Herbert Maurice Roe MM, No.2 Commando and SOE

[Photo courtesy of Tyn Gall].

Herbert Maurice Roe.
Service no. 6896269.
Kings Royal Rifle Corps.
No. 2 Commando.
SOE “Jedburgh"
SOE "Force 136".
Final rank attained: Colour Sergeant.
Awards:
Military Medal (Sergeant)(London Gazette 37138, page 3241; WO 373/98/668)
Mentioned in Despatches (A/Colour Sergeant)(London Gazette 37780, page 5467.)
b.June 4 1917.
d.May 6 2014.

Herbert Maurice Roe, the son of a shopkeeper, was born on 4th June 1917 at Ealing, west London, and educated at Ealing Grammar School. He had ambitions to become a missionary and, after leaving school, studied Philosophy in Belgium and Algeria.

At the outbreak of war he had a clerical job with Cerebos Salt. He had joined the Queen’s Westminsters TA in 1938 and he enlisted with their parent Regt, the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. In August 1940 he volunteered for the Special Forces and, after joining No. 2 Commando, he underwent rigorous training in Scotland. In March 1942 he was called to the War Office for an interview and missed the St Nazaire raid. Every man in his section was killed on the operation.

After being posted to the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF), he took part in raids on the coast of France and on the Channel Island of Herm. He then moved to Fawley Court, near Henley-on-Thames, where he trained to become a wireless operator. Only five feet tall, he was known as “Knee-high”. The work was very tedious and, in classes, he use to bawl: “I’m not mad! Lemme out!”

This was followed by a posting to Milton Hall, near Peterborough, where he joined the “Jedburghs”, a band of men prepared to drop into Occupied zones in three-man sabotage teams.

At Wassy, he was given a billet in the chateau of a prominent local family. There he found that the family, uncertain which side was going to win the war, was hedging its bets by also playing host to a German colonel in charge of guarding the aerodrome at Saint-Dizier. Roe, who spoke good French, was able to pass himself off without problem, and enjoyed having his shoes polished by the colonel’s batman and receiving a salute from the sentry on the gate. Even better, the garden proved large enough for him to make his wireless transmissions without danger of interference. His cover story, had he been captured, was to claim that he had taken part in the St Nazaire raid but had escaped and gone to ground. In October 1944 he returned to England. He was subsequently awarded an MM.

After his return from France in October 1944, Roe was informed that SOE agents were needed in the Far East, and he volunteered to join their Force 136. The voyage to India proved tedious and he used to bellow at regular intervals: “Asia for the Asiatics! Turn the boat round!”

In March 1945 he was dropped into southern Burma. The object of his mission was to recruit Karen tribesmen and train them to harass the retreating Japanese. A post-operations report stated that “he was resourceful, never defeated, popular with the Karens and a continual source of merriment and fun”. He was mentioned in despatches .

Roe was demobilised early in 1946 in the rank of colour sergeant and joined Customs and Excise. He retired to live at Poole in Dorset. Maurice Roe married, in 1953, Winifred (Wyn) Heyes. She predeceased him and he is survived by their two daughters and three sons.

Source: Daily Telegraph Obituary.