Bill Jenkins ( Royal Marines officer ) Captain Bill Jenkins , DSO RM ( 28 March 1925 - 2002 ) was the youngest Royal Marine to win a DSO in the Second World War and later became senior lecturer in international affairs at RMA Sandhurst . Early life . William Glyn Jenkins ( always known as Bill ) was born at Morpeth in Northumberland . He was educated at Blundell ' s School in Tiverton , where he won a bursary , and , in October 1942 , he gained a Macbride Open Scholarship to Hertford College in Oxford , to read Geography . Jenkins cut short his studies after a year and applied to join the Royal Navy ; but he failed his medical because of slight colour - blindness and joined the Royal Marines in August 1943 . After passing through OCTU , he was commissioned early in 1944 and posted to the Commando Basic Training Centre at Achnacarry , north of Fort William in the Highlands . World War II . After gaining his green beret , Jenkins was posted to Vis , off the Dalmatian coast , the only Yugoslav island in Allied hands . No . 43 ( Royal Marine ) Commando were supporting Tito ' s partisans and , as a subaltern with " E " Troop , he took part in a number of raids on the German garrisons of the other islands . In October 1944 , 43 Commando disembarked at Gruz Harbour , near Dubrovnik , as part of " Floydforce " and Jenkins ' s troop was deployed inland to harry the retreating Germans . One of its more unusual tasks was to get supplies by mule to an isolated patrol of the Long Range Desert Group . DSO . 43 Commando went to Italy in January 1945 and , two months later , as part of the last major offensive of the Italian campaign , it moved up to its new front on the river Reno , north of Ravenna . In the first few days of April , as part of 2nd Commando Brigade , it launched " Operation Roast " , a curtain - raiser for the Eighth Army ' s spring offensive ( in which the British 78th Infantry Division , supported by armour , attacked towards Argenta from the east , while , to the west of the town , 10th Indian Division was poised for a thrust north of Bologna ) . As reported in Jenkins ’ obituary : " In the early hours of 18 April , 43 Commando passed through 2 Commado ’ s position with the aim of clearing a pumping station and the fortified houses that dominated the surrounding country . When the commanders of ' D ' and ' E ' Troops were wounded , Jenkins , a 20 - year - old subaltern , took over both troops and led the left prong of the attack . Reconnoitring ahead of his men , he was wounded in the neck and then hit in the back with a force which flattened him . After picking himself off the ground , astonished to be still alive , he found that he was on the edge of a German slit trench . Cocking his Colt . 45 pistol , Jenkins fired blind into the trench . A terrified man jumped up shouting , ' Don ' t shoot ! I ' m an Austrian ! ' Jenkins first took him prisoner , and then the Spandau gunners who were little more than shapes in the darkness beside him . After sending them to the rear under the escort of a corporal with orders to return with a section of ' E ' Troop , he found himself alone again . In the improving light , Jenkins saw a file of seven German soldiers with slung rifles emerge from behind a building . There was not a stitch of cover , so all that he could do was crouch down . The Germans stopped and started chatting to each other and , a few moments later , they were joined by two more . Jenkins stood up , marched forward , pointed his Tommy gun at them and bellowed : Hande hoch ! After a moment of indecisiveness , they lowered their rifles to the ground and were sent to the rear with a group of marines which had made a timely reappearance . 43 Commando was now exposed on a narrow salient with Germans on both flanks . Its diversionary assault had proved highly effective and it was ordered to pull back . When Jenkins had seen his troops into their new position , a doctor removed some metal splinters from his neck ; the bullet that had knocked him down was discovered lodged among the biscuits in his 24 - hour pack . " He was awarded the DSO for his actions . Post war . The Germans surrendered northern Italy on 2 May 1945 and 43 Commando was disbanded soon afterwards . Jenkins was posted to Hong Kong to join 42 RM Commando and , after promotion to captain , he took command of " W " Troop . Jenkins was demobilised in 1946 and returned to Oxford to complete his degree . He won a Blue for swimming and captained his college rugby XV before going to Yale for a year on a Henry Fellowship . He taught for six years at Christ ' s Hospital in Horsham , with a break for a year at Hilton College in Natal . In 1956 , he became a senior lecturer in international affairs at the RMA Sandhurst .