Lieutenant-Colonel Jack Akenhurst
2nd Regiment, Special Service Force
1st Regiment, Special Service Force
Algonquin Regiment

It hardly seems possible that I should be back with the old unit and in the thick of things less than 36 hours after leaving the former haunt at 3 CITR. It has been quite strenuous too since my arrival but we are still winning.

(Akehurst to wife, quoted in Joyce, The True story of the 1st Special Service Force, 276)

Born on 24 February 1908 in Kamloops, British Columbia, John Fenton Richardson Akehurst was chief mining engineer in northern Ontario. He was commissioned with the Algonquin Regiment in July 1940. Two years later he transferred to the newly formed joint American-Canadian First Special Service Force (FSSF), nicknamed The Devil’s Brigade. “I felt old at thirty-four, and was told I should have been rejected at that age except from my experience in cold climate,” he recalled, “… In fact, I was asked how tall, how heavy, how old, and to each I was a reject. But when asked where did I come from, I said ‘Kirkland Lake, Ontario,’ and I was in. It certainly made me curious and I felt the Force was not formed for any tropical venture.”

Akehurst joined the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, FSSF as major and commanding officer in August 1942. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel a year later and deployed to the Aleutian Islands as part invasion of Kiska, which had been earlier abandoned by the Japanese. The force was withdrawn in September and reassigned to the mountains of Italy by the end of the year. Akehurst performed staff work from January to April 1944 and then took command of the 2nd Regiment, FSSF.

Following distinguished and dangerous service on the Anzio front, Akehurst commanded the 1st Regiment, FSSF during the invasion of southern France in August 1944. Three-times wounded in action, he would earn the Distinguished Service Order for having “inspired all those under his command by his leadership, example and courage.” Amused by news reports of his exploits, he wrote home, “It was quite a job but as far as my being a hero, that is bunk.”

When the FSSF was disbanded in December 1944, Akenhurst recorded, “The news of the break up of the Force was met with mixed feelings. It was a surprise to all and it can only be estimated that 50% were glad and 50% sorry to leave.” He was posted to a training unit in England until April 1945 when he rejoined to the Algonquin Regiment, succeeding Lieutenant-Colonel Bob Bradburn.

“It seems impossible that the war in Europe is really over,” Akehurst recorded after VE-Day. He commanded his old battalion for the long repatriation period and the led the Algonquins home in January 1946. He remained commanding officer in the postwar reserve army. In civilian life, he returned to mining work in Kirkland Lake and became town councillor.

He died in Orillia, Ontario on 2 September 1989.