Glasgow's 'Parachuting Padre' who went behind enemy lines with the SAS during WW2

In June 1944, a Glasgow clergyman parachuted deep into Nazi-occupied France armed with nothing but an oak cross, an altar cloth and some hymn books.

Reverend Fraser McLuskey, dubbed the 'Parachuting Padre', dropped deep behind enemy lines with the 1st SAS Regiment. Rev McLuskey, who became chaplain to the University of Glasgow in 1939, darted across Nazi-occupied territory with a makeshift 'church' in a wicker basket as he ministered to disparately scattered SAS soldiers.

Rev McLuskey nursed injured comrades and held pop-up services in fields where soldiers would belt out hymns or sing in hushed tones depending on the proximity of the enemy. He was also a witness as the SAS faced the horrors of Belsen concentration camp, the Daily Record reports.

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His son, Reverend Andrew McLuskey, from Glasgow, will be thinking of his father's bravery during his Remembrance Sunday sermon. Andrew, 77, who now lives in Middlesex, said: “My dad was a brave, brave man. As kids, my brother Kenneth and I were aware dad was a hero thanks to stories shared at the dinner table.

“As chaplain, he was not expected to go behind enemy lines but he volunteered. As far as he knew, no padre had ever parachuted in with the SAS so deep behind the lines but he was determined to blaze the trail and be there for his men.

“He headed into war unarmed, taking with him his “church” – a hamper containing an oak cross, an altar cloth dyed maroon bearing the regimental emblem of a winged dagger and as many hymn books as he could carry.”

Andrew's father left the University of Glasgow in 1943 to enlist in the army. He was assigned to the SAS, completing parachute training before heading to SAS headquarters in Darvel, Ayrshire. Andrew said: “Being accepted by the tight-knit band of SAS brothers can’t have been easy.

"They wouldn’t have welcomed a ‘churchy’ approach. But by playing for them and singing at mess evenings, dad was able to become part of their community. He would hold services in fields where they would all belt out hymns – with the volume of the day’s singing reflecting just how close the enemy were. If morale dipped, dad was always on hand to boost it.

“He often wondered whether he should be carrying a weapon but realised the men preferred he did not. They saw him as a man of peace and a reminder that what they were having to do was all in the name of peace.”

During his time with the elite airborne unit, Fraser struck up a close and unexpected friendship with Lieutenant Colonel Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne – the most famous of all SAS heroes. Their unusual friendship is explored in bestselling military historian Damien Lewis’s new book, SAS Daggers Drawn, which brings to life the incredible daring of the unit as they fought to bring the war to a close after the D-Day landings.

Damien, whose book Churchill’s Secret Warriors was turned into the recently-released Guy Ritchie movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare , said: “Padre McLuskey was a great character and you could argue he was the bravest of all the men who parachuted into occupied France.

“He was a steely individual and after debating whether to go into the Army as a combatant or a padre chose the latter and it was the right decision. After doing his parachute training, he turns up at the SAS headquarters in Darvel, Ayrshire, and no one knows he is coming. Paddy Mayne tells him, ‘If you are here, you better have breakfast’.

“Suddenly, he is part of this exalted brotherhood full of battle-hardened guys who have fought for four years. In a very short period of time he is sitting at the piano belting out Lili Marlene with the very unholy SAS lyrics. Although he was a man of God, he didn’t preach to them. He was the perfect padre for that unit.”

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Damien, who spent 20 years working as a war correspondent, told how the only other person who got further behind enemy lines was Mayne. The bestselling author, who is doing a talk about SAS Daggers Drawn in Pilrig St Paul’s Church in Edinburgh on November 28, said: “The Padre’s flock were scattered all over the place and he drove about unarmed in a jeep with just one bodyguard – Harry Wilson.

“He cared so much for the men and even nursed one back to health when he was shot in the neck. He also ensured Paddy sent a squadron home when he observed the men were becoming battle fatigued.

“The Padre did debate whether to carry a gun so he could help protect the unit but he knew the men saw him as a symbol of everything they were fighting for – peace and decency and all they were trying to defend. The one time he said he wished he had a gun and would have used it was in the spring of 1945 when the SAS went into Bergen-Belsen.

“They penetrated into the heart of the horror in search of one of their own, an SAS captive who had been sent to Belsen, along with the tens-of-thousands held in the camp. There they found their man, freed him, and captured Belsen commandants Joseph Kramer, ‘The Beast of Belsen’ and Irma Green, ‘The Hyena of Auschwitz.’ The Padre, like the rest of the men, could never unsee the horrors they witnessed in the camp.”

But Damien, who is patron of the Scottish charity Bravehound which provides assistance dogs for veterans, said it was the Padre’s friendship with Paddy, from Newtownards, Northern Ireland, which touched him the most.

The dad-of-three, who is also a supporter of veteran charity Who Dares Cares, said: “On paper, these two men were diametrically opposed. Paddy is the ultimate guerilla warrior and the Padre was a man of God yet they were inseparable and had this incredible relationship.

“The Padre was always there for Paddy and McLuskey respected Mayne for the way he cared for his men, led from the front and didn’t expect them to do anything he wouldn’t do.

“When I tell people about the pair of them and recount their stories, they can be forgiven for thinking I made them up. They formed an unbreakable bond and when Paddy died in a car crash in 1955 aged just 40, it was the Padre who gave the eulogy at his funeral in County Down.”

After returning to Britain, Rev McLuskey, awarded the Military Cross in 1945, travelled the country visiting the families of the SAS men killed in action. The Padre, who lost his German wife to breast cancer in 1959 and brought up his two boys on his own, became minister of churches in Broughty Ferry, in Tayside, Glasgow and London.

He was also Moderator of the General Assembly from 1983 to 1984. He died in 2005 aged 90. Andrew said: “My brother and I grew up with these stories of ‘derring do’ and I’m grateful to Damien for sharing our father’s story and his friendship with Paddy.

“As we approach Remembrance Day, it is good to have this exciting and thoughtful book to aid reflections. When I give my sermon, I will be thinking of my dad and his comrades. No one should ever glorify war and dad would agree.”

- Damien will be talking all about dogs at war in The Tall Ship, Glasgow at a Bravehound event on November 27 for tickets click here.

- For tickets to his Topping book event at Edinburgh's Pilrig Church on November 28, click here.

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