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In the 54 years since it was founded, the Royal British Legion Swiss Branch has been privileged to have had many remarkable men and women in its ranks, none more so than Porter Jarrell, George Medal. Born in Canada of American parents, Porter, or Joe as he was known to many friends, began his working life as a journalist with the well-known newspaper, the "Washington Post." Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he was determined to make his personal contribution to overthrowing the Third Reich and to help restore peace and democracy. However, as he once explained "I had flat feet and bad eyes and the US Army would never have taken me at that stage of the war." He decided instead to join a field service ambulance unit attached to British forces in June 1942. But he wasn't taking any chances with the British either. To pass the eye test, he copied the eye chart on the back of one hand and held it in front of him as if to shield an eye. Porter's ambulance unit followed the great desert battles in North Africa. In 1943, he volunteered to join one of the crack units of Britain's Special Forces, the Special Boat Service under the command of Lord Jellicoe. Coming from the American Field Service, the only vacancy open to him was as a Medical Orderly with the rank of Private. Three months later, while on operations in the Dodecanese Islands with X Detachment of the SBS, he won the George Medal, second only to the Victoria Cross for gallantry. The citation award stated that his unit's headquarters received a direct hit during a Stuka diver bomber raid and that for 27 hours he worked without rest to the point almost of collapse, exposing himself to extreme personal risk during further raids. He was a source of inspiration to all those around him and disregarding his own safety, crawled through perilous tunnels in the debris to render medical aid and bring out men alive. In once case, he has to carry out an amputation while working on his back by candlelight. Because he had served under the flag of another nation, Porter lost his US citizenship and it took him some years and a lot of paperwork to get it back. But his wartime experiences played a key role in his choice of a post-war career. As he said, "War in the desert has been a sort of chess game between two armies and I wasn't prepared for what I saw when the attacks were taken to civilian areas." With this in mind, he joined the United Nations Relief Rehabilitation Agency and eventually returned to the united States escorting a group of refugees on their way to join relatives in that country. After working for UNRRA in Washington DC for a few years, Porter returned to Europe and as Head of Research and Statistics, became a founding staff member of what is today called the International Organization for Migration. In thew course of his career with that very humanitarian organization, he held a number of responsible positions during which he worked in and with countries ranging from Africa to Asia and Latin America. When he retired in 1981, he was retained on a consultancy basis because of his knowledge and experience and headed, amongst others, the Afghan Medical Programme. He finally finished his exemplary work with IOM in 1996 after 44 years of service, and was known to staff throughout the world as a man of compassion and principle. Indeed, on one occasion, he tendered his resignation on a question of principle but fortunately for IOM, he was persuaded to reconsider. There is one last story that should be told about Porter Jarrell. Many years after the war, he went to a reunion of old Special Boat Service comrades at the Duke of York's Barracks in London. He recognized nobody at first but eventually went up to a group where he was greeted by somebody saying "Good God, it's the f****** Yank!" Now that Porter had gone to meet his Maker, one can only hope that he received a similar friendly greeting on arrival. Our thoughts at this time are with his widow, Edwina, and other family members. They can take comfort in the fact that Porter was a great human being who, in his long and worthwhile life, did more than his share to help his fellow men and women. He will always be remembered by those who knew him. Michael Type 19 February 2001 |
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