- SURNAME
Pleydell
- FORENAME
Malcolm James
- UNIT
1 SAS (HQ - Medical Officer)
- RANK
Captain
- NUMBER
133658
- AWARD
Military Cross
- PLACE
North Africa 1943
- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
parent unit Royal Army Medical Corps
M.B.
3 Coldstream Guards (M.O.) 1942
L Detachment SAS 6.6.1942 - September 1942
1 SAS September 1942 - 29.3.1943
64 General Hospital,Cairo 1943
a Field Ambulance,Malta - date ?
died 2001
author "Born of the Desert : With the SAS in North Africa" (1945) as "Malcolm James"
CITATION:
Military Cross : On 14-9-42 the 1st S.A.S. Regiment raided Benghazi and then withdrew to the escarpment East of the town. During the next two days it was extremely dangerous to move by day owing to the Italian and German aircraft which were searching the area bombing and machine-gunning anything seen.
Captain M.J. Peydell, RAMC, the Medical Officer attached, attended to the wounded without any thought of his own safety. On one occasion while he was removing a bullet from Captain R.M.E. Melot's thigh a German plane was circling overhead. On being told that Corporal A. Drongin, who had been wounded in the stomach, was too ill to be moved, he drove five miles to him and operated.
On the 15th at 1400 hours the main body of the Regiment was discovered by the enemy airforce in a narrow wadi. From them until dusk they were bombed and machine-gunned incessantly. Doctor Pleydell was not in the wadi when they were discovered but on hearing the bombs and seeing what had happened, he drove back. In the wadi he moved around the twelve wounded giving morphia and dressing their wounds, paying no attention to the bumbs or bullets.
Being as he was, 500 miles from the nearest Advanced Dressing Station, he undoubtedly saved many lives by his bravery and skill.
Note: This officer has carried out consistent good work on three other operations.
Captain M.J. Peydell, RAMC, the Medical Officer attached, attended to the wounded without any thought of his own safety. On one occasion while he was removing a bullet from Captain R.M.E. Melot's thigh a German plane was circling overhead. On being told that Corporal A. Drongin, who had been wounded in the stomach, was too ill to be moved, he drove five miles to him and operated.
On the 15th at 1400 hours the main body of the Regiment was discovered by the enemy airforce in a narrow wadi. From them until dusk they were bombed and machine-gunned incessantly. Doctor Pleydell was not in the wadi when they were discovered but on hearing the bombs and seeing what had happened, he drove back. In the wadi he moved around the twelve wounded giving morphia and dressing their wounds, paying no attention to the bumbs or bullets.
Being as he was, 500 miles from the nearest Advanced Dressing Station, he undoubtedly saved many lives by his bravery and skill.
Note: This officer has carried out consistent good work on three other operations.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7362053
Last edited by a moderator:
