Hagan, J.P. Mne.

Personal Information

HQ-Troop (Signals). James Patrick Hagan originally came from No.4 Army Commando, but six days after the Walcheren assault was attached to 47 RM Commando HQ as Signaller. Pat Hagan was born on the 6th of May 1925 in Louth and although christened James Patrick, was always known as Pat or Patrick. His family moved to Grimsby, where Patrick started at Welhome School and always claimed he only went to school 'for shelter'. He started his career in fish and chips at an early age when he helped his brother, Danny in his fish and chip shop near Grimsby docks. It was so rough that Patrick said he joined up at 16 in 1942 to get away from it.

He passed out as a Royal Marine and volunteered for commando training.

One of Patrick's first assignments (aged just 17) was to the small-scale raiding squad when, having landed by parachute in France, night raids were carried out on German positions, before finding their way back to the coast to be picked up covertly by the Royal Navy.

On D-Day he landed with the French troops on Sword Beach. Having successfully negotiated the ravages of the D-Day landings, he was assigned to support Lord Lovatt at the crossing of the famous Pegasus Bridge and spent 83 days in continuous action alongside 6th Airborne Division.

He then fought on through France and into Belgium. He was sent into Bruges with 2 colleagues in plain clothes to find out whether the Germans were going to defend the city. His unit then moved into Bruges to prepare and re-equip for the allied attack on the German position of the island of Walcheren in Holland. He went on to serve in Germany, India and Hong Kong before being demobbed in 1946 aged just 21.

His first job in civilian life was travelling the east coast buying herrings for a Grimsby firm. He loved this. After this he spent a year on a trawler out of Grimsby, The Prince Victor. Later on, buying the premises next door and eventually re-modelling both sites to become the legend that was 'Mr Chips'.