Lieutenant-Colonel Jimmy Eagles Royal Marines

Lieutenant Colonel ‘Jimmy’ Eagles, fifth generation of his family to serve in the Royal Marines and Standard Bearer of Her Majesty’s Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms (caps sic), has died aged 95.

At the outbreak of the Second World War Eagles was serving in the cruiser Sussex and took part on the hunt for the German pocket battleship Graf Spee in the South Atlantic.  In 1940 he joined No 1 Mobile Naval Base Defence Organisation, a precursor of today’s Commandos, as adjutant of the 2^nd  Anti-Aircraft Regiment.

After commanding the 23^rd  Light AA Battery and ‘R’ Searchlight Battery in Egypt, in 1943 he became second in command of the 1^st  Heavy AA Regiment based in India.   In March 1944 Eagles’ guns were re-deployed to Kent where they helped to save London from the rain of Hitler’s ‘secret’ weapon of V1 and V2 rockets:  his tally of flying bombs was 122.  

Next, Eagles landed in France in August 1944 tasked with the air defence of 21^st  Army Group around Cherbourg

In October 1944 Eagle’s guns protected the Canadian and US armies in an anti-diver belt (‘diver’ was the code for V1 rockets) around Louvain, Belgium.   “We fired a total of 6,944 rounds with exceptional accuracy,” recalled Eagles, “And the regiment had the satisfaction of being one of the most effective and top scoring units with particular success firing at low angles.”  

In the winter of 1944, Eagles’ guns gave air defence around Antwerp and the Scheldt estuary, a vital logistical link between Britain and the advancing Allies on the continent, and, in one four week period, he recorded 483 V1 and 313 V2 rocket attacks.  When on New Year’s Day 1945 the Luftwaffe made one of its last major air assaults and launched a series of low level [bombing and strafing] attacks over the whole area, Eagles’ Royal Marines gunners shot down four aircraft and claimed two probables. 

On 18 April 1945 the regiment gained the unusual distinction of sinking a midget submarine off the coast of Ostend.  Then at Zeebrugge, 27 years after the famous St Georges’ Day raid, Eagles commanded the Royal Marines who provided a ceremonial guard as a bronze plaque commemorating the Zeebrugge Raid – at which his father and so many other valiant members of the Corps had been killed – , which had been hidden during the German occupation, was re-placed on the harbour wall.  

Charles Edward James (‘Jimmy’) Eagles was born three weeks after his father, Major Charles Edward Campbell Eagles DSO RMLI, who was killed during one of the most daring raids in naval history.   Nine VCs were won that day and Jimmy’s father was mentioned in despatches for the high example of valour which he set his men until he fell under ferocious fire.   Family links with the Royal Marines stretch back to First Lieutenant Edward Bampfylde Eagles who held seniority of 28 March 1807.  “From my earliest memory I was destined to join the Corps”, said ‘Jimmy’ who was educated at Marlborough and was commissioned in the Corps in 1936.

Postwar Eagles, who possessed strong practical and technical skills, made an important contribution to experimental work on amphibious vehicles.  Eagles consistently demonstrated his intellect, resourcefulness and planning ability:  he served on the directing staff of the School of Amphibious Warfare, was a student on the Royal Navy Staff Course, and, in 1955, was appointed Fleet Intelligence Officer on the staff of the C-in- C South Atlantic and South America, based in Simonstown.    His final appointments included Assistant Adjutant General to the Commandant General Royal Marines and Director, Pay and Records Royal Marines.

On retirement from the RM in 1967, Eagles was chosen to join the Royal Corps of Gentlemen at Arms.   The Corps, founded in 1509, consists of five officers and twenty-seven gentlemen at arms who [parade on state occasions and]form the nearest guard to the reigning monarch:  Eagles was promoted to be junior officer, or Harbinger, in 1981 and then to Standard Bearer.

Eagles was on parade on 9 July 1986 when HM the Queen presented a new standard to mark the Corps’ quincentenary.   Eagles was proud to read HM’s personal message that said “As members of the ‘Nearest Guard’, your service to the Crown continues in a distinctive way and reinforces the very best values of those who came before you.”             

Unfailingly courteous and charming, respected for his integrity, sharp wit and sense of humour, and combining military authority with enormous heart, Eagles was awarded the LVO in 1987.   

He married Priscilla Cottrell in 1941, who survives with their three daughters and their son Lieutenant Commander Anthony Eagles AFC Royal Navy.

Lieutenant Colonel C E J Eagles LVO Royal Marines, born May 14 1918, died August 26, 2013.