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Brigadier Mike Calvert (late Royal Engineers)
Brigadier James Michael Calvert, DSO & Bar (1913 -1998) was involved in special operations in Burma during World War 2. He participated in both Chindit expeditions and supported the unorthodox ideas of Orde Wingate. He frequently led attacks from the front, which earned him the nickname amongst his men of ‘Mad Mike’.
In March 1945 he commanded the Special Air Service brigade, composed of British, French and Belgian SAS units, in operations in north-east Holland, north-west Germany, and finally in Norway. At the end of the war, the SAS was disbanded.
In 1948, in response to violence from Chinese communists, the Malayan Emergency was declared by the British government. In July 1950 Calvert set up a counter-insurgency force under the name Malayan Scouts (SAS) to operate in the deep jungle, destroying bandit forces, their camps and their sources of supply. It became a corps d'élite in deep jungle operations, having continual success in its operations. The unit expanded to four squadrons, and was renamed the 22nd Special Air Service Regiment.
I corresponded with Mike Calvert and interviewed him at his home during the 1990s to ensure the accuracy of my paintings of the battle of Pagoda Hill, Burma (17 March 1944), and the Belgian SAS at Winschoten in 1945; he is prominent in both paintings. He unveiled my painting of Pagoda Hill at the annual reunion of the Chindits Old Comrades Association in 1997.
The WOs and Sgts Mess of 22 SAS commissioned this portrait of him, and Mike and I enjoyed the hospitality of the Mess when it was unveiled one evening in 1992.
Wearing jungle green uniform in 1944, he wears the ribbons of the DSO & bar (awarded for leading two Chindit expeditions in Burma) and the 1939–1945 Star (a campaign medal instituted in July 1943). A rosette is worn on the ribbon of the DSO in undress uniform to signify the award of a bar.
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Printed image size(s): B2 only (58 x 38 cm)
Owner: Warrant Officers & Sergeants Mess, 22 SAS
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