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A very special book recounting the tales of many ordinary folk who I was greatly fortunate to meet in my boyhood – Martin Frost.

A unique and poignant record of a club created for heroes.

There are just a handful of men and women alive today who served and fought with the Special Forces during the Second World War. They are a dwindling bunch of veterans in their twilight years whose tales of heroism and daring-do will soon be lost in time forever – yet they still regularly get together in a gentleman’s club, right in the heart of London – The Special Forces Club.

In ten separate and astonishing accounts of ingenuity and heroism, former Sunday Telegraph defence correspondent Sean Rayment visits this unique group of people, and through their vivid memories, transports the reader back in time to the dark days of the Second World War when Britain was again fighting on multiple fronts across the globe.

These incredibly heroic tales are taken from men such as Captain John Campbell, MC and Bar and the last surviving officer of ‘Popski’s Private Army’, whose triumph over being wrongly labelled a coward led him to serve with distinction and bravery behind Rommel’s lines in North Africa. Balancing the heroism in the field of battle is the story of Noreen Riols, who worked under the legendary Colonel Maurice Buckmaster, helping train operatives in the art of counterespionage and counter-surveillance, who was used to ‘honey trap’ would-be agents. Then there is Mike Sadler, who served with David Stirling in the LRDG and took part in an SAS attack on a German airfield near el-Alamein in 1942 in which 34 aircraft were destroyed; and Harry Verlander, who served with the legendary Jedburghs, a highly secret element of the Special Operations Executive, and recalls his service during D-Day and subsequent operations in Burma. The book covers all theatres of operations and provides a unique glimpse into why the members of the Special Forces Club are truly exceptional.

Time is running out to capture the myriad of epic stories WWII threw up over its five-year period. In their twilight years, the Special Forces Club has decided to reveal its identity at last.

Review: It is a real shame that Sean Rayment did not have this wonderful idea, years earlier to collect these anecdotes, because they are good value. It is a great collection of stories from the survivors of those early days of Special Forces; the SOE, LRDG, PPA, Chindits, Jedburgh and others, and the stories told in their own words. The most surprising thread running throughout all of the accounts is how a bunch of ordinary people with few professional military skills learnt on the job; they overcame their fears and delivered extraordinary feats.

The book of course has a narrative style, but care has been taken to interview these people and to re-tell their accounts in the form of stories in cases of `derring-do’ as the title suggests. These veterans sadly are now few in number. They followed the secrecy code for many years and could only re-live their memories in the protection of the SF Club. Sean Rayment has brought these to light, just before they all go and leave us, and the stories are lost for ever. Soldiers, spooks and SF are now much more prepared to commit to print in their own lifetimes, and occasionally a spread of just what these WWll ordinary folk achieved can be measured in such detailed accounts as Operation Bulbasket for example. Modern-day books such as Open Secret or the many biographies and autobiographies of living legends, give a modern aspect, but few venture into the days of 70 years ago.

These people were very different. Yes, they were adventurous and young, but they had to learn very quickly in dangerous combat situations. There is no wonder that they are such a highly decorated group of men and women. While I myself knew David Lloyd Owen slightly and I knew a little about his exploits, the more detailed stuff about the LRDG was a closed book to me. I have struggled myself to master the Bagnold Sun Compass, but I have never had to cast myself out of a Dakota at 19 years of age, at 3,000 ft at night over a Burmese jungle where the pilot was lost and there were lots of angry Japanese soldiers on the ground. Yes, these were extraordinary feats by some ordinary folk.

The book is not without its blemishes. The occasional map would have helped; a few more photos perhaps borrowed from the Harrington Air Museum near Tempsford, and perhaps a sketch or two of camp layouts etc. There is one slight irritation, because there is repetition which occurs in the narrative during the selection and training of some of the individuals. Now while of course, these would be remembered with some accuracy by people going through the same process at the same time, the way these are presented give the feeling of a `cut’ n paste’ job. For all that, Tales from the Special Forces Club is a good collection of personal stories for the historians and casual readers alike without which our Word War ll histories would be the poorer.

The Special Forces Club (SFC) is a private members’ club located at 8 Herbert  Crescent in Knightsbridge, London. Initially established in 1945 for former personnel of the Special Operations Executive, members of wartime resistance organisations, the Special Air Service, Special Boat Service and First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, its membership now includes those who had served, or were serving, in organisations and units closely associated with special operations and the intelligence community.