Major John Wallace served with the Royal Rifle Corps before joining SOE as a ‘coupe-de-main’ operative on 7 May 1943 and served at SOE Cairo where he also went through training and selection.
When he parachuted into Greece on the night of 17/18 July 1944 various Greek Resistance groups were attacking German forces but like resistance movements in several other occupied countries these groups were also fighting each other to further their post-war political ambitions.
One of the main groups receiving considerable support from SOE Massingham Mission based in Algeria was the right-wing Ethnikos Dimokraciko Ellinikos Syndesmos (EDES: National Republican Greek League) led by Napolean Zervas; Wallace had been sent to Greece as an observer and visited the operational area of the EDES.
On 17 August 1944 the EDES under Zervas was involved in a major engagement against German positions and Massingham was later informed that during the battle the EDES came under heavy machine-gun fire during which a bullet hit Major Wallace in the top of his left shoulder and the bullet came out about half-way down his spine and he only lived for a few minutes after being hit. The following day he was buried by members of the 10th Greek Division at a cemetery at Paramythia.
A plaque was later erected by his grave saying, “Here rests among his guerrilla comrades an Englishman, Major David Wallace killed on 17 August 1944 during the battle of Menina. The soil of Greece is honoured to give shelter to this hero.”
Alan Malcher
Alan Malcher 