War hero Captain Hamish Pelham-Burn
A Scots soldier who played a key role in Britain's secret war to defeat Nazi Germany has died in Perthshire aged 92.
- By Mark Mackay
- Published in the Courier : 19.02.11
- Published online : 21.02.11 @ 02.41pm
Captain Hamish Pelham-Burn passed away peacefully at Pitlochry Community Hospital, the extent of his second world war heroism as yet unknown.
From 1939-1945, he brought disruption and destruction to the German war effort through daring raids on the continent, often hand-in-hand with the French Resistance.
An expert in explosives and demolitions, he joined the elite members of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), formed in 1940 by Winston Churchill to conduct warfare by means other than direct engagement.
The SOE's members operated throughout Europe, working to try to cause maximum chaos in occupied countries. Some agents' stories caught the imagination of millions who read biographies later made into films, but so sensitive was Captain Pelham-Burn's SOE career that his story remains largely untold.
His official SOE war record (1939-46) is stored in the National Archives at Kew where it has been sealed and protected for 72 years. Under the Official Secrets Act, it cannot be made available for public scrutiny until January 1, 2019.
Captain Pelham-Burn began his military career with the Seaforth Highlanders, but his talents soon brought him to the attention of the newly formed Special Operations Executive.
In addition to his work as an agent in France and Yugoslavia, he also served as one of the highly talented group of instructors gathered together with the task of creating a new breed of soldier.
Controversial though their methods were within the military establishment of the time, the SOE was -- at least in the beginning -- given free rein to bring in whomsoever they pleased to make their agents expert in techniques unheard of in the regular army.
Those selected were first sent for initial training at one of several stately homes used by the SOE -- including Bletchley Park Manor in Buckinghamshire. The estate was the base from which a vital secret war was fought, orchestrating research, propaganda and the decryption of ciphers such as the German Enigma.
It was from there that Captain Pelham-Burn served as explosives instructor during 1943 and 1944, teaching a hand-picked group.
Those recruited by the SOE commonly had considerable experience of the countries to which they were then sent to aid local resistance efforts. They were then toughened up in the field on commando courses, most famously at Inverailort Castle and Arisaig House near Fort William.
There they were taught how to use a range of guns and explosives, sabotage wireless technology, live secretly in occupied territories and make small boat landings, training on a local loch.
The agents, including Captain Pelham-Burn, also mastered other non-traditional techniques such as unarmed combat and silent killing.
Once fully trained, the operatives were sent to countries including France, Belgium, Holland, Poland, Denmark and Yugoslavia where they daily put their lives in danger.
They were active in helping the French Resistance and in the last months of the war were given key roles in the final push to defeat the Nazis.
Among those agents active in the war's final months was Captain Pelham-Burn who, with two other instructors from Camp X, is said to have staged a daring raid on a German radar installation in Brittany just before D-Day.
He was part of an adventuresome family, and some members lost touch as they left Scotland to seek new opportunities and earn their fortune.
A keen explorer and geologist -- an interest that continued throughout his life -- he played a role a role in mapping the Ogilvie Mountains (first surveyed by William Ogilvie) in Canada's Yukon Territory.
Back in Scotland, he settled in Highland Perthshire, where he was known as an enthusiastic photographer and was reportedly a very fine golfer.
03.56pm - 27.04.2011 Wayne Cochrane - Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Report This
Bletchley Park was not Camp X; it was a main UK decoding centre. Camp X was actually in Canada, just east of Toronto, on the shore of Lake Ontario. Pelham Burn was chief explosives and weapons instructor there for a time. In addition to the SOE, he flew Hurricanes and Wellingtons for the RAF.
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