Frederick John French

Known as Jack. Jack talked to Steven Sutton and the recording is held at IWM. A transcript is available.

Jack French; "I was 26-years old and a Sergeant in the Home Guard, defending the waterworks at Kingston, when I was approached by an Army officer, McNicholl, in 1942, and asked if I wanted to join something with more scope and training; something with a little bit more action. All the patrol members were former Home Guard Sergeants, and when we removed the stripes from our uniforms you could see the discolouration. People asked us what on earth we all had done to lose our stripes.

I was married during this period and my wife and I did discuss what I was doing and she was absolutely for it. My activities might have led to her being held or killed as a hostage. However, we would have made it difficult for the Germans to make the link. Given the type of explosives we were carrying we were not going to be taken prisoner. They would not have been able to identify us from the shreds of our bodies. We would have fought to the last.

Stand Down came in November 1944. The only regret I had was that I could not keep my commando knife. This was an extraordinary time. I look back with a degree of pleasure as I was doing my bit for the war effort. Our training and equipment was excellent and I was with friends. Jim Mount said: ‘If we last a week we’re doing quite well’. Official recognition was not needed.

It was a grim game but a game one enjoyed playing. I lived as fully as I ever lived during that time. It was something worth doing, worth training for, and with the most splendid people. They were the sort of people in this part of the world that keep the wheels turning."

In 1982 he was interviewed by Peter Williams for his TV programme Gherkin and Truffle go to War.