Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Grant Garrow DSO (24 August 1908 - 28 March 1976) was a British army officer with the

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First World War, First and World War II, Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 t ...

. He was the founder of the Pat O'Leary Line in

Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...

which helped Allied soldiers and airmen escape

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

-occupied France.

Early career

Garrow attended the

Glasgow Academy The Glasgow Academy is a coeducational private day school for pupils aged 3–18 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2016, it had the third-best Higher level exam results in Scotland. Founded in 1845, it is the oldest continuously fully private school in ...

, where he rose to the rank of cadet sergeant in the academy's officer training corps. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 9th Battalion of the

in the Territorial Army on 21 May 1930. He was promoted to lieutenant on 21 May 1933 and subsequently transferred to the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers, holding the rank of Lieutenant, on 9 June 1937.

Second World War

Following the surrender of the Highland 51st Division at Saint-Valéry-en-Caux on the

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

coast on 12 June 1940, Garrow, then a lieutenant, managed to avoid being taken prisoner. On hearing that France had surrendered, Garrow and other British personnel tried unsuccessfully to escape to the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. In August, after walking to Marseilles, Garrow turned himself in to the

Vichy French Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against G ...

regime and was officially interned, although able to move freely around the city. In October 1940, Garrow began working with other British interned or living in Marseilles such as Donald Caskie and

Nancy Wake Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, (30 August 1912 – 7 August 2011), also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II, and b ...

and French resisters such as Louis Nouveau, to organise the escape to Britain of Allied internees and soldiers and airmen stranded in France. They were joined by Albert Guérisse in June 1941, whose ''

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

'' of "Pat O'Leary" became the name of an escape and evasion line which help the stranded soldiers and airmen escape Nazi-occupied France, the "Pat O'Leary Line". Garrow was arrested by Vichy police in October 1941 and later interned at Mauzac (

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

). His role as head of the escape line was taken over by Guérisse. Garrow escaped from Mauzac in December 1942 with help from the Pat Line and sheltered with Marie Dissard (code name ''Françoise'') in Toulouse, before being guided across the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

to the British Consulate in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Garrow returned to England at the beginning of February 1943, and as a war-substantive captain, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 4 May.

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British politician who was Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1980 to 1983. Foot beg ...

and Jimmy Langley describe Garrow as "a tall dark-haired captain in the Seaforth Highlanders in his early twenties, who spoke French with a noticeable Scots accent".

Postwar

Garrow ended the war as a lieutenant (war-substantive major), and was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 1 January 1949. He continued in the Territorial Army, and retired on 20 September 1958 as an honorary lieutenant-colonel.

External links

WO208/3312-1075
"Captain I G Garrow, DSO (service number 57346). Service: Army, 1st Battalion Glasgow"; The National Archives, UK

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrow, Ian 1908 births 1976 deaths British Army personnel of World War II Scottish soldiers