Roger Courtney

Roger James Allen Courtney MC, known as Jumbo, was influential in the establishment of the UK Special Boat Service.

When World War II began, he travelled from Africa (where he was big-game hunting) to England to join the army as a "commando folding kayaker". When his ideas were rebuffed, he joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a Rifleman. Soon promoted to Corporal, he was commissioned in November 1939.

When the SOE was founded, Courtney tried to convince Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Laycock that his idea of a folding kayak brigade would be effective, with no success. In order to convince the army, he stole a gun casing from a British commando ship by kayaking up to it, climbing the anchor chain, stealing the item, and leaving the way he had come, undetected. He presented the trophy to a group of high ranking commando officers in a nearby pub. He was promoted to Captain, and given command of twelve men, the first Special Boat Section.