Douglas Nash

Douglas James Nash was a British Commando during World War II. He was promoted to sergeant and awarded the Military Medal for gallantry on his 11th commando mission.

Douglas Nash and friends, during training at Achncarry

Born and raised in Birmingham, he enlisted in the Worcestershire Regiment in October 1939. He volunteered for hazardous operations and served with No. 12 Commando for four years, before the unit was disbanded.

In June 1944, Sergeant Nash was posted to the Special Boat Squadron, Special Service Brigade and served with them to the end of the war.

Nash is in the white jumper, with his pals during training at Achnacarry in this picture.

Early life

Douglas James Nash was born in Small Heath, Birmingham on 1 October 1918. He was named James after his eldest brother who was killed in action in March of that year. His mother Charlotte was well into her 40s when she gave birth to Doug, her 15th child of 16.

15 of the children would almost miraculously survive to adulthood in a very family struggled that to make end meet for many years. Education was short and sparse and Nash was working as soon as he left school, on building sites across Birmingham as a driver and labourer.

The Nash family moved frequently, often on "moonlit flits" to avoid the rent collector when money was tight and his eldest sister Lily told of days when dinner was courtesy of a Salvation Army soup kitchen.

Things approved considerably in the 1920s when the family was allocated a council house, first in Lyndon Rd then Denton Grove, both in Stechford. Denton Grove remained in the family until 2006 when Lily's eldest son Bob was the last family resident.

Denton Grove

Denton Grove Fancy Dress party for George V Silver Jubilee, 6 May 1935

Top row - 3rd left Robert Williams, No 5 Walter Bunn, No 9 Dorothy Bunn (his daughter), No 13 Dennis Williams Senior, No 14 Ted Nickless (a five times wounded WW1 veteran) and his wife Hilda is holding the baby top right

Middle row - No 3 Lily Nash next to Victor Nash, Doug Nash then his sisters Doreen and Faye, No 4 Nanny Bunn (Dorothy's mother) and No 5 Hilda Williams

Bottom - below "Nanny" Bunn is Reg Hinton, the Nash's next door neighbour. The lady with the dog is Joan Workman.

The Second World War

Corporal Douglas Nash in 1943

Doug voluntarily enlisted in the British Army on 19 October 1939, very shortly after war had been declared. His elder brother Bob had joined the Royal Navy some years earlier and was already moving up the ranks whilst two of his brothers had served in WW1: his brother Tommy had lost the sight in one eye in a factory accident but somehow managed to find his way into the Royal Army Medical Corps whilst James was conscripted in 1917 when he lost his job with the GPO (then a protected employment). James was killed in action in 1918 but Tommy, who seems to have spent his war in Africa, returned.

Recollections of Doug are that he was bright, restless and did not suffer fools gladly. He seems to have liked a drink, as did his father and this soon got him into trouble with the army. Nash's time with the 10th battalion was short and he managed to earn three reprimands in sixth months. That these all happened just after his elder brother was killed when HMS Exmouth was sunk is probably an indication of how hard Doug took the loss. Bob was much loved and close to Doug.

The family believes that this is why Doug, who was so bored with the Phoney War that he'd already volunteered to be a despatch rider, volunteered for special service with the commandos as soon as they started recruiting. Boredom and revenge seem to have been powerful motives, as well as a change from square bashing military routine!

The commandos were formed in June 1940. By August, Nash was undergoing training with the original batch of recruits to Britain's first special forces unit at Achnacarry in Scotland.

B Troop 12 Commando in August 1941

Nash is front row, fourth from right in this picture of B Troop taken in 1941. This is one of a collection of pictures taken by Doug and his comrades, with his camera the family believes.

What we know of his service is limited as his service record has been heavily redacted - 15 pages have been blacked out. A professional WW2 researcher has stated that he has never seen a WW2 special forces service record to be so heavily edited.

What we do know is that Nash was a member of B Troop, 12 Commando and that this formation were the archetypal small scale raiders. Doug carried out at least 11 raids with this unit between 1940 and 1944. This would have included the Operation Tarbrush raids as we know Doug was attached to 10 Inter-Allied Commando on several occasions.

Military Medal

By December 1943, Nash had been promoted to corporal and served under Major Peter Laycock. on Boxing Day, 26 December, they conducted a mission at Creil-sur-Mer in Normandy, near to Caen. It was on this mission, Nash's 11th so far, he was awarded the Military Medal. The citation tells us that Doug had climbed to the top of high cliff and then seen a large German patrol headed their way. Whilst his comrade wanted to take on the German Army with one Thompson submachine gun, Doug "coolly appraised the situation" and got all the patrol back down the cliff before descending himself and all of the raiding party made it safely away before they were discovered.

As the first man up the rope, Doug then remained there, whilst making sure everyone coming behind him turned around and headed back to the beach and safety. This was all conducted in silence as 20+ German soldiers walked ever closer... Given that Hitler's notorious Kommando Befehl was being ruthlessly applied at that stage of the war, discovery would have meant torture and execution for Doug and anyone else on the clifftop.

With Doug at the top of this cliff as #2, and eager the take on the German Army with a submachine gun, was Welsh Rugby International Ellis Howells. Ellis transferred to the Special Boat Squadron at the same time as Doug in 1944 and was killed in action in Yugoslavia - an equally brave young man, he had been mentioned in despatches for an earlier raid on 7/10/44 as part of Operation Tarbrush. Ellis is buried in the Belgrade War Cemetery.

Special Boat Squadron, Special Air Service

In 1943, 12 Commando was disbanded as the need for small scale raiding forces lessened and the commandos came to be seen more as elite "shock troops". The specialists within the unit were distributed to other commando units and other Special Service units. In June 1944, this saw Doug and Ellis Howells both transferred to Special Air Service (part of the Special Service Brigade) based in Italy. Both of them were then attached to the Special Boat Squadron which was not a separate regiment at the time.

In this group picture, taken with Yugoslav partisan officers and men sometime in 1994, Doug can be seen second from left.

Picture from the personal collection of Sgt D Nash taken in Yugoslavia in 44-45

Little is known of Doug's service with the SBS however he left behind a rich archive of unpublished pictures that show him and his commando, SBS and SAS in the field.

Given his heavily redacted service record, it is highly likely that along with Ellis Howells, he was attached to the Special Operations Executive and participated in their actions in Yugoslavia. It is also probable that he was part of the action at Limljani in Serbia Montenegro where Ellis lost his life. Doug spoke little of his service post war but did say he spent "a lot of time messing about in boats" in the Aegean.