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Concept
Patrick Dalzel-Job
Summary
Patrick Dalzel-Job (1 June 1913 – 14 October 2003) was a British naval intelligence officer and commando in World War II. He was also an accomplished linguist, author, mariner, navigator, parachutist, diver, and skier.
Dalzel-Job is widely thought to be the model for James Bond, Ian Fleming's fictional spy, 007.
Born in London, Dalzel-Job was the only son of Captain Ernest Dalzel-Job, who was killed in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. After his father's death Dalzel-Job and his mother lived in various locations, including Switzerland, and he learnt to ski and sail. They returned to the UK in 1931 where he built his own schooner, the Mary Fortune, which he and his mother spent the next two years sailing around the British coast.
In 1937, they sailed to Norway and spent the next two years exploring the coast. During this time Dalzel-Job became fluent in Norwegian. He and his mother took on as crew a Norwegian schoolgirl named Bjørg Bangsund from the city of Tromsø.
On 8 December 1939, Dalzel-Job was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He served as navigating officer on a fleet tug operating from Scapa Flow between January and March 1940. From April to June, he served with the Anglo–Polish–French Expeditionary Force to Norway. He disobeyed a direct order to cease civilian evacuations from Narvik. His action saved some 5,000 Norwegians for which King Haakon of Norway awarded him the Ridderkors (Knight's Cross) of St. Olav in 1943. This award saved him from being court-martialled.
In June 1942, Dalzel-Job was assigned to collate information about the west coast of Norway. A few months later, Lord Louis Mountbatten, head of Combined Operations, chose him to convey commando raids there, known as "Operation VP", using eight Fairmile D motor torpedo boats.
From mid-1943 until early-1944, he served with the 12 (Special Service) Submarine Flotilla, being trained on X-Craft and Welman midget submarines, while taking time to complete parachute training with the Airborne Division.
Official source
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