Patrick Anthony Porteous

Colonel Patrick Anthony Porteous VC (1 January 1918 – 9 October 2000), who as a Scottish captain in the British commandos, received the Victoria Cross – the British Commonwealth's highest award for valour – for leading a bayonet charge against a German battery in the Dieppe Raid in 1942. He also saw action with the Royal Artillery in France, being evacuated from Dunkirk, and with No. 4 Commando in the D-Day Normandy landings.

Early life and education

Pat Porteous was born on 1 January 1918, at Abbottabad in British India's North-West Frontier Province (now Pakistan), the son of British Indian Army Brigadier-General Charles McLeod Porteous of the 9th Gurkhas. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

Second World War

B.E.F.

Porteous was commissioned in the Royal Regiment of Artillery in 1937. and at the end of that year volunteered for No. 4 Commando. attached to No. 4 Commando when he did the deed for which he was awarded the VC, during the Dieppe Raid. The citation was published in a supplement to The London Gazette of 2 October 1942 and read:

Normandy

In spite of severe wounds, Porteous went on to make a full recovery and he returned to the same unit. He was second in command of No 4 Commando, which was part of 1st Special Service Brigade when he took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, As part of the Battle of Bréville, Captain Porteous led D Troop in a charge against infiltrating German infantry, even though outnumbered by at least two to one, killing some and routing the rest. In October 1944 he returned to the Royal Artillery and saw further action with 1st Airlanding Light Regiment. Porteous went on to have a distinguished military career in Palestine, Germany and Singapore. He was promoted to major in 1950, lieutenant colonel on 1 May 1959, and rose to the rank of colonel before he retired in 1970. Half a century after the events, Colonel Porteous criticized Louis Mountbatten's notion that valuable lessons were learned at Dieppe, "Absolute nonsense. We could have learned as much in Weymouth Bay". He had the honour of being in the leading car at the Queen Mother's 100th Birthday Parade, before his death in October 2000, aged 82.