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Clements, Percy Priestley - MC DCM MM
Rank : Lieutenant
Army Number : 2564415 / 327224
Unit : 2nd Bn, 1st Bn
Biography :
Percy Clements enlisted in The Leicestershire Regiment on 25.8.1928. Served with the 2nd Bn in Germany and Catterick. He was drafted to the 1st Bn in India in 1930. Promoted Corporal 23.3.1934 and Sergeant by 1938. He played rugby and soccer for the Bn. He returned to England as a Sergeant Instructor in Ripon in 1939 and volunteered for special service in No. 2 Commando which became the first SAS unit. As a sergeant he took part in the first-ever airborne operation (Op Colossus) to blow up a viaduct at Calatri in Italy on 10/11 Feb 1941. He and many of the troop were captured. In a POW camp in Italy he was responsible for secret communications with the War Office in London. He then escaped and made his way back to the Allied lines 100 miles away. For this series of actions over 18 months he was awarded the D.C.M. (L.G. 2.3.1944). Transferring to the Army Air Corps and being commissioned, in 1945 he was awarded the M.C. for action when serving as a platoon commander in 12th Bn Parachute Regt in the Ardennes region of Belgium on 5.1.1945 (L.G. 12.4.1945). He was severely wounded in that engagement and only because he was extremely fit did he recover, but he was invalided out of the Army. In 1946, after the witnesses had been released from POW camp and debriefed on the first airborne operation (Op Colossus) in Feb 1941, he was awarded the M.M. for his exploits during that operation (L.G. 20.6.1946). He was one of the most highly decorated members of the airborne forces of which he been a founder member. After the War he was a Civil Servant in the Ministry of Defence. He died in 1998. This photo of him was taken in Sulmona POW camp, Italy c1942. His medals purchased for £98,400 by a private collector at a Spinks auction in London in Nov 2014.
Date of Birth : 21.2.1910
Place of Birth : Nottingham
Date of Death : 19.10.1998
Place of Death : Wellington, Salop
Civil Occupation : Civil Servant, MOD
Period of Service : 1928-48
Conflicts : Waziristan, WW2
Places Served : UK, Germany, India, Italy, France, Belgium
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