Colonel Ian Lapraik BL (13 September 1915 – 15 March 1985) was a distinguished officer in the

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terr ...

Regiment, despite potentially crippling childhood illness.

Early life

Lapraik was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, but lived most of his early life in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. He suffered from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

of the knee at age seven and had been crippled for five years including two years with his leg in

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

. When he was at university, he was still thought to be too "fragile" for vigorous sports, although he had worked on his strength by running. He was also excluded from the Officer Training Corps, despite having achieved distinction as a runner in international inter-student games. Lapraik was educated at the

High School of Glasgow The High School of Glasgow is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, co-educational day school, day school in Glasgow, Scotland. The original High School of Glasgow was founded as the Cathedral school, choir school of Glasgow Cathedra ...

(1927–1934) and

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

. He then qualified as a lawyer.

Military career

Lapraik enlisted in 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 ...

on 3 September 1939, the day that war was declared against Germany. After training at the reputedly tough

Officer Cadet Training Unit This is a list of Officer Cadet Training Units, or OCTUs, which were British military establishments for training future commissioned officers of the British Army, the British Indian Army, and the Royal Air Force, to complement the limited capacity ...

Dunbar Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the Anglo–Scottish border, English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and ...

, he was commissioned in the Cameron Highlanders in 1941. In the same year he saw action with 51 Commando in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, then known as Abyssinia, and won the Military Cross and the Ethiopian

Lion of Judah The Lion of Judah (, ) is a Jewish national and cultural symbol, traditionally regarded as the symbol of the tribe of Judah. The association between the Judahites and the lion can first be found in the blessing given by Jacob to his fourth son ...

. In June 1943, he joined the newly formed Special Boat Squadron (SBS), based near

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, commanded by Lord Jellicoe. In 1943 he commanded an SBS unit operating from bases in Turkish waters. Notable among his successes was an attack with the Greek Sacred Squadron on

Symi Symi, also transliterated as Syme or Simi (), is a Greece, Greek island and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality. It is mountainous and has the harbour town of Symi and its adjacent upper town Ano Symi, as well as several smaller ...

, when the German garrison was decimated and all their installations destroyed. For this and other actions, he was awarded a bar to his Military Cross. In 1944, the Squadron was expanded to Regimental status, though still part of the SAS group. The unit was now styled the

Special Boat Service The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roy ...

, and the three operational Detachments were likewise expanded into Squadrons: Major Lapraik commanded M Squadron. In 1945, he was awarded the DSO, in recognition of his courage and leadership. He was then attached to the Greek Sacred Regiment Sacred Squadron, which had also been expanded from its original Squadron status, and remained with them until the end of the war. This was a very difficult period in Greek history and his service was further recognised by the award of Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

from Britain, and the

Order of the Phoenix Order of the Phoenix may refer to: *Order of the Phoenix (Greece), a medal conferred on Greek or foreign citizens * Royal Order of the Phoenix (Tonga), a knighthood order of the Kingdom of Tonga, founded in 2010 *Various uses related to the ''Ha ...

from Greece. He also received the Greek War Cross, 2nd Class (Β' τάξεως) for his earlier operations. His skill in watermanship was legendary. He once paddled a canoe from

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, a distance of 70 miles, and on one occasion even managed to control a canoe in a force-nine gale. He was six times

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

; wounded six times; captured three times but always escaped. After the war, the SAS and the SBS were disbanded from the regular establishment, but in 1947 the SAS returned, as a unit of the Territorial Army. This unit was

21 SAS The 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), historically known as The Artists Rifles, is a regiment of the British Army Reserve. Its name is abbreviated to 21 SAS(R). Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, t ...

(V) and Major Lapraik now commanded B Squadron, whose senior ranks were composed mostly of veterans of the SBS. Between 1973 and 1983, Ian Lapraik was the Honorary Colonel of 21 SAS. The Army Reserve Centre at

Bramley Training Area Bramley Training Area is a British Army training camp, located south of the village of Bramley, Hampshire. Opened during World War I as an ammunition depot, the site now comprises a field training area and an Army Reserve Centre at Lapraik Hous ...

is named Lapraik House and the base for C Sqn. In his civilian life, Ian Lapraik worked in publishing. He died in Buckinghamshire on 15 March 1985.

Honours and awards

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

18 October 1945 *

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

9 August 1945 *

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

19 August 1941, and

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

3 February 1944 *

Territorial Efficiency Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer Officer's Decoration when the T ...

14 September 1956 *

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

25 January 1945 *

(Abyssinia) *

War Cross (Greece) The War Cross () is a military decoration of Greece, awarded for heroism in wartime to both Greeks and foreign allies. There have been three versions of the cross, the 1917 version covering World War I, the 1940 version covering the Second World Wa ...

, 2nd Class (14 October 1949)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapraik, Ian Alumni of the University of Glasgow British Army personnel of World War II Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers Special Boat Service officers Special Air Service officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at the High School of Glasgow Recipients of the Military Cross Recipients of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) Recipients of the War Cross (Greece) Military personnel from Edinburgh 1915 births 1985 deaths