One of last surviving original SAS heroes dies aged 98
A WAR hero who was one of the last of the original SAS members has died at the age of 98.
Brave Alec Borrie was among the first recruited into the elite fighting force in 1942 at the age of just 18 – despite having no idea what they did when he volunteered.
He first signed up for the Army in 1942 during World War Two and joined the Gordon Highlanders.
But after four months of training there were no vacancies in the battalions, so he was sent to the Highland Light Infantry.
The teenager’s first mission was on the Orkney Islands looking for spies.
Bosses started looking for volunteers for the Parachute Regiment, the Commandos and the SAS.
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Desperate to get off the freezing remote islands, Alec volunteered for the 1st SAS, having no idea what it involved. Initial training near Kilmarnock saw around 30 men whittled down to some 15 recruits.
Some of the group were sent to the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944. But Alec was dropped off in France a few days later and after picking up a jeep, he drove through the German lines towards the south of Paris just 150 miles from the front line.
Once behind the lines, Lance Corporal Borrie did not see another British compatriot for around two months. One of the first battles he was involved in was shooting up a small German convoy that turned out to be much bigger than anticipated – making it nearly his first and last action of the war. The SAS squadron also carried out dangerous missions helping the French Resistance by dropping in food and aiding training in guerrilla tactics – all while being surrounded by Germans.
Of the total 1st SAS in France, more than half didn’t return – either being killed in action or betrayed and shot as spies.
In a bid to counter their threat, Adolf Hitler made his infamous order that all captured Allied commandos be killed.
Describing his time in the SAS, Alec once said: “They didn’t tell us what we were going to do until after we did our jumps, then they said, ‘It’s up to you whether you stay or go’. But no one left as far as I know.
“We were two months behind enemy lines, which is quite a long time, and half didn’t survive. I’ve got to be honest, it didn’t bother me or the people we were with. We did the job other people do not want to do, but there’s no supermen.”
As the Allied forces advanced through France, Alec moved on to liberated Belgium and then to Holland where he was assigned to patrol the flashpoint along the River Maas. The Germans were on one side and the British on the other and bizarrely would wave at each other most mornings.
One day, Alec had to drive into Germany to pick up an agent and was not stopped as he went over the bridge but waved on his way.
He then came home on leave in 1945 for four weeks – but after just two weeks received a telegram ordering him back as the British advanced and crossed the Rhine into Germany.
Once there, he acted as reconnaissance for the Canadian forces. But Alec’s war ended when he ran over a mine while driving a jeep. Two passengers were injured and sent home, but the third was killed.
In 1952 he married Jean, a nurse, and the couple had a son. She passed away in 2000.Alec, who lived in Slade Green, Kent, died on May 21.
Perry Smith, a volunteer at the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans that helps organise trips, said: “We would enjoy catching up over his favourite fare – a bacon sandwich followed by a jam doughnut. He never lost heart or his sense of humour.”