Roger James Allen Courtney MC, known as Jumbo, was influential in the establishment of the Special Boat Section's which saw action in World War II. They would eventually lead to the formation of the UK Special Boat Service. When World War II began, he travelled from Africa (where he was big-game hunting) to England to join the Army as a "commando folding kayaker". When his ideas were rebuffed, he joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a Rifleman. Soon promoted to Corporal, he was commissioned in November 1939.