| Joined | with the original Long Range Patrol, 1940 |
|---|
HE IS RECORDED AS AN ORIGINAL OF THE LONG RANGE PATROL, AND THE JOINED FIELD ON THIS CARD SAYS SO IN WORDS RATHER THAN WITH A DATE. The Joined Unit column of the corrected L.R.D.G. Troopers roll marks NINETY-THREE men “LRP” and he is one of them; EIGHTY-NINE of the ninety-three are on this roll, and all eighty-nine now carry these words. NO. 1 LONG RANGE PATROL WAS FOUNDED ON 3 JULY 1940. General Wavell approved Major Bagnold’s proposal on 23 June, and W Patrol went out on the unit’s first operation on 15 September; the men marked this way are the ones who were there from the beginning. SEVENTY-EIGHT OF THE EIGHTY-NINE ARE NEW ZEALANDERS, which is not a curiosity but the whole story of how the unit began — Wavell had no British troops to spare, and the first patrols were raised from the New Zealand Division. THE IDENTIFICATION RESTS ON HIS NAME AND NOT ON A NUMBER. Neither this card nor the source row carries a service number for him, and he is the only man of his name on this roll, which is why the match was accepted. IT IS A NAME MATCH, AND IT IS SAID SO PLAINLY RATHER THAN LEFT TO BE DISCOVERED. THE FIELD CARRIES WORDS BECAUSE THE SOURCE HAS NO USABLE DAY. The marker is stamped with a date and the stamps do not agree: SEVENTY-SIX read 6/1/40 and TWELVE read 7/1/40. Read the American way this column demands — one of its entries is 7/30/1942, and there is no thirtieth month — the first is 1 JUNE 1940, A MONTH BEFORE THE UNIT EXISTED and nine days before Italy entered the war at all, and the second is 1 July, two days before it was founded. NEITHER IS EVEN THE UNIT’S OWN BIRTHDAY, let alone this man’s arrival, and seventy-six men did not join on one day. THIS ROLL DOES NOT INVENT A DAY IT HAS NOT GOT. Eighteen men here carry a joining date a document states, off a R.E.M.E. tracer card or an officers’ list; this card carries instead what is actually known — the year, and that he was there at the start. Entered on Tony Moore’s instruction of 12 September 2026. Recorded from Ian Chard’s red-line corrections to the L.R.D.G. P.S. Troopers roll of 11 September 2026 (LRDG_IanChard_Troopers_redlines_vs_roll_2026-09-11.xlsx), entered 12 September 2026.
See him in the full roll →This page is part of the Long Range Desert Group roll of members at lrdgarchive.org. If you hold rights to anything on it and would like it credited differently, or taken down, please see Sources and Copyright. It will be dealt with promptly.
Not By Strength But By Guile