Operation Frankton was a British WWII commando raid on shipping in the German occupied French port of Bordeaux in southwest France.
The plan was for six kayaks to be taken to the area of the Gironde estuary by submarine. The twelve men would then paddle by night to Bordeaux. The operation was carried out between 7-12 December 1942.
The best way to describe the mission is a suicide mission. Of the 12 men involved in the operation only 4 survived.
One of the marines 21 year old Robert “Bobby” Ewart knew the dangers involved and wrote a farewell letter to his 16 year old Girlfriend Heather Powell.
Below is the text of the letter.
“Dear Heather, I trust it won’t be necessary to have this sent to you but since I don’t know the outcome of this little adventure, I thought I’d leave this note behind.
I couldn’t help but love you Heather, although you were so young. I will always love you, as I know you do me.
That alone should get me through this, but one never knows the turns of fate. One thing I ask of you, Heather, is not to take it too hard. You have yet your life to live.
“Think of me as a good friend and keep your chin up. Some lucky fellow will find you who has more sense than I had and who can get you what you deserve.
Yours for ever, Bob, chin up Sweetheart.”
Bob Ewart was captured on December 10 1942 and executed. After Heather received the news of Bob’s death she got ill, she contracted tuberculosis and died heartbroken shortly before she turned 17.
sources
https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/blog/operation-frankton-the-true-story-of-the-cockleshell-heroes/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Frankton
https://www.nmrn.org.uk/news/operation-frankton-story-cockleshell-heroes
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