 Commando the following day, 23 June, but does not say that he was arrested.
From November 1941 through to the end of 1942, Mayne participated in many night raids deep behind enemy lines in the deserts of Egypt and Libya, where the SAS wrought havoc by destroying many enemy aircraft on the ground. Mayne pioneered the use of military jeeps to conduct surprise hit-and-run raids, particularly on Axis airfields. It was claimed that he had personally destroyed up to 100 aircraft.
His first successful raid at Wadi Tamet on 14 December 1941, where aircraft and petrol dumps were destroyed, helped keep the SAS in existence, following the failure of the previous initial raid behind enemy lines. For his part in the Tamet raid Mayne was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He also received a mention in despatches on 24 February 1942.
Mayne's official report on the Tamet raid notes:
The following damage was done on or in the vicinity of the aerodrome:
(a) Bombs were placed on 14 aircraft. (b) 10 aircraft were damaged by having instrument panels destroyed. (c) Bomb and petrol dumps were blown up. (d) Reconnaissance was made down to the seafront but only empty huts were found. (e) Several telephone poles were blown up.
(f) Some Italians were followed, and the hut they came out of was attacked by sub-machine gun and pistol fire and bombs were placed on and around it. There appeared to be roughly thirty inhabitants. Damage inflicted unknown.
Mayne took part in the most successful SAS raid of the desert war when, on the night of 26 July 1942, with eighteen armed jeeps, he and Stirling raided the Sidi Haneish Airfield. They avoided detection, destroyed up to 40 German aircraft and escaped with the loss of only three jeeps and two men killed. The regular Army wanted to disband the SAS but the success helped keep the critics at bay.
Following Stirling's capture in January 1943, 1st SAS Regiment was reorganised into two separate parts, the Special Raiding Squadron (SRS) and the Special Boat Section (the forerunner of the Special Boat Service). As a major, Mayne was appointed to command the Special Raiding Squadron and led the unit in Sicily and Italy until the end of 1943. In Sicily, Mayne was awarded a Bar to his DSO. The official citation reads as follows:
On 10 July 1943, Major Mayne carried out two successful operations, the first the capture of CD battery the outcome of which was vital to the safe landing of 13 Corps. By nightfall SRS had captured three additional batteries, 450 prisoners, as well as killing 200 to 300 Italians. The second operation was to capture and hold of the town of Augusta. The landing was carried out in daylight – a most hazardous combined operation. By the audacity displayed, the Italians were forced from their positions and masses of stores and equipment were saved from enemy demolition. In both these operations it was Major Mayne's courage, determination and superb leadership which proved the key to success. He personally led his men from landing craft in the face of heavy machine-gun fire. By this action, he succeeded in forcing his way to ground where it was possible to form up and sum up the enemy's defences.
In January 1944 Mayne was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed commanding officer of the re-formed 1st SAS Regiment. He subsequently led the SAS with great distinction through the final campaigns of the war in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Norway, often campaigning alongside local resistance fighters including the French Maquis. In recognition of his leadership and personal disregard for danger while in France, in which he trained and worked closely with the French Resistance, Mayne received the second Bar to his DSO. The official citation stated:
Lt-Col. R.B.Mayne DSO has commanded 1 SAS Regiment throughout the period of operations in France. On 8 August 1944, he was dropped to Operation Houndsworth base, located west of Dijon, in order to co-ordinate and take charge of the available detachments of his Regiment and co-ordinate their activities with a major Airborne landing which was then envisaged near Paris. He then proceeded in a jeep in daylight to motor to the GAIN base making the complete journey in one day. On the approach of Allied Forces, he passed through the lines in his jeep to contact the American Forces and to lead back through the lines his detachment of twenty jeeps landed for Operation WALLACE. During the next few weeks, he successfully penetrated the German and American lines on four occasions in order to lead parties of reinforcements. It was entirely due to Lt-Col.Mayne's fine leadership and example, and his utter disregard for danger, that the unit was able to achieve such striking successes.
During the course of the war he became one of the British Army's most highly decorated soldiers and received the DSO with three Bars, one of only seven British servicemen to receive that award four times during the Second World War. Additionally, the post-war French Government awarded him the Legion of Honour and the Croix de guerre.
The dates for his promotions
here don't entirely tally with the history above, since they have him commissioned in February 1939, prior to joining the Territorial Army:
Promotions:
February 27th 1939: commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant;
December 2nd 1942: Captain (war sub);
December 21st 1942: Major (temporary);
April 7th, 1944 Major (war sub);
April 1946: Lieutenant-Colonel (temporary).
Blair Mayne's actual uniform and medal ribbons (the parachute wings differ to Ujindou's):
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Most of the awards are post 1942, and some weren't even instituted until 1945.
To set the figure as 1942, or up to July 1943 (before he received the first bar to his DSO) only a small part of Ujindou's medal ribbon strip needs to be used.
Just need to cut the strip and retain the short blue/long red/short blue section for the DSO, which is visible in two of these black and white photos:
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It's the top one here. minus the bars:
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With the rank, since he only has the pip and crown for a Lieutenant Colonel, the only option is to lose the pips and have him as a Major, narrowing the figure's timeframe to December 2nd 1942 to July 1943 (though that's dependent on when he actually applied the bars to the ribbon!)
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