Photo album showing the first SAS mavericks
always amazed, and even a little angry, by how little today’s youngsters and even some adults know about the war.
“Too many kids know very little about our history so I thought, ‘What if we make it more appealing, more attractive and real?’
“Not the usual black and white stuff, no computer games, just real stories with real photos in colour which are as close to reality as is humanly possible.”
Jake began his project after seeing fascinating some old
Archive...his badge, beret, medals and knife
took group shots of the hardened soldiers, who appear as an unkempt bunch of mavericks.
As well as the album, Fred’s medals, SAS commando fighting knife, an escape map of France and his regimental beret are all in his archive being auctioned by Bosleys of Marlow, Bucks, in Stafford on Wednesday. The black and white pictures of his home town which had been roughly coloured in.
He thought many of them looked “hideous” so he decided to have a go himself – and quickly discovered he had a flair for the technique.
Photos he has retouched include one of a wounded gunner being helped out through a perspex turret and a sweating, bare-chested mechanic toiling inside a bomb bay. Others show an entire
medals and photo album are valued at £2,000 each, while the sand beret is expected to fetch £1,500.
Bernard Pass, of Bosleys, said: “This offers a rare opportunity for collectors to acquire original World War Two SAS material and, more importantly, to know the name and history of the owner.
The photo album gives a unique opportunity into the way the SAS operated and lived during its early days.
“Many of the images are not staged for a hungry band of war correspondents but are real-life uncensored images of men trained for the arduous duties of special operations, which would set the foundations and traditions not only for the SAS of today, but most international Special Operations Regiments.”
Fred, from Brighton, was later awarded the Certificate of Gallantry by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. After the war he became a parquet floor layer and married Buddy, with whom he had two sons.
A dog in an oxygen mask joins a gunner aboard a bomber. Inset left, salvage work done on a badly-damaged aircraft
US crew sitting on top of a crashed Flying Fortress four-engined bomber and RAF personnel inspecting a Spitfire which has somehow landed with half a wing shot away.
Jake often stays up until the early hours working on photos and spends longer researching them than colouring them. He said: “It’s highly addictive – once I start on an image I can’t
stop, especially when I put the first flesh tones in there.”
Although air combat was a feature of the 1914-’18 war, it came into its own during the later global conflict. Aircraft were key to many major attacks and campaigns, including the Battle of Britain, Pearl Harbour and Normandy.
Jake, who uses the Instagram handle @colourisedpieceofjake, added: “People died taking these photos and often those pictured also perished fighting for our freedom.We must remember them.”
On manoeuvres...album includes picture of hardened soldiers in loaded jeep