Gentleman Jim: The Wartime Story of a Founder of the SAS and Special Services

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Major 'Gentleman Jim' Almonds, who has died aged 91, was the oldest surviving member of the original complement of the SAS; he was subsequently commissioned in the field after winning the MM twice and twice escaping from a PoW camp.

But he made good his escape after he discovered that the Germans had taken over the camp, reaching American forces after 32 days on the run.On Friday 5 September 1941, 'L' Detachment started training for operations to be carried out in enemy territory, for which they would be dropped by parachute. It takes a very special sort of man to go out with a few trusted comrades to cause mayhem when he knows the result of failure will be almost certain death.

I thought of Jock, one of the bravest men I ever met, an officer and a gentleman, lying out in the desert barely covered with sand. I acknowledge with thanks the assistance of the National Archives – records held by them appear courtesy of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office – and the invaluable help of the staff of the British Embassy and British Consulate, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Almonds was captured by the Italians during a later SAS mission, but was awarded a Bar to his MM for his two escapes.And he knew Kumasi would always right herself and would not ship much water because no hatches were allowed open.

He became a military advisor to the famed Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia and then hunted rebel bandits as second-in-command of the Eritrea Police Field Force. From there he masterminded a successful escape with four others, but, when one of them developed pneumonia, they decided to give themselves up. Instead, he was intelligent and disciplined and also determined to survive his endless “scrapes” if only to embark on more adventures. He was one of the very first Rogue Heroes, the daring men recruited by SAS founder David Stirling into his elite regiment in the Second World War. He detested the pirouetting on paper beloved of staff officers in general and of the Director of Military Operations in particular.Almonds had twice gone to sea without knowing where he was going: first from Britain with 8 Guards Commando to the Middle East in early 1941, then on an Italian warship through the Corinth Canal to Taranto. Dating from before the turn of the last century, the sword pommel was a Maria Theresa silver dollar, while the cross-piece was a crusader’s rectangle.