CANADIAN PARA Clancy, John Anthony (Jack)

Heroines of SOE
By Beryl E. Escott

John Robertson

Administrator
Staff member
  • SURNAME
Clancy
  • FORENAME
John Anthony (Jack)
  • UNIT
A Company
  • RANK
Captain
  • NUMBER
  • AWARD
Military Cross
  • PLACE
Europe
  • ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 27.8.1918 Walkerton, Ontario
father James Thomas Clancy (1884-1937)
mother Marion Anna (nee Frank) (1885-1970)
graduated University of Toronto 1940
POW 24.3.1945
escaped 15.4.1945
postwar 2 Bn Royal Canadian Regiment (C.O.) (served Korea) (LtCol)
12.06.1953 awarded MBE for Korean War (Royal Canadian Corps of Signals)
07.1944 married Joan Marion (nee Mollison) (died 2006)
daughter Ann (died 1999)
son Sean Francis Clancy (born 1946, died 1946)
died 17.3.2008, Aged 89, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
London Gazette, 9th June 1953, Page 3271 (MBE)
 

CITATION:

Military Cross : For devotion to duty and outstanding gallantry, Normandy 1 Aug - 6 Sep 44. This officer, by his personal example, sustaining courage and initiative has been a great inspiration to all men of his company throughout the above campaign. His utter disregard for his personal safety in difficult situations has become a byword in the battalion. On 18 Aug 44 at 2230 hours at Goustranville, "A" Coy was given as an objective in a Bn night attack, the south Bridge over the eastern tributary of the river Dives. Captain Clancy was A/2IC of the Coy at the time. He led No.3 Pl on an assault against one MG position, and then pinned down by another off to a flank he personally organized and led a small group armed with grenades, silenced this second enemy position and took five prisoners. The momentum with which this officer led his Pl enabled them to capture the bridge, vital to his Brigade, before the enemy could demolish it. Numerous prisoners and a considerable amount of arms and equipment were captured by his command. This splendid effort by Captain Clancy is but one concrete example of his outstanding courage, initiative and leadership which has been so much in evidence and a characteristic of his work throughout the whole period.

WEB LINKS:

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/118914472/person/262270413161/story
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9132567 (MC)
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/39885/supplement/3271/ (MBE)

NATIONAL ARCHIVES:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9132567 (MC)
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