Lt. (later Brigadier) Denis William Venables Patrick O'Flaherty
Citation for the award of the DSO : "In recognition of gallant and distinguished services in successful combined operations against the enemy at Vaagso and Maaloy" (L.G.3.4.42)
Lt. O'Flaherty was severely injured at Vaagso being hospitalised for 2 years. However he returned and stayed on in the Army, serving in Korea with the Royal Artillery. Whilst in Korea he was awarded the American Bronze Star on the 8th June 1951.
A Lieutenant in No 3 Commando at Vaagso, post war he became the first Commanding Officer of 29 Commando Regiment RA.
These details from the London Gazettes show the announcement of his retirement in 1975 as a Brigadier " "Brig. D. W. V. P. O'FLAHERTY, C.B.E., D.S.O. (106695)late R.A. retires on retired pay, 10th Dec. 1975."
He died in March 1980 at the age of 59.
His daughter Marye Humphery adds this " I thought you might also like to know what little I know about Vaagso. My understanding is that a machine gun was placed in an upper floor of the warehouse you mentioned, pinning down his men. He stormed up the stairs and managed to take out the post, but received 5 bullets in his face and head. One took out his eye and one side of his jaw, another shattered the atlas bone in his neck (the bone that holds your head up). As you say, he was in hospital/recovering for two years. They took out one of his ribs and put it in his neck. This later broke and had to be replaced with metal (I believe this happened when he was injured crossing the Rhine). He wore a black patch for the rest of his serving career and was probably the only one eyed gunner in Korea."
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Date: 27/02/2011
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Recent comments
The injured Lieut. Denis William Venables O'Flaherty.
I met the Queen's Messenger for Ankara on a chance meeting on a flight from Frankfurt to London. He served under Brigadier O'Flaherty and confirmed his eye patch and how he lost his eye ...
The injured Lieut. Denis William Venables O'Flaherty.
I met the Queen's Messenger for Ankara on a chance meeting on a flight from Frankfurt to London. He served under Brigadier O'Flaherty and confirmed his eye patch and how he lost his eye as well as the fact that O'Flaherty was now deceased.
In the photograph of Lt O'Flaherty the soldier with the bayonet is Derek Gordon Page - of No 3 Commando. He subsequently transferred from the commandos to serve with the Gurkhas in India fighting in Burma and eventually ending the war in Indonesia where he met a Dutch prisoner of war who he subsequently married. He left the army with the rank of Captain. He was my father (I am his son Richard Page). We found this photo in a book on the Vagsoy raid (The Vaagsoy Raid by Joseph H Devins jr. published 1968) and he remembered it. Derek Page died in February 1979.
Posted by Richard Page on Tue 24 Jan 2023 23:59:32 EST