Gus March-Phillipps

Gustavus Henry March-Phillipps, (1908  – 12 September 1942; sometimes spelled "March-Phillips" ) was the founder of the British Army's No. 62 Commando, also known as Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF), one of the forerunners of the Special Air Service (SAS). He was also noteworthy as being one of Ian Fleming's main inspirations for the character of James Bond.

Military career
March-Phillips was a special operations veteran who proved remarkably successful in his missions.

In The Daily Telegraph, Max Hastings noted: "In January 1942 he launched Operation Postmaster, a picaresque 'cutting-out expedition', which seized two Italian merchantmen from the neutral Spanish colonial port of Santa Isabel in West Africa, and towed them triumphantly to Lagos." After the raid March-Phillipps was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

He was killed in action during Operation Aquatint, which took place on the German-occupied French coastline in September 1942. Intending to harass the enemy and boost the Allied morale, March-Phillips led a raiding team of 11 men onto a beach in Goatley canoes. The landing was on an incorrect area of the beach, and they came under heavy fire from a German patrol. Four of the raiders were injured and taken prisoner, four men went on the run but were eventually captured; the rest of the team were killed, including March-Phillips who was shot when trying to swim ashore after his canoe got damaged.

On the Commando Veterans website, the following note accompanies the text on his gravestone: "In Memory of Major 39184 Gustavus Henry March-Phillipps DSO MBE Royal Artillery and Commando, Small Scale Raiding Force who died age 34 on 12 September 1942 Remembered with honour at ST. LAURENT-SUR-MER CHURCHYARD"

Personal life
March-Phillipps married fellow SSRF member Marjorie Stewart (an actress before and after the war, later Lady Marling) on 18 April 1942.

He was the nephew of Gustavus Hamilton Blenkinsopp Coulson.

In popular culture
March-Phillipps is portrayed by Henry Cavill in the 2024 film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare which depicts the fictionalised events of Operation Postmaster.