Geordie
Geordie Doran ranks as one of the most remarkable fighting soldiers of the twentieth century. Growing up in Jarrow during the Depression years of the 1930s, Geordie signed up as a private soldier in 1946 and embarked on a career spanning 40 years. He saw active service in Germany, Cyprus, the Korean War and Suez; he became an expert in jungle warfare in Malaya and in Borneo, as well as on key special operations in the deserts of Oman and Yemen, and Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya. After returning to England in the early 1970s, a serious road accident curtailed his frontline soldiering career; however, he found a new and vital role as a permanent staff instructor with 23 SAS (TA) training the cream of recruits. He left the SAS in 1972, but could not settle into civilian life and found himself a job as a storeman in the SAS Quartermaster’s stores – a job which lasted another 12 years, during which time he equipped many famous SAS characters for their famous clandestine missions.
Geordie Doran was born Francis William Joseph Doran. From humble origins, Geordie embarked upon an extraordinary career of fighting adventure which included active service in the Infantry, the Parachute Regiment and the SAS. Mike Morgan is a senior journalist with the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette and is the author of Sting of the Scorpion, Daggers Drawn and D-Day Hero (The History Press). He lives in North Yorkshire.