Canadian WWII SAS commado dies

[stonecutter]

BUD DONNELLY, SOLDIER AND WAR HERO: 1920-2005

OTTAWA -- Moving like a ghost across the battlefields of Northwest Europe in his heavily armed jeep bristling with machine guns, Bud Donnelly played a significant role in keeping Allied commanders informed on German troop dispositions.

Always on the go, sometimes only a few hundred metres from German forces, Mr. Donnelly kept transmitting on his special radio despite a high risk of capture and interrogation. That would have been disastrous for Allied planners, since Mr. Donnelly's job was to send back information that was vital to battlefield commanders.

Mr. Donnelly, a Royal Canadian Dragoons captain whose private jeep was named Jeannie after his wife, spent the last four months of the Second World War seconded to the General Headquarters Liaison Regiment. A cloak-and-dagger unit, it sent specially trained soldiers on missions far behind enemy lines to report on German forces, sometimes minute-by-minute.

Thought to be the only Canadian who served with this shadowy, little-known regiment -- nicknamed Phantom after its radio code word -- Mr. Donnelly was highly trained in communications, small arms and hand-to-hand fighting, as well as evading capture.

For rest of story:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20060106/OBDONNELLY06/TPObituaries/

[Roy Batty]

An amazing soldier. Rest well.

[Kingswat]

Rip.



567890

[JJHH]

RIP brave man.

[fantassin]

He actually worked with the SAS but wasn't one when you read the article.

The use of "SAS" to capture the attention of readers never ceases to amaze me...

Anyway, RIP

[stonecutter]

He actually worked with the SAS but wasn't one when you read the article.
The use of "SAS" to capture the attention of readers never ceases to amaze me...

Salut Fantassin,
I did not throw SAS in the title just to capture the attention of readers.
The article says:

After serving two eventful months in action as a Phantom, Mr. Donnelly, wearing its white 'P' on his sleeve, was sent on March 15, 1945, to No. 5 Squadron of the British Army's elite Special Air Service Brigade, also known as the Belgian SAS.
"I was assigned to the Belgian SAS because their signals officer had been killed in Holland," he told Mr. Thomas.

Does this not mean that after transferring from the Phantom unit, he became part of No. 5 Squadron of the SAS??

edit -- ok, he kept his 'P' on his sleeve while working with SAS, so I guess he never actually became an SAS member. Sorry.

[fantassin]

I actually have read a series of very good articles by Robert D'Elia in Militaria Magazine about "Phantom" and I just think it's a pity the name of this little known unit wasn't brought forward in the title; they existed before the SAS and were I am sure just as brave and competent.

[D.Thomas]

Gentlemen,

I was directed to this thread and felt the necessity to post a reply to clarify a few points. First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Des Thomas and I a military historian with a particular interest in the Belgian SAS/Airborne unit that operated between 1942 and 1945. I am also very fortunate to be able to say that I knew the man in question (Bud Donnelly) and spent a lot of time with him at his home in Canada learning many details of his unique military career. With regards to the article in question, I was consulted extensively by the Journalist who wrote the piece. However let me just state for the record that I actually requested he send me the article before it went to print in order to proof read it and correct any historical inaccuracies. He did this and I corrected a few small mistakes however this "final" proof which I approved was not what actually went to print. You can imagine my surprise and horror to see some clearly conflicting and erroneous statements in the opening part of the article, the photo caption not to mention elsewhere in the piece.

Anyway, Bud Donnelly begun and ended his military career as an officer with the Royal Canadian Dragoons. However while in the UK during WW2, he grew extremely impatient at his unit's lack of involvement in any action (Especially after D-Day) and he requested a transfer to Phantom (GHQ Liaison Unit). Screening for potential Phantom members was very strict and only the most competent and intelligent men were asked to join. Bud Donnelly had those qualities in abundance and in many ways he was the perfect candidate as he also had a very strong background in wireless & signals (The main forte of a Phantom man). He was not a Can Loan officer as some might assume but was on a special X list of some type (which i need to research further) which basically indicated he was on active service but provided no particulars of his attachment or duties. A rather subversive hush hush deal.

In late 1944 the Belgian SAS (A special airborne unit made up of men with Belgian background from all over the world including Canada) lost their Signals officer when he was killed in action in Holland. In the article it states Bud Donnelly told me that but actually it was the other way around. I told him, because the officer he replaced was also a Canadian (Rather Ironic) and he was not aware of that. Anyway Bud Donnelly was the man chosen to be attached to the Belgian SAS and serve as their signals officer. I am not sure if the Belgian SAS specifically requested a Phantom officer or if it was just pure luck that he got the job but it worked out very well for both parties. At this stage of the war the Belgian SAS were no longer carrying out parachute operations and were instead serving as heavily mobile armored reconnaissance patrols. This was perfect for a Phantom officer as the primary role of Phantom was to obtain the latest most up to date battlefield data and wire it back to HQ.

Now to the question of whether the term SAS was used to enhance the article. Well, I notice the term SAS-Commando was used in the title of this thread? That term was not used in the actual article. The SAS and Commandos were two completely separate entities and that term is an erroneous media created one. I can quite clearly state that Bud Donnelly was a legitimate member of the SAS. He wore the SAS cap badge on an airborne beret in addition to pegasus flashes on his battledress. Please see attached photo below.

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/962/captdonnelly9ae.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

In addition he was listed on the Order of Battle roster for the Belgian SAS during 1945. If you also look at organizational layouts for the SAS Brigade during 1944-45 you will see Phantom "F" squadron clearly pencilled in as part of the unit. As well as these important points Bud Donnelly maintained a lifetime membership with the British SAS veteran association as well as the Belgian SAS veterans association. The SAS is a very close knit community and anybody who alludes to having been a member when that is not the case is given very short shrift (to put it politely). Bud Donnelly attended post war SAS dinners, maintained regular contact with the Commanding officer of the Belgian SAS and had official SAS representation at his funeral service. This should make it quite clear (to those that would doubt) that the man was indeed a member of the SAS. His parent unit had no idea what he got up to while attached "elsewhere". When he returned to the RCD's at the end of the war his CO said "Ah Donnelly! we were beginning to wonder where you were!".

His career was quite remarkable and as already stated the man was an incredible soldier. I can understand why his role/position may not be quite clear to some people especially when badly explained (as it was in the Globe & Mail article). I hope I have addressed that confusion in my post and you now have a better understanding.

Regards,

Des Thomas

[stonecutter]

Excellent. Thank you for that, Des.

[Crassus]

Gentlemen,

I was directed to this thread and felt the necessity to post a reply to clarify a few points.

...


His career was quite remarkable and as already stated the man was an incre

Regards,

Des Thomas

Good post, hopefully you can post some more of your knowledge.

Regards,

[California Joe]

Thank you Mr. Thomas. It's always a pleasure to have people that know what they are talking about posting here.