George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe - Second World War

Second World War

In October 1939, the young 2nd Lord Jellicoe was a cadet in the first wartime intake at RMC Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards (23 March 1940), before joining No. 8 (Guards) Commando with whom he sailed (31 January 1941) to the Middle East with Colonel Bob Laycock's Layforce, (whose Commando officers included Evelyn Waugh, Randolph Churchill, Philip Dunne, Carol Mather, David Stirling and many distinguished others). Served with L Detachment (from April 1942) (with some of the above and Stephen Hastings) which was the nucleus of the Special Air Service. He was mentioned in despatches thrice, and wounded (bullet in shoulder) once whilst with the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards in 22 (Guards) Brigade in the Western Desert in January 1941. He won the DSO in November 1942 for operating on a raid that claimed to blow up more than 20 German aircraft, (Ju 88s), on Heraklion airfield, Crete that June:

His cool and resolute leadership, skill and courage throughout this very hazardous operation were mainly responsible for the high measure of success achieved. He ... placed charges on the enemy aircraft and brought off the survivors after the four Free French members of the party had been betrayed and killed or captured (from the London Gazette, 5 November 1942, quoted from L. Almonds Windmill, page 49).

In September 1943, Jellicoe was sent to the Italian held island of Rhodes to negotiate with the Italian Admiral Inigo Campioni for the surrender of his forces to the Allies. However, Jellicoe's negotiations were pre-empted by a surprise German attack on the island on 9 September. He was able to escape from Rhodes during the resulting chaos while the Italian garrison was captured by the German invasion force. This was part of the Dodecanese Campaign.

In 1943 he was named Commander of the Special Boat Regiment Middle East and he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. For the remainder of the war his SBS command conducted secretive and dangerous operations along the coast of Italy and Yugoslavia. In 1944 he won the MC for one of these actions. At the end of the war Jellicoe was among the first Allied soldiers to enter German-occupied Athens, beating the communist-controlled guerrillas ELAS to create a pro-Allied presence in the capital.

Years later, when First Lord of the Admiralty, Jellicoe told at least one reporter: The only serious military distinction I ever achieved was having a new type of assault boat named after me. It was called I am ashamed to say, the Jellicoe Inflatable Intruder Mark One.

In March 1944, Lord Jellicoe married Patricia Christine O'Kane (Oct. 1917-March 2012), who was employed at the British Embassy in Beirut. She had been born and raised in Shanghai and was the daughter of a Greenock-born Irish father and an English mother. Patricia, Countess Jellicoe (popularly known as Patsy Jellicoe), would remain married to the 2nd Lord Jellicoe until 1966, when they divorced. They had two sons and two daughters together, the eldest son being The 3rd Earl Jellicoe.