Framlinghamian 2022 - Flipbook - Page 169
GUS AGAR
Interview with Jonathan Agar and Paul Taylor for the
Mark Murphy Breakfast Show
As Sir Paul Dukes, an MI6 agent on
shore in Krondstadt noted at the time:
“The extreme bravery of this act will be
appreciated when it is remembered that
Agar with his motor-boat was alone amid
the entire Red Fleet.”
Others took note too. When presenting
Gus with his Victoria Cross at a private
audience at Buckingham Palace, King
George V concluded that he would like him
to serve on the Royal Yacht, which he duly
did 5 years later.
Time is short today so I will briefly try
to convey some of Gus’s life, his most
significant accomplishments and give you a
sense of the man himself.
His life began inauspiciously when he was
born in Ceylon in 1890 as child number 13
– most definitely the runt of the litter.
His mother died very shortly after his
birth and a few years later his father
succumbed to cholera in China. Gus was
sent to England with his nearest brother, my
grandfather, here to Framlingham College
where they enjoyed 5 formative years.
By 1903 Gus was off to Dartmouth and
then to the Royal Navy 2 years later, at
the age of 15, for a career that spanned
40 years of service. On the outbreak of
the First World War he was quickly into
the thick of the action, learnt to fly in the
formative days of the Royal Naval Air
Service and served under Admiral Jellicoe
at Jutland in 1916.
His leadership skills caught the eye and in
early 1918 he was summoned to the Secret
Intelligence Service (now MI6) and assigned
to a Top Secret appointment to command
a new squadron of fast Coastal Motor
Boats (CMBs), running spying missions in
the Baltic to counter increased aggression
Lt. Colonel Martin Myers-Allen
from the Russian Bolshevik fleet in this
strategically significant region.
The raid on Krondstadt took place 100
years ago today and a further operation
followed with a larger fleet of CMBs 3
months later for which he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order (DSO), and
two others received VCs for their enormous
courage during the operation. His career
blossomed between the wars as a life of
‘Showing the Flag’ around the Empire kept
him as sea for much the time.
The onset of the Second World War saw
him once again in the thick of the action,
initially in the North Atlantic escorting
vital supplies including gold bullion from
Canada and the US to fund the war effort
and countering the ever-present threat of
German U-boats.
By 1942 he was commanding HMS
Dorsetshire in the Indian Ocean when
in April, south of Ceylon, the ship was
attacked by Japanese aircraft and sank
in just 8 minutes. In spite of the speed of
the ship’s demise, Gus was the last man
off and organised the men in the where
they gathered together in shark-infested
waters for over 24 hours while awaiting
rescue. 500 men, some badly wounded,
covered in fuel oil with treading water their
only hope.
When salvation duly came in the form of
the British cruiser HMS Enterprise and her
escort destroyers Paladin and Panther half
an hour before darkness, only 16 men were
lost from the ship’s company – a testimony
to Gus’ leadership and the morale of
the men he commanded. For this he was
Mentioned in Dispatches.
Suffering from the effects of swallowing fuel
oil and a septic shrapnel wound Gus’s days
at sea were over and his last appointment
was as President of the Royal Naval
College, Greenwich which concluded in
1946.
So, a remarkable story of an extraordinary
man.
He escaped death and capture on
numerous occasions and some of his
exploits are the stuff of a real-life thriller –
almost impossible to write – an early James
Bond figure to some.
He believed in the laws of natural justice,
fair play, not giving way to dictators,
freedom to live in safety and in the natural
order of things.
His philosophy and approach to life was
all the more remarkable as he never knew
his mother and his father died when he was
still young.
Instead, his formative years were spent here
at Framlingham College where he learnt
resilience and independence and the virtues
of “sticking to it” and “doing the best you
can.”
The Navy became his family and he served
a 40-year career of devotion to all around
him, showing daring, innovation and
outstanding leadership.
As we commemorate Gus’ action 100
years ago today when he sank The Oleg,
it’s only fitting that it started here, in this
chapel, on these playing fields and in your
classrooms. In remembering his actions
and career, we can also look forward with
great purpose and determination knowing
that anything is possible for anyone – even
the runt of the litter!
Jonathan Agar, Great Nephew.
THE FRAMLINGHAMIAN 2019
167