Allied ships in the English Channel on their way to Normandy, 6 June 1944

April 01, 2013, 5:00pm / 229

British sailors abandoning HMS Prince of Wales in the South China Sea while the Destroyer, HMS Express, helps crew evac

March 26, 2013, 4:00pm / 27

Ian Fleming picked my grandfather to steal Nazi secrets

When naval intelligence officer Ian Fleming set up a secret commando unit during World War II, among those handpicked for duty was Theo Ionides—my grandfather. His band of real-life James Bonds helped change the course of the war.

My grandfather was—at 39—already an old man by military standards when he joined Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in the early years of World War II. So it was perfectly plausible when he told my grandmother that they kept him well away from the front line, out of harm’s way.

His story was that the Admiralty had got him doing dull, technical stuff, poking around in the innards of new torpedoes and mines. But that couldn’t be further from the truth, as my family discovered just a couple of years ago.

March 06, 2013, 4:08am / 38

An aerial view of the Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier the HMS Avenger with Sea Hurricanes on deck

January 12, 2013, 1:00pm / 43

An LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) and an LCT (Landing Craft Tank, left) during a storm off of Omaha Beach, 19 June 1944.

January 09, 2013, 1:00pm / 34