Episode 138 | They’re Formal. Classy.

Angie continues with her love affair with SAS member Paddy Mayne. Join us as she takes us through his work during WWII. Paddy is quite the hero. While demurely accepting medals for his valor, our favorite Irishman is leading his troops miles behind enemy lines and making the lives of the Axis powers rough.

This story pairs well with: Paddy Mane’s Intro to the SAS

 

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast.The podcast where two friends join forces after
compulsively studying history means learningthe back stories behind them, word vomiting on
friends, coworkers, and mailmen, and comingtogether and telling each other the story we've

(00:31):
only recently learned. I'm host one, I'm Teresa,and then I'm host two. Oh, I cut you off. I mean, the
queen of cutoff, apparently. I mean, look, it'sepisode 138. We're going to die on the way. They
don't know by now. Sorry, guys. I'll just that'syou. That's my apology for the next 138 episodes.

(00:55):
Yeah, I mean, if you wanted a professional podcastwith a script and out back and forth without some
people, you know, having friends, doing lifetogether and enjoying another one's company, go
find something else. We're sure this is not that.No, we do offer a ton of research and great sources,

(01:17):
but we are also entirely unscripted. Entirelyunscripted. And I've never heard the story that
Angie's going to tell me. And so all of my reactionsare just that reaction. I wish I wish you guys could
have seen her face just that it was like, do you seeme? Do you see me like, you know, in your eyebrows go

(01:39):
up? I mean, look, anyway, I've got anime eyes.These things take up a third of my skull when I
blink. My face disappears. They're cute. Thankyou. OK, don't go into the haters. Oh, I, you know, I
shoot. I can hate or I can listen to the haters andrecognize that they're cute. Be like, yeah, they

(01:59):
are huge, aren't they? I don't think there's anyhaters, but if there are, I'll punch you in the
face. I don't know if you'd have an opportunity. Idon't know if you've met me. I just kind of bull
right through them. Honestly, and I just sit backand watch. It's way more fun for me when I need my
help at all. No, like in karate, whenever this theinstructor goes, we're going to do some partner

(02:21):
work, Teresa, be nice. What? Teresa be nice.Literally was minding in my own business this
time. We're going to be partner work. I know yourjob is not to hit him as hard as possible. Oh, well,
that's rude. OK, thanks for using my fullgovernment name in that one. Put my hands in my

(02:43):
pockets. You know what? That actually is a perfectsegue for my story today, for your story. OK, so you
have been covering Patty, Maine for legit. It'sbeen a month of Patty, Maine. And like, so are you
going to take over the whole episode and just wrapup Patty so that, you know, we can come to some sort

(03:05):
of conclusion? Crescendo. Yeah. Yeah, becausehere's the thing. If I don't wrap it up today, you
will never hear the end of it for me. I will continuefor another 12 episodes. I mean, at that point, a
minimum podcast. It truly so I thought foreverybody that has the short time, what is that?

(03:32):
Short times, short brain span, whatever. Yeah,short attention span. Wow, thanks. Short time.
OK, yeah. Short time. And attention. Yeah. Shorttimes again for your attention that I would do my
best to whittle this down into an hour and I am goingto try so hard. So please bear with me. That said, my

(03:54):
disclaimer for this is I am leaving a ton out. A ton,a ton. If anything I have said over these last few
stories has resonated with you, please just goread the books, go read the articles, go watch the
YouTube. There's so much great information outthere, not just about Patty, Maine, but about a

(04:17):
team, about his unit, about the other men on hisunit. Please just go find it and regale yourself
because it is so much fun and so inspiring and so, soWorld War II in a nutshell. So in my last few
stories, my sources are mostly the same. Danny andMelissa's books, Band of Brothers, Forged in

(04:44):
Hell, excuse me, Dagor's Drawing, those are my,that's my main source. And then Hamish Ross has a
great biography on Patty, Maine. That's really,really marvelous. I highly recommend that. And
there's tons of articles from the BBC to WarfareHistory Network. I try to mention them as I cite
them. So for my last two episodes, I told you abouthis early life, his time in rugby, his time with

(05:11):
Petter and Commando 11. And that sort of, and histime with Ian McGonigal, right? Like that sort of
all leads us to him recovering from malaria inhospital in Egypt. So I think that's just a fun

(05:32):
visual anyway. Like he's sort of mining his ownbusiness, covered in sweat, bored to death, like
literally hating life when he gets this newassignment. And he is like ready, he's gunning.
Let's do this. So he's recovering in Egypt. He isapproached by this high-born man called David
Sterling. So the fledgling unit that Sterlingfeels Maine would be a great fit for. The L

(05:56):
Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade. Now,this is like decidedly a deceptive name, right?
Because the L in L Detachment kind of applies.There's a detachment K, A through K, right? Like,
wait, so he creatively named it on purpose. Yes.Oh. There was a lot of forethought into his

(06:20):
planning when he came up with this. So this alreadygives the enemy something of a problem to look at,
right? In fact, Rommel himself, like Irwin,Rommel, like Field Marshall Rommel. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. We're getting a healthy respect. Right.He'd gained a healthy respect for the SAS later,
saying that, quote, this one unit had caused memore harm and damage than any other unit of similar

(06:45):
size within Allied forces. Okay. So they're a realproblem for him. So as I mentioned earlier, Maine
lets McGonagall know about this new unit and theyboth took it up together. And instead of heading to
Asia where he was previously going to go when he wasdone being sick, they head to North Africa. And

(07:08):
it's September of 1941. Maine, McGonagall andcrew arrive to a sign in the desert that simply says
Sterling's Rest Camp. It's in Cabrith in Egypt.It's believed that when they showed up to this
camp, it was less than prepared. The camp wassandblasted and empty and there are no supplies.

(07:35):
One could say that their first mission was toborrow or liberate the needed supplies from a camp
of New Zealanders nearby, including, but notlimited to, tents and all other gear, including
the camp piano. And so a piano just being carriedoff overhead by a handful of men. Yes. They won't

(08:01):
notice that missing. No. And this act, in myopinion, pretty much, like this first act, pretty
much sums up the rest of the FAS, like in a nutshell.They are great at scavenging. So these guys,
they're in the desert. They've just stolen acamp's worth of gear and then the real training

(08:23):
begins. Now, if it's not clear already, this unitwas not a customary normal unit. This unit was
designed to harass and upend the enemy behindtheir own lines. Like sometimes hundreds of miles
deep into enemy territory. And all that startshere in Cabrits. So this unit is super unorthodox
in many respects, but some of their key traininginvolves familiarizing themselves with all

(08:47):
sorts of weapons, even though it's chosen by theenemy, because when you're traveling light,
you're likely going to need to scavenge, like Isaid earlier. So you're going to need to know how to
shoot everything you come across. All the ammo,all the weapons, right? Like you're going to need
to understand how this works. Additionally, oneof the other really crucial elements for these
boys, they're taught to fight and work in the dark.So they had to, quote, feel utterly at home in

(09:14):
darkness. This does a couple of things for them,right? It gives them the cover of darkness, but it
also works to demoralize the enemy in more waysthan one, which is a huge part of their game because
at the end of the day. Right. If you don't know whereyour enemy's coming from, you're always on edge.
And they have no clue where the essay is comingfrom. Like I said earlier, for the sake of this

(09:39):
whole episode, it's going to be whittled down tolike the bare bones. I recommend reading all the
stuff like I mentioned earlier. Let me skipforward a little bit. OK, so one of the things that
they're learning in the desert, and I find this sofunny. They need to learn how to parachute. Like
not all of them are jump certified yet. And I just soI feel like that's part and parcel to any kind of

(10:07):
special operations. Well, you would think that,right? But like also this is sort of the beginning
of special forces. So they're still figuring outwhat they need to know how to do. Like special
forces had been around, but not to this extent, notto this like level of deep behind enemy line.

(10:31):
Territory. How do we get there? Right. So some doknow how to jump. Most don't. And one of the
training officers develops this like full proofplan, which is. Taking them out into the desert in
the back of trucks at varying speeds and havingthem jump out. Because you can't get called to

(10:56):
special air service without doing this. Right. Imean, that's the initial plan. You say that we did
something like that in college, but we useshopping carts in the quad where we would go along
the cement walkways and then just launch it intothe grass and the wheels would catch and they would
just fling you into the mud puddles that would thatwould collect. Yeah, perfect. And that's not that

(11:21):
did result in a broken bone. Well, it did for theseguys. There were a lot of injuries in this. So
initially, the first means of infiltration forthem was the parachute. Like that was what they
thought was going to be the most convenient. But bythe end, infiltrations of them would take any

(11:44):
shape necessary to get where they needed to go,both in the desert and in Europe. And they would end
up growing to favor the American Willis Jeep. Wecall it a Willie. There's your Willie Willis.
Yeah. Well, they're formal. They're classy. Theyare so classy. But back to the desert. So they're
training to be dropped by the IRS by jumping out ofthe back of their trucks, like I mentioned. Right.

(12:08):
So one of them, HR Fitzroy McLean, who wouldeventually rise to Brigadier rank reports for
days and nights on end, we trudged. Internallyover the alternating soft sand and jagged rocks of
the desert, weighed down by heavy loads ofexplosives, explosives, eating and drinking,
only what we could carry with us. In the intervals,we did weapon training, physical training and

(12:30):
training in demolitions and navigations.They're busy from day one. Training, training,
training, training for marches that are miles andmiles long, which in turn would give them the
physical stamina to be able to walk back 100 milesto allied lines when they were captured behind
lines. Like that was a regular occurrence forthem. Right. And they're having this problem.

(12:56):
Right. So as they're training, operations aregetting the green light to go and then they're
promptly getting the red light for one reason oranother. Side note here. High brass, super not
fond of these guys. Really? Yeah. They're not,they're not keen on this sort of type of guerrilla
warfare that they operate. Oh, this is the. Okay.That's exactly why it's the un-gentlemenly

(13:18):
warfare. Right. They're not keen on that. Theywould much rather you just march out to the enemy
and see the wise their eyes and blast everybodyapart like that. Yeah. It soars for the most
gentlemanly thing to fight with. Exactly. Yep.Okay. They're ideals and they're motto, which is
who dares wins. High command based on who dares winmotto and this kind of rag tag lifestyle they lead.

(13:48):
High command sort of does whatever they can tobrush this unit into the dustbin over and over
again. This doesn't go well because Churchillhimself sort of loves them. But on top of that,
there's, like on top of the high brass not being abig fan of them, there's a ton of reasons why
missions could be camped. Right. Like whether orinformation is not going to be there. And change or

(14:09):
fault the information, all sorts of stuff. Right.So they finally get their first operation. They
get their first go ahead and it's operationsquatter. Their goal is targeting airfields at
Timoney, which is West of Brooke. So I think youmentioned it a moment ago, but this is Erwin
Rommel's Africa Corps. Yeah. They're here to oustthem out of that. Did Rob will do anything outside

(14:36):
of Africa? Like he had to. But that's all I reallyknow about. He did. We'll talk about him later.
Okay. Great. Yeah. However, operation squatter,it's a disaster from the beginning. It is a
travesty, actually. Think like the storm of thecentury in the desert. So you have a storm and you

(14:57):
also have a sandstorm of Gale force winds. They'retold there is no reason the plane should be in the
air today. Not at all. Not not. No. This is, wehaven't had a storm like this in 30 years, but
Thirling is convinced this is like their onlychance and they need to make it happen. And all of

(15:17):
his cells agree. They're like, yeah, put us up. Wecan handle it. Um, so just for a lineup here, there
are 65 guys, five Bombay transport planes and allthe gear they're going to need. Right off the bat,
count one of those planes out. It was shot out of thesky. Everyone on board was killed. Oh, great.
That's like, that's a good omen. Yeah. Um, all the65 that left the airfield that day, only 22 make it

(15:43):
back. And then, wow. Yeah. Zero enemy aircraft aredestroyed because even if a team, a team or a lone
guy makes it close enough to the enemy target tolike where they're trying to cause this chaos, the
demo gear is soaked and utterly useless. This is adisaster in more ways than one, right? Like this is

(16:07):
supposed to be the mission that sets them apart.And in a way, it sort of does. It sets the tone for
their relentless nature and their willingness toput everything on the line every single time. So
let me just tell you a little bit about what happensto some of these guys. If you survived the jump, you
might not survive the landing. Several wereshredded by the desert because of the gale force

(16:29):
winds and their inability to remove themselvesfrom their shoots. From their shoes. They're
shoots. They're parachute. Oh, shoot. Okay. I waslike, I have never been more afraid of footwear in
my life. God, I'm not wearing any. Um, so some arecaptured. Some are killed. Some never make the

(16:52):
landing in the first place. Like it's, it's truly atravesty. The worst part of this story though is
that the crew that McGonagall's with very few evermake it back and it would be years before Patty knew
what happened to his friend years. In fact, HamishRoss says in his book that it was not until October

(17:15):
of 1944. 44 1944 when Jim Blakely, Blakeney and rawand Roy Davies had escaped from the POW camp and
were rep repatriated back to Britain and the SAS.So the truth was known. Right. At that point, they
make it back to the SAS. One of them reports sayingafter landing in lay up until dawn and found

(17:42):
himself. So, excuse me, the reporter is sayingthis after landing, I laid up until dawn and I found
myself alone with other members of the party,including Lieutenant McGonagall, who was badly
injured and died later. The belief is he sustainedheavy, heavy wounds from his land and didn't make
it past the night. This event would shape the wayMaine does everything forward, in my opinion. And

(18:10):
I know it haunts until his dying day. In fact, itwould be months later, like months later, when
Maine finally gets his first leave, he takes avehicle and he drives off into the desert and
searched him. McGonagall, based on some shakinguntil they received. Oh, he crisscrosses the
desert looking for anything to say what happenedto McGonagall. So, this is a disaster, right? And

(18:33):
Raul is super low and they need some wins. Like theyneeded that to be a win, but now they really need
some wins and they would get them. They wouldinfiltrate enemy bases and destroy as many planes
as they could. In one instance, not only doesMaine's team ruin multiple planes, but Maine sees
a barracks and knowing it's full of pilots, hekicks the doors in and basically says sup, eating

(18:58):
fellas. And removes the rest of them from theflight list forever. Sterling, yeah, just Bren
gun it all the way into the room. Sterling sees thisas a bit over callous, but it would win Maine his
first DSO. So, this is a medal called theDistinguished Service Orders for, quote,

(19:23):
succeeding in destroying 24 enemy aircraftbeside the bomb dumps, petrol dumps, etc. and shot
the staff, pilots, etc. in the officer'squarters, no prisoners taken. It goes on to say
courage and leadership and his skill and devotionto duty. The citation for his DSO praised the fact
that he led this raid in person and himselfdestroyed and killed many of the enemy. So, as a

(19:47):
side here, Sterling kind of gives him the ringerfor this one because he feels the death of the
pilots was quite callous, but then Sterlinghimself later goes on to do something very
similar, only they weren't pilots. And Maine'sretort to him is it takes years to train a pilot.

(20:08):
That's why I took the pilots out. You killedmechanics. You killed grunts. Oh, which one was
worse? Right? So, Maine saw these barracks ofpilots as a opportunity to take some of these elite
level, like you can get a plane up and going within afew months, you cannot get a pilot up and going. Not

(20:29):
a successful pilot. You can take a car mechanic,teach him a couple of things that now they can limp
along a plane. Right. You can't take a Formula Onedriver and get him to take. That's right. And so
that's sort of his thought process in this. AndSterling eventually, I think, sort of gets it, but
they kind of go back and forth for a while about it.Now, earlier on the same raid, they were a little

(20:54):
bit too generous with the bombs that they hadbrought with them, so they had to get creative. And
Maine just started ripping the instrumentclusters out of the dashboard with his bare hands,
which is pretty impressive, because even RegSeekings, this is one of Patty's own men, he was a
champion boxer as well. He couldn't figure out thestrength it took for Maine to be able to do that.

(21:15):
Because I mean, let's just do it. That seems likesome decent grip strength. Yeah. And they, so by
the end of the night, 10 more planes would have beendestroyed in this way with Maine having the
highest count. With just going in and using yourmurder mittens to rip out the dashboard. Buddy had

(21:35):
some murder mittens. Just saying. They were likeham hawks, massive hands. And so I'm thinking all
those years on the rugby field played off thisnight, right? And this raid would sort of start
this, what I'm going to call healthy rivalrybetween Maine and Sterling. Sterling is not quite
as astute in the field as Maine is, but whereSterling succeeds is in the halls of power. So he's

(22:04):
great at rubbing elbows with the higher ups andgetting his men what they need while Maine is great
on the ground. That doesn't mean Sterling doesn'thave some victories on the ground. On the ground,
it just means that Maine saw very quickly who wasgood at what and really honored Sterling for his
ability to speak to the authorities because thatwas not Maine's jam at all. So the sort of

(22:31):
competition this goes on for a while. In fact, allthe way up to 1943. This feels very. Gimli and leg
leg less. Yes, it's very much that. Yes, onlySterling was very tall. So I think he was like six,

(22:53):
five. He was not a short man. So you don't have thatvisual, but have the visual of the account, the
count competition for sure. Like I said, this thiscompetition, it goes on from 41 to January of 43.
One mission after the other, destroying whateverthey can in the German Africa course, hindering
their way forward and filling the germs withdread. Because like I mentioned earlier, the

(23:18):
Germans couldn't initially figure out where theywere coming from and thought they were coming in
from the ocean and had no idea that for all thesemonths they were basically living right under
their noses, hundreds of miles behind enemylines. I think it's pretty awesome. That's pretty
badass. Right. So, excuse me, I just lost my spot.So it's January. It's 1943. Sterling is captured

(23:46):
and he would remain so until the end of the war. Infact, war history online has this great write up
saying, quote, on January 10, 1943, the legendarySterling was captured when a special German unit
ambushed his column in Tanzania. He managed toescape and join a group of Arabs to meet. What did I

(24:06):
say? Tanzia. Tanzia. That's Tunisia. Sorry. No, Imean, I could be completely wrong. I might be
making up the whole place. No, you're right. Iadded letters because I was reading the next word
down. So he manages to escape that group and hejoins a group of Arabs, but they sold them to the
Germans for 11 pounds of tea. Wow. Yeah. You know,you can do that. It's weird that it's 11 pounds of

(24:32):
tea. The first is like they sold them for 11 pounds.That also makes it. But no, you pounds is a
measurement, not a currency. In this case, yes.The Fanta major, which would be Sterling's
nickname, tried unsuccessfully to escape fourtimes from prison camp in Italy and then spent the
rest of the war at the impregnable Kulditz prisonin Saxony, Germany. So right before he had been

(25:01):
captured, before Sterling had been captured inall those wild months, they were considered
desert sea raiders and they had destroyed over 250planes, countless other vehicles, fuel depots,
communications and railways. And I think it isfair to pause at this moment and tell you that up to

(25:24):
this point, as in Sterling's command, Maineserves as his discipline officer. Would you like
to know how he handled being the disciplineofficer? Yes, yes, I would. OK, so I should start
with saying none of the guys in this unit want to besent home, right? They're all they're here for a

(25:46):
reason. They all either volunteered or werechosen to be here. And neither Maine nor Sterling,
I would assume, want to do the paperwork that sendsomeone back to their parent unit and Maine fully
believes in these guys. So as discipline officer,his means of handling issues are to either A,

(26:07):
whatever you've been caught getting in troubledoing, you're going to go in the ring with me
because remember, he's a champion boxer. You'regoing to take as many rounds in the ring with me as
you can. And that's it. Settled. We know the talk ofthe problem again. Or, and my personal favorite,
if you can tell me a story that I find to be soentertaining about why you did what you did, I'll

(26:30):
forget it ever happened. That's up there. Therewas a person I saw on a video and they said, I let my
kid insult me or tell jokes. But they have to make melaugh. And if they make me laugh, they're not in
trouble. But if they bomb that joke or toast,right? So the, the sort of story that goes along

(26:56):
with that is that he, there was one evening whereone of the men was supposed to return, you know, say
by 10 o'clock. I don't know if that's the actualtime, but he was two hours late. And when he finally
showed up, Maine was like, young man, what, what'syour deal? And the guy kind of looks around and then
looks at Maine straight in the face and says, well,you know, I was walking back to base and I went to

(27:22):
light a cigarette and the wind was blowing and Icouldn't, I couldn't lie, couldn't lie my
cigarette. So I turned around to have put my back tothe wind, lit my cigarette and started walking. I
walked for two hours in the wrong direction beforeI realized I was in the wrong direction because you
know, it's the desert stir, sir. It's obviously abold, safe lie. Like he was just out having fun and

(27:43):
Maine could not stop laughing. So he was like,right then, carry on. And that's, that's how he
dealt with their problems because for him, it wasnot like infractions like that seemed really in
the grand scheme, things super, super uselesswhen these guys are good at what they do. And if they
have not committed some sort of atrocity, thenthey're going to keep going about their lives and

(28:08):
Maine's going to forget about it. If you can tellthem a joke or keep up with them in the ring, which I
think is pretty freaking fantastic. So afterSterling is captured, though, Maine gets command
of the SAS and they would cause so much more chaosfor Rommel. Like if anything, if anybody has an

(28:29):
inkling to read any of the books that I'vementioned, please read Brothers in Arms because
there is so much about their time in the desert thatif I like had 17 hours to share, I would share. But
what they do in the desert is phenomenal. So I'mjust going to tell you about my favorite part of the
book. The men are living out in it like they've losttheir base. So they're living out in the desert,

(28:53):
like the Bedowins, like they are out. And they'vefound this sort of rock outcropping where they're
able to park what jeeps they have remaining underit and like camouflage it. And they're sort of,
they're living in there and it's that it's the SAS.It's some of the guys they've captured. It's a

(29:14):
couple of foreigners that have sort of joinedtheir ranks. And they're all, they're all living
in this sort of wild and absolutely free existenceout in the desert. And the unit doctor, Malcolm
played out, he's watching them and they're havingthis night where like the bonfires roaring and

(29:36):
there's, you know, imagine being able to see thestars without city lights for hundreds of miles.
Right. Like that's what they can see. Yeah. And sothey are seeing songs to the open sky and they are
just having their very best time and Malcolmplayed Aile writes in his journal, would they

(29:59):
condemn? Would they be bitter? And then Lewis goeson to add, he just didn't know in a sense, it didn't
really matter for only those who were here who hadlived in this moment, would ever understand there
was something about this place, this time, thislife that made the seemingly impossible
possible, not to mention utterly unforgettable.They would never forget this. This is also where

(30:23):
they would appropriate appropriate their unitsong, Lully Marlene, which was a German marching
song that they rewrote in their own words. In fact,Maine himself would write a good chunk of the
lines. They still a little, a little more lanebecause in their unit at the time are a couple of
German POWs that they take under their wing,because one of the things that I can't speak to all

(30:48):
allied units, but this unit was very big ontreating POWs well. So if you come across this, we
are going to do our very best to inform you that youare safe. You will be cared for. You will be fed and
you will be protected. And doing that allowed thePOWs the sort of freedom to like not try to be

(31:11):
terrible or try to escape. And in fact, a lot oftheir POWs would try to stay on with them as like
mechanics and cooks and things like that, becausethey're staying with them. Right. So they've got a
couple of POWs staying with them. And one of theguys, I can't remember which one, but one of them
demands a song from the Germans. So the Germanssing in Lily Marlene and right about that point,

(31:33):
they're like, and that's our new unit song. And ifyou get a second, just there's a lot of YouTube's,
you can listen to it. It's pretty fun. You know, saythat. And all I can hear is there's a littered Cohen
song called Famous Blue Raincoat and there's aline that says, and you came home alone without
Lily Marlene. And I didn't know the reference. Nowyou do. Now you do. In the song, Lily Marlene is

(31:58):
mentioned that she will never see her boyfriendagain. So yeah. By early 1943, the war in the
desert's waning and some sources say that kind ofalong with everything else they did, the ruin, the
Germans day that by this point that accounted forup to 400 planes. Whoa. Main alone counted for more

(32:21):
than twice that of any allied air, air fighter inWorld War II, like any single fighter, main
accounted for double their kill. Jeez. But like,let's don't tell the RAS because they're real
picky. So as I said, the desert war is coming to aclose and High Command has their eyes peeled for

(32:45):
other jobs. Mainland Europe is where it's at.Leading up to July of 43, Maine begins like
overtraining his men with some of the most intensetraining you can remember or like you can imagine,
like remember, most of their work is done at night.So they are trained and trained and trained and
trained some more to do everything they do atnight. So they scale almost your quits with their

(33:11):
packs on their back. They've cleaned everything.They're prepared for a very different war than
they had been fighting for. And they're not likethey're physically prepared, but I don't think
you can ever be mentally prepared for what you'regoing into. Right? Right. Like it's a whole new
ballgame. The thing with Maine is that it's saidover and over again by his men that they knew he

(33:35):
would put more stake in their lives than anythingelse. Like they were precious to him. He wrote home
for them when they otherwise couldn't. Like ifthey were in hospital or if they were missing, he
would make sure their families knew what was goingon. It was a personal offense to him when any one of
them went lost. As I said, you know, he goes, he goesand looks for McGonagall, right? Right. And he was

(34:02):
doing that on his days off. Right. When he tellsMcGonagall's mother, she writes back saying, I
quote, I have just got your very kind letter and Ireally feel I cannot thank you enough for your
great kindness. It was terribly good of you to havegone to Gazala and taken so much trouble to find
Ian's grave. I know he did not have an identitydisc. I just think he wanted to be an unknown

(34:26):
soldier, but I had hoped he had been found andburied as I meant to go to Gazala after the war. I
miss him so much. More in fact every day, but I knowhe is safe and happy and terribly interested in
what you are doing. I am sure he has been with you onall your operations since he died. Thank you very
much for all your goodness. It has made such adifference. He would also send home what photos he

(34:51):
had. He was an avid photographer, so he wasconstantly taking pictures of his guys. And if he
had photos of them or he had their personaleffects, he would send them on to their parents or
their wives or whatever once they passed. But forhis men living, they knew that if he asked
something of them, it wasn't with intent for him toleave from the rear. He was going to be in first. So

(35:15):
they had no problem following him into the jaws ofhell. Like, yes, sir, let's do the thing every
single time. So that said, I think that it justhighlights the intense seriousness with which he
took his job, but also the love he had for theseguys. And I think that sort of makes going into

(35:38):
Operation Husky a little bit easier when you kindof understand where he is like mentally and that he
views their lives as his. priority and his ownsuccess or failure. He really values each of their
lives. Absolutely. I mentioned Operation Huskyin the Underworld episode. Operation Underworld

(36:04):
or excuse me, Operation Husky is basically thedress rehearsal for Operation Overlord, which is
known as the Battle of Normandy, right? This iswhen we storm the beaches of Europe and we do the
whole thing. So Operation Husky would see Maineand his men literally punch their way through the
Nazi and fascist Italians of Sicily to take theisland for the Allies because they need kind of an

(36:29):
inroad. And Sicily seems like the most logicalstep to make it onto the mainland. Like we're going
to stop here, see what we can do here with this ideathat we've got brewing, and then march forward. If
Sicily works, we can take Normandy. Like that'sthe gist of what they're thinking. Okay. Okay. So

(36:50):
the operation as a whole takes from the 9th of Julyof 43 to the 17th of August. They were to spearhead
for this joint forces operation, taking down gunbatteries and outsting the access from the
island. In doing so, they would take one of thehardest, most senseless death counts of the war.

(37:11):
Good Lord, if I could speak, it would be either.When one afternoon they're like loading up their
trucks to go out on patrol and a sort of attack ofmortar rounds hits their vehicles and they lose
several of their best men, several of their menthat had been with them since the very beginning.

(37:34):
And I think this was one of the hardest, if not thehardest moment of the war for me besides losing
Ian. But this is also the moment that haunts therest of them for the rest of the war because that
particular moment should have never happened.And it was just by sheer luck that the Axis found
them. So there's that. Patty Mayn would receivethe second bar to his DSO because of his leadership

(37:59):
and his bravery and sissily. I don't think itmattered a little, even a lick to him. He didn't
join the war for medals and he would tell KingGeorge himself that later. He would write to his
sister saying, quote, have you heard? They havegiven me a bar to my DSO, still managing to bluff
them. Hope yours fit as I am. Give my love to mother,yours be. But not to be all down in the dumps here.

(38:25):
There was a few moments in sissily where he let theboys let their hair down and have fun. Normally
they had strict rules they had to follow aboutconduct and whatnot. But there was one evening
after a battle where they had cleared the town andhe gave the boys two hours to loot. You cannot loot.
But he gave them two hours to do so. And he knew whatthe ramifications of that were as a lawyer. Like he

(38:47):
could be court-martialed for that. But they'rehungry. They're thirsty. They have marched their
way through sissily. They can find some food.They're going to be just fine. So they find the
booze. They find what's remaining of the food.They find a pinot and they drag it out into the

(39:07):
street. A what? A self-playing piano. Oh, okay.And they drive it out. They drag it onto the second
piano. This is the second piano they've stolen. Iknow. They love pianos. I think it's hilarious.
Only this one plays itself. So there's a couple ofguys that take a turn at looking like the absolute
master of the piano, but they are absolutely not.Which I think is really funny. The brothel, all

(39:33):
that emptied out. This town is literally a ghosttown. So some of the boys take, they go into the
brothel and they take a look around and they comeout dressed as some of the finest ladies you've
ever seen. They even have, right? They even have amaster of ceremonies who's wearing a black top
hat, cane and all. One guy finds a gelato cart and hehands out treats. The Padre, for whatever reason,

(40:00):
happens upon the biggest cache of booze you couldfind. And just prior to this moment, the Padre
comes across two guys that are rifling throughsomebody's house and he's like, what is he doing?
And they're clearly looking for a ball. Andthey're like, he kind of gets him on a little bit of a
talking tool about trying to steal somebodyelse's alcohol. Then like 20 minutes later, they

(40:21):
find him with a will barrel full of beer, likechampagne, wine, whatever. And his response is,
it's for Blessing the Dead. And then two newsreporters show up on the scene because remember,
this is an allied attempt here, right? Right. Andthey capture as much of the impromptu carnival as

(40:43):
they possibly can and they are delighted by it. Atthis time, Maine and one of his guys, Bill Deakins,
blew up the bank safe in a loony tunes move kind ofway and find documents. They're all in Italian and
a few silver spoons. Not long after this, an ArmyProvost Marshall, who's like the military

(41:06):
police, gets wind of their liberation of Italiangoods and comes down to see what's up. Nothing,
sir. Maine's remain, he says. I observe that therehave been considerable pilfering by your men in
this area and I would like to have yourexplanation. Do I make myself clear? According to

(41:29):
Damien Lewis, Maine's response makes completesense. Quote, you certainly do. And in a flash,
Maine's blue-gray eyes had turned icy and cold,but the young officer failed to detect the
telltale danger signs. And in a few short strides,Maine crossed the room, grabbed the MP by the
scruff of his neck, lifted him up and propelled himthrough the door. Get out, you mongrel dog, and

(41:52):
stay out if you don't want your mongrel neckbroken. Lewis points out that the MP was blessed to
get the door and not the window. Nobody had anyfurther questions after that. Surprise,
surprise. Right? Lewis gives us this brilliantdescription of what it was like getting back on

(42:13):
board the ship. So they come to Cisley on board thisship called the Ulster Monarch, which had sort of
become their floating home. And he says, quote, itwas mid-afternoon when a profession,
procession, had formed heading for the docks. Onethat Deacons described as surpassing any
gathering at the finish of a jumble sail. One manloaded his booty into a pram, and then several

(42:38):
others followed suit. There were typewritersperloined from the odd shop or office and armed
fools of bottles, those not just used incelebrations. Fittingly, the Padre clutched
several. One joker suggested he was bringing homethe communion wine. Let it be known also that they
brought the piano with them, and it would remain onboard the Ulster Monarch for the rest of her

(43:01):
service. Wow. So several of Paddy's men wouldreceive metal after metal for their involvement
in Operation Husky. And then from Cisley, theywould move their operations into Italy to
continue that spearhead punch, because they'reso very good at it. This particular area would be

(43:22):
called Termally, and with its success, and again,this is like, so this is successful, and this is
also another Allied Joint Task Force that wouldsecure the Allied advance along the Eastern
section and would sort of help to unhinge all theGerman defenses in the area. This battle is also

(43:43):
the largest tank battle of the Italian campaignagainst the 16th Panther Division. So I don't know
if you know what that is, but like, the 16th PantherDivision is the German equivalent of the U.S.
Sherman tanks. Right. And it's a whole lot of them.And our guys are sitting there with their

(44:04):
willy-jeeps, like, okay, I guess this is whatwe're going to do. They would fight their final
battle in Italy at what they would call Bren GunRidge on October 6th. During this battle, one of
his men, the man who was called Goldsmith, wouldsay that Maine was, quote, immensely brave,

(44:25):
almost to the point of recklessness. He always ledfrom the front and was idolized by the men he
commanded. At this battle, another of his men wasable to locate and liberate a jeep from the nearby
MPs and was able to, like, ferry ammo back and forthto the front with it. The MPs wanted to arrest him,
but like, are you going to tell his commander thatin the heart of battle? No, no. Right. So, and they

(44:51):
took one look at Maine and they're like, yeah,okay. You know what, we passed. I got to go walk my
fish. Pretty much. So, the battle of Bren Gun is abattle for the ages. And just as it's getting
really hairy for Maine and the men, right, they'reoutnumbered, they're outgunned, it's a whole
thing. He gets word of reinforcements that arecoming. It's the 76th Division, Irish Brigade,

(45:17):
the first royal Irish fusiliers, the sixth royal,Inish-killing fusiliers, and 15 Sherman tanks.
So, Maine turns to his men and says, quote, you'llbe all right now, lads. The Irish are coming and
they'll sort it all out for us because they're allIrish and they are on their way. To say he is a proud

(45:38):
Irishman is kind of an understatement, I think.Yeah, a little bit. A little bit. I'm going to fast
forward because there's so much, right? But Icould share, by the end of this mission, they get to
go home, at least for a minute. Because then it's onto France to be a pain in Hitler's ass when you know

(45:59):
your job, you know? Look, he's good at one thing.Right. Their goal would be at this point to ensure
that mass disruption of German reinforcementsand, like, gear and whatnot stops coming north.
So, in the over-simplest, like, the mostoversimplified way, the SAS job, once again,

(46:22):
would be to go deep behind enemy lines and pisseveryone off. They would work with the French
resistance in sabotage and just adored ambushingGerman columns as they wound their way through the
French countryside. Now, for a bit. Okay, so oncethey make it into France, at this point, High
Command is like, Patty, you are literally aLieutenant Colonel. You can't be out in the field.

(46:48):
And Patty's like, but dad, I think that's where myfriends are, right? And so High Command is sort of
able to keep him safe for, like, a second. But heknows his guys in France are suffering. They are
dealing with a terrain they have never had to playon before. They're dealing with a whole different

(47:11):
set of battle ideas, like, okay, in the desert,there was almost this gentlemanly conduct
amongst the ranks they would encounter. But inFrance, they are dealing, like, they're seeing
the beginning of the hatred of, like, thefanatical side of things. So, and he knows this.

(47:35):
And so he keeps like, okay, guys, I got to go. Okay,guys, I got to go. And you can imagine that High
Command can't keep him there very long. And he doesliterally whatever he can do to get on the ground
with his men. So by this point, France is not safe.Hitler has released his Kill Commando Order. Are

(47:56):
you familiar with this? Just remind me. So Hitlerpretty much takes commandos as a personal
offense, commandos of any kind, but particularlySIS. So instead of capturing them as a POW, like you
would, like, a normal soldier, like a trooper orwhatever, well, not a trooper, but like an
infantryman, if you bear any of the markings of acommando unit, it's kill on site, torture and kill

(48:21):
on site. Oh, geez. And at this point, they arebeginning to suspect, but they've not read any
official documentation expressly stating thatthat's the case, but they're starting to very much
understand that that is in fact what's going on.And him and his men are, like, commandos, right? So

(48:42):
this is a bit problematic. And Hitler takes the SASas, like, a personal vendetta, like, he is out
specifically to get them. Like I said, torture orshoot on site. So either way, if you're an Allied
Commando or you look like an Allied Commando,you're cooked, as the youth say. So once main lands

(49:04):
in France, like he finally gets to go ahead fromHigh Command to leave, he then basically
disregards all High Command orders to stay at baseand stay out of the fray. Like he leaves them on red
for weeks. Like they keep sending messages and hekeeps, like, crumpling the paper and hanging up
the phone, you know? Oh, I can't hear it clickbecause they have no clue what it's like on the

(49:29):
ground and he is literally not going to hide in thebox, right? For his heroics in France, he would
receive another bar to his DSO. So he is collectingthe glitter, if you will. The glitter. He is
collecting the glitter. Really? Okay. Yeah.Collecting the glitter. At one point, and this is

(49:52):
just a funny aside, they get word while main isstill in, like before he's made it into France,
they get word of one of Rommel's locations inFrance. And the SAS is like, you know, we could
spend, we could send just like a handful of guys andwe could get them, we could take them. Wouldn't be
hard. And main is like, absolutely not. Like, atthe end of the day, you will have to cross 700

(50:17):
kilometers with Rommel. No, do not go afterRommel. And they sort of all assume that the reason
he says that is because main wants to do it himself.That's kind of what I was thinking. But in reality,
the location of Rommel was just way too far away forthem to pull it off safely. And so main's looking at

(50:40):
this like a bigger picture like, yes, I could sendyou in to your death if that's what you're aiming
for, because you still have to figure out how totransport him back. Because the problem is
catching Rommel, like killing Rommel is onething, right? But catching Rommel and sending him
back to Britain would have been such a huge, like tobolster morale. Right. That's the goal. We want

(51:06):
him to survive so we can put him on trial and all ofthat jazz. So I'm not going to say yes to you driving
300 miles one way to collect him and then 300 milesback to your base so you can exile him. Like, no,
this is a terrible idea, guys. And there's likeanother whole story here about someone else

(51:28):
finding out about Rommel being here at this time.That's just absolutely wild. But that's neither
here nor there. That's for a whole other podcast.And in France, like one of the things they're
contending with is civilians, right? They didn'treally experience civilians in the desert and
even in Italy and Sicily they experienced them butnot in this concentrated village sort of way. Does

(51:57):
that make sense? No. So, okay, in the desertthere's almost no civilians, right? Sure.
There's the Vettelwins that you come in contactwith now and then and the Vettelwins love them so
they're often very well cared for by the peoplethat they meet in the war. The French civilians are
not a fan. Most French civilians are a fan but theproblem is the Nazi, if an SAS unit comes in and it

(52:25):
clears the town or it ambushes a line of Nazivehicles coming through, the way the Nazi handle
this is punishing the villagers. Okay. Right? So,for the first time in the war for them they're
seeing this all out like hatred being put on peoplethat have nothing to do with what's going on. So the

(52:51):
SAS has a real like morale problem with this. Likethese people did nothing and you murdered a whole
town because we came through here. So they'reseeing this for the first time and it's no bueno. So
now Patti and his men are doing their very best tokeep innocent life safe while still doing their

(53:14):
job and to say that that was taxing was anunderstatement. The other thing that they're
dealing with is the French resistance, which is ontheir side, right? They want to be helpful but it
can be a little bit hard to organize. Like they havetranslators and they have guys that speak French
and the French resistance has people that speakEnglish. So it's not like a translation issue for

(53:37):
them but it's more of a who are we listening to sortof thing. Like who's actually part of the French
resistance and telling the truth and who is Nazipretending to be part of the French resistance.
That seems like a problem, yeah. Right? There's alittle bit of, it's hard to tell what's fact from
fiction there for them. So they are constantly onedge. They're exhausted. They have no proper

(54:02):
fortifications with which to work with. They'vebeen at this for almost three months and they need
to be relieved. And eventually he's able to get usinto safety and they spend the winter training and
having a very good time in England. On their way toEngland they stop off in Paris for a bit where the
boys cause general ruckus and have a great time.But now they know like we need some recoup time. So

(54:29):
they spend the winter of 44 hold up in this great18th century estate called Highland's House, or
Halon's, pronounce it however you wish I guessbecause it's H-Y-L-A-N-D-S. So Halon's House.
Now Halon's House has already served as a hospitalduring the First World War and the lady of the

(54:50):
house, Christine Hanbury, she had lost herhusband in 23 and her only son Charles Jock Hanbury
was one of the first R-E-F pilots to be killed in aflying accident. Oh, so for her she feels like it's
her duty to offer up her grounds and her home to thissort of unruly looking bunch. Like they
constantly talk about how they're perpetuallyunshaved and their hair's long and shaggy and they

(55:15):
just, you know, cause you can't come across theproper shaved basin. Right. Right. So she opens
the doors and just gives them free reign of thehouse. She said it was quote, her bit to disrown
that man Hitler. I like her. I simply adore her. I'mhoping to find more information on her cause she

(55:37):
sounds like such a fun woman. It's safe to say sheadores Maine and his men and they in turn adore her
right back. They turn her banquet hall into a messwhere she is a regular guest in her own house and
would regale them with her world travels. Onenight they get a little bit too loose with the

(56:02):
beverages and they drive the jeeps into the mainhall. And then, and then one of them dares Patty
that he can in fact not drive the Jeep up the stairsand park it on the balcony. He does with two 90 point
turns. She comes down the stairs and says, nowPatty, that's enough. It's high time you all go to

(56:27):
bed and hat in hand. They all go to bed because thelady of the house said so. She has no qualms with the
Jeep being parked on her balcony for the eveningand just goes to bed. She doesn't know what that's
the future ladies problem. Present ladies goingback to bed. Pretty much the next morning they're

(56:48):
all standing there. How the hell do we get it up herein the first place? And now we have to get it back
down. I'm unclear on how they got it back down, butthey did get it back down. Also at this point,
because you know they've been through hell inFrance. They've got a lot of guys in hospital
recovering from wounds or some of them aredefinitely sewing signs of what we now know today

(57:13):
as PTL. They're not going to be in the ISD, but one ofthem in particular is injured and sick. And Patty
is super worried about him. So he sends a couple ofguys down to the hospital to visit him. They're
visiting these guys all the time, but he sends acouple of guys down there to find out what earthly

(57:33):
delights they could possibly bring to him to makehim feel better. And the guy's response is, I just
want to come home. I hate it here. Get me out of thehospital. I just want to be back with you guys. And
so they get home and they're like, Patty, he justwants out. He wants to come back to Halein House,
right? And he goes right then. So he calls thehospital up and the hospital says, absolutely

(57:56):
not. We will not release him. His wounds are toosevere. He's far too sick for this. He needs to stay
in hospital until at least the sickness is gone.Gets off the phone, turns to his men and says, well,
I guess we're breaking him out tonight. So theybreak him out of the hospital that night and bring
him home. And miraculously, the sickness goesaway and his wounds start to heal. He was super

(58:20):
stressed. Yeah, he carries on with life just fine.What I would love to know that's not in any of the
books is the conversation, if there was one, withthe hospital and anybody else about their missing
soldier? Now, back to the war. I didn't almostdone. The plans for them are to head to Germany

(58:42):
itself. So it's now spring of 45. So they've had agood rest. They spent the winter in England,
right? It's spring of 45 and their mission on thefirst day in Germany is now under what they call
Patty Force. So they have the SAS. That's theirname, but they are working under the name Patty

(59:05):
Force, which I think is just super fun. Their firstday, they end up getting hunkered down like a group
of his men get like basically trapped in the likeoutskirts of this city under heavy fire from the
Germans. Maine gets word of this and is like, well,there is a handful of our men laying in a ditch. We

(59:29):
need to go get them out. And there are like, you cansee the German forces around and they're very
like, they're ready for this. So Maine takes onegunner and one man to provide support from a window
that was sort of above the house. They had alreadycleared and he makes this suicidal run back and

(59:49):
forth. So they've got the Vickers K gun on the backthat the gunner is just firing like crazy. Maine's
firing like crazy and they're driving back andforth to load their injured and casualties into
the Jeep and get them out. They get them all out. Andthis event alone should have, in my opinion,

(01:00:13):
qualified him for the Victoria Cross, but that's awhole other issue. While in Germany, they were
also some of the first allies to see aconcentration camp, they saw a Bergen-Belsen and
the whores within, and that's where some of theirgreatest frustration stems from because a lot of
the locals nearby didn't believe that somethingthat atrocious could happen. Like they had no

(01:00:35):
idea. They believed that it was just Britishpropaganda to drum up against the whole Nazi
regime and everything. But then Richard Dimbleyshows up. Do you remember Richard Dimbley from the
Spaghetti Hoax story? You say that and now I'mlike, maybe. He's the reporter, right? Uh-huh. So

(01:00:57):
he can speak about spaghetti and he can speak aboutwartime atrocity. He shows up and basically shows
the world what's happened in these concentrationcamps. And so his men sort of get some vindication
from that because people are now seeing what theysaw for the first time. Once they leave the camp, at

(01:01:19):
least two of Patty's men are on the hunt forhigh-ranking SS officials, and they realize very
quickly that their problem was the Hitler youth.These guys aren't even big enough to hold their
weapons, and they found themselves more oftenthan not because they've been, you know,

(01:01:40):
fanatical. They've been indoctrinated. Right.They've been totally indoctrinated. And these
two guys realize they're on the hunt for Reichmembers. They're on the hunt for high-ranking SS
officials. But they keep coming across thisHitler youth, and they spend most of their time
trying to convince them to surrender before theyget killed. Because they're kids. They're 13, 14

(01:02:01):
years old. And that is devastating to me. These twomen are called Cooper and Seekings, and they end up
taking the surrender of 500 German officers andthen leave them waiting for the main body of Allied
troops. So they find them in a field. The Germangenerals come to them and they're like, hey, we're

(01:02:22):
starting to realize maybe the war's not goinggreat for us. We'd like to surrender and point out
this field full of 500 officers. And so Cooper andSeekings take their surrender, take their
weapons, and leave them in the field and tell themto wait for the rest of the Allied troops. They then
go on to Sackamayor's office. But right as they'rehaving fun with this, they get word that an

(01:02:50):
armistice has been signed and they are past thearmistice line. So they need to like turn tail and
return stat. So they gun it back. They drive bywaving and smiling to their 500 surrendered.
Like, see it, deuces. And then they get, I don'tknow, a handful of days off before they're sent to

(01:03:17):
relieve 300,000 Germans of their weapons inNorway. Wow. Right. So once the war ends for them,
because at this point, right? Hitler's dead byApril 30th of 1945. The Battle of the Bulge has
happened. The only war that's sort of left ragingat this point is the Pacific War. So they're

(01:03:45):
initially thought that they would be transferredto the Pacific to do some similar type of things
there. But they get sent off to Norway to relieveeveryone of their weapons. But once the war ends
for them, they head back to England. Let me give youjust a quick visual of what this looks like. They

(01:04:08):
drive back across Europe to where they'resupposed to land, like where they're supposed to
embark on their ships. Having sent a message toHigh Command to bring any vehicle they find with
them, because most of their jeeps are toast now. Sothey've confiscated things like salon cars and

(01:04:29):
half trucks and lorry trucks and tanks for theirown purpose. And so High Command's like, yeah, I
guess. So they come back across in this column ofvehicles that are literally loaded down with
them. Flying massive Nazi flags. Because forthem, this is like we've done it. We've won the war.

(01:04:55):
This is the spoils of war. Plunder of war. I try tocombine both. Yeah, exactly. So Patty himself is
driving this beautiful red salon car that he hadliberated earlier in the war, like not much
earlier, like a few months before. Maybe not even afew months, but he found the salon car, he loved it,

(01:05:19):
so he drives it back and it's flying massiveswastikas as they go down the road. But also on the
side of the car are the winged dagger of the SAS.Holy cow. They had so much fun. One of the other cool
things that they did that I didn't put in my noteswas when they liberated the town of Scream,

(01:05:39):
they... Hitler did this thing with his... I don'tknow if he did it with every city or just his
favorite cities or exactly what the case was, buthe gave each village a chronicle of their own
history where they were from like the beginning ofthe journey to present and then the village was
supposed to finish writing it out. So they take thechronic of Scream and they make it their own. That

(01:06:07):
is the SAS war diary today. Somewhere in this timeframe is where they pick that up. They remove the
Nazi emblems and they put the SAS emblems on it andthey turn it into this like scrapbook of SAS
history, which was hidden in Patty's wall back inNewtonards, Ireland for decades. No one knew

(01:06:27):
about it. Yeah. When they finally found it, theyopened it up. It was literally a scrapbook of World
War II, which is amazing. So they made it back toEngland, back to the story here. They get one more
good time at Hayland House. They have a dance withthe grandlady and Patty parades his boys a final
time on October 16, 1945. So in October of 1945, theregiment is disbanded and by November, Maynz

(01:07:00):
cleared his desk, but I just want to find thislittle bit. I've lost my notes. So they clear their
desks, even if they even had any. And Maynz doesn'treally know what he wants to do after the war,

(01:07:22):
right? Like he's just spent the last several yearsof his life literally living in the wild like a
feral beast having all the fun. Yeah, his job was tosee everybody else's problem. Exactly. How can
they be expected to go back to normal life afterthat? And this sentiment isn't just carried by
Patty. It's carried by most of them in. Like whatare we supposed to do? We can't just take desk jobs

(01:07:46):
now. So he joins an expedition to Antarctica. Youknow what? This checks. Right? This expedition
doesn't last long for him. He's not overlyimpressed with the commander of the unit and not to
mention he has been suffering from a wartimeinjury. That will not go away. So in pretty short

(01:08:06):
order, he finds himself back in Ireland where hetakes up caring for his family and lawyering. May
never marries. He spends like the next nine yearsof his life enjoying the ideal country side during
the day. He's a great family man, but he isdefinitely struggling with PTSD and he doesn't
sleep well. Like maybe a couple hours a night. Sohe's kind of always doing something, right? But

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none of that stops him from being a good friend, agood uncle, a good son, a good brother, a great
neighbor, and a great lawyer. In fact, in thosenine years, he becomes the secretary of law to the
Law Society of Northern Ireland. Then on theevening of December 14, 1955, after nine years of
working in law and caring for his sisters andmother, he's driving home from an event at what I

(01:08:56):
think can be compared to like a moose lodge. It'sabout 4 a.m. He was evidently speeding down the
road in his Ryley car, which is this really coollittle sporty car of the era. He hits a parked lorry
truck and as Hamish Hamish Ross says that he canonsinto the pole overhead that's holding the cables.

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It breaks him into and kills him almost instantly.A local resident sees it doesn't see the accident.
What he sees is the phone like the electricity polesparking and he assumes there's a repairman
working on the pole. He doesn't realize it's been acar accident. It doesn't get reported until 7 a.m.

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But he dies the way he lived fast and hard. This is aman who drove back and forth through heavy enemy
fire, shuttling men in machine because it was theright thing to do. This is a man whose best friend
would say I'll shoot you Blair when you got a littletoo spicy. This is a man of war whose statue holds a
book of poetry instead of a gun. I just think that'swhat it took for him to embody what it took to win the

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war. I want to finish the story off by telling youhow he finished off their final parade back in
September. Here's a bit of his speech. He quotesfrom the boys of Killi Run, which is an Irish folk
song. Some of them went for glory. Some they wentfor pillage. Pillage was the motto of the boys of
Killi Run and in true main status, finishes to theboys saying something like, we came for the

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pillage, but maybe we got a wee bit of the glory too.And this time 490 hands salute him back in unison.
Wow. Could you imagine 490 guys under yourcommand? No, I cannot. I think the world is
grateful. So that is the story of my favorite heroof World War II. That is Patty Main. And there is so

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much more. So, so much more. So I'm saying guys.Okay, so the Patty Main fan club is going to spin up
here shortly. And if you are absolutelydumbfounded at the incredibleness of this
forgotten hero, rate, review, subscribe, sendthis to your person who shouldn't command 400 620 01:11:22,400 --> humans. And on that note, goodbye. Goodbye. Thank you.