Interesting talk for members of Probus Club

ON FEBRUARY 4 a meeting was held at Junction 23 Restaurant of Shepshed Probus Club.

President Mr Horace Lister welcomed a full complement of members then called for a minute’s silence to remember colleague John Wilmott who had passed away.

The secretary completed club business before prayers and lunch, after which in-house speaker, Roger Haycock gave his talk entitled “Our Para.”

Roger goes to France on a regular basis and it was during one of these trips that he met the Mayor of a small village/town called Damremont.

During one conversation it transpired that on a road out of town was a memorial to a fallen soldier from WW2. Roger’s curiosity was aroused so he went to search for the memorial. It was very overgrown with roadside weeds and the plaque on the stone was illegible. On making further enquiries it turned out to bear the name of James (Jimmy) Downey who was a member of the Parachute Regiment working behind enemy lines with the S.A.S. to harry German supply lines and disrupt the enemy wherever possible.

As well as the S.A.S., the clandestine operations used or worked in collaboration with the local Maquis (French Resistance), several of whom were medical staff from the local hospital.

Jimmy Downey must have considered himself extremely unlucky. He was out on patrol in German occupied France and was on his way back to base when they reached Damremont via the back roads. The patrol were warned that the main road ahead of them was busy with German convoys, so they decided to stop and while waiting they would clean their weapons.

Unfortunately one of the team forgot to check his weapon and during the cleaning operation, a round was discharged and Jimmy was shot.

A lady from the house where they were parked came and comforted Jimmy and eventually had him carried indoors but sadly he died. The villagers arranged his funeral and most of them turned out to form quite a procession, taking them through German lines to reach the cemetery. James Downey, like so many of our brave servicemen disappeared into oblivion.

The storyteller was intrigued by the story and started researching the background to it. Roger managed to trace relatives of Jimmy Downey and has also researched numerous actions which took place in the central and eastern areas of France, but there were far too many operations to list.

To follow some of the stories, a good book to read would be SAS Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre.

At the end of the talk the club chairman thanked Roger and club members showed their appreciation. Members were reminded that the next meeting would be on March 4, at the same venue.

Secretary Wilf Shelton can be contacted on 01509 789802 to give advice on joining Shepshed Probus Club.