Patrick Anthony Porteous
Colonel Patrick Anthony Porteous VC, who as a Scottish captain in the British commandos, received the Victoria Cross – the British Commonwealth's highest award for valor – 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 India's North-West Frontier Province, 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. At the outbreak of war, he served in the British Expeditionary Force in France, with the 6th AA Regiment RA. In 1940 he was evacuated from Dunkirk. Back in England, on 26 August 1940 he was promoted to lieutenant and at the end of that year volunteered for No. 4 Commando.Dieppe
On 19 August 1942, he was 24 years old and a temporary major 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, going ashore at Sword Beach, the easternmost sector.Subsequently, the commandos from the 1st Special Service Brigade advanced inland from the invasion beaches to relieve the 6th Airborne Division at the Orne bridgehead. The 1st Special Service Brigade, which temporarily came under the command of the paratroop division, was holding villages to the north and north-east of Drop Zone N. 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.