He then joined the Kings’ Own Hussars in Egypt as a tank commander and first saw action between December 1940 and February 1941 in the battle of Sidi Barrani against the Italians. His unit was then transferred at end of battle to Crete just in time for the German Invasion of May 20th. The following day, the British 10th Infantry Brigade launched a successful assault on Cemetery Hill, in which Farran participated. German forces were eventually able to break through the British and Commonwealth positions around Galatas, and Farran was part of a tank counter-attack in an attempt to retake the village. During the action he was wounded in the right arm and both of his legs, and as a result German forces captured him. It was at this time that he was awarded the Military Cross, for gallantry during his service in Crete.

He was restored to full health by August and vowed to escape. Finally, after several attempts, he escaped under the perimeter fence of a POW Hospital near Athens, and with Greek help, he secured a caicque (Greek fishing boat) and sailed to Egypt, with a crew of Greek, British and Australian escapees as company. The Royal Navy off Alexandria spotted them after 10 days, which was very fortunate, as water had ran out. For leading his comrades to freedom, Farran received his first bar to the MC. He was attached to the divisional staff of 7^th Armoured Division in January 1942, and was wounded in a Luftwaffe strafing attack on the Divisional HQ during the retreat to El Alamein. Passed fit again to serve in February 1943, he was persuaded to join 2^nd Regiment SAS. After an interview with the regiment's commander, Lt-Colonel David Stirling, and parachute training, Farran became the second-in-command of a squadron. During Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, and despite suffering from malaria, he led his squadron in an assault against a lighthouse at Cape Passero, which was believed to hold a machine gun position. During September 1943, he was part of a composite squadron from 2 SAS that landed at the Italian port of Taranto with orders to conduct reconnaissance patrols and attack targets of opportunity ahead of the general Allied advance.

Then on October 3^rd, Farran, with a detachment of twenty men from 'D' Squadron of 2 SAS, came ashore at Termoli, as part of 1st Special Raiding Squadron (SAS) led by the legendary Paddy Mayne, with orders to create a base for future raids behind enemy lines. The seaborne landings soon became stalemated against fierce Axis resistance, and Farran and his men joined the rest of 1 SRS in an attempt to repel a German counter attack supported by armour. Positioned on a ridge with a light mortar and six Bren light machine guns, and later several 6 pounder anti-tank guns, Farran and his men were able to help repel the attack. The Axis forces launched several more assaults on the Allied positions, which Farran and his men also helped to repulse, before finally retreating from the area. Termoli is considered in official SAS history along with Mirbat, Oman (1972) to be its greatest defensive action.

Following Termoli, he led a number of reconnaissance and sabotage patrols behind enemy lines in Italy around Pescara and Ancona, for which he received his 2^nd bar to the MC. In France, between 19^th August and 17^th September 1944, Farran, aged 23 and now a major, led a column of 60 men and 20 jeeps from 2 SAS in Operation WALLACE. Suffering few casualties, it inflicted 500 on the Germans, destroyed 95 vehicles, a train and 100,000 gallons of fuel. As a result of these actions, Farran was awarded the DSO. Following WALLACE, he returned to Italy with 3 Squadron, 2 SAS. The squadron had only been recently formed and was composed of volunteers from the British 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions; Farran believed it to be well trained and highly disciplined. The squadron came under the command of General Mark Clark's 15^th Army Group, and between December and February 1945 conducted several small-scale operations in La Spezia and the Brenner Pass. He then devised Operation TOMBOLA, a large-scale airborne operation in conjunction with Italian partisans on the ground. He was to prove that the SAS could operate a base for sustained periods on the ground in Italy. Up to that point, it had been thought only the desert was suitable for setting up Special Forces bases, from which to attack enemy communications and logistics. For the partisans, the SAS would put extra strength into their forces, which had previously sometimes avoided contact with the Germans.

Farran wanted to command the operation himself, but was forbidden by staff officers at 15^th Army Group's headquarters; he did, however, manage to get permission to accompany the transport aircraft the SAS troopers used as a dispatcher. When the operation began on 4 March, Farran "accidentally" fell out of the aircraft from which he was watching the parachute drop, although he was fortunate enough to have a parachute on at the time and his personal kit with him. All of the troopers landed safely, (although one officer dislocated his shoulder on landing and had to be left in the care of several Italian civilians,) where they were greeted by the SOE liaison officer, Michael Lees. Lees took Farran and his men to meet the commander of the local Commando Unico, which was formed of four brigades – three Communist and one Christian Democrat. When they arrived, Farran proposed to the Unico that a new battalion known as the Battaglione Alleato be created, with its core an SAS company; it would be fleshed out by a company of right-wing partisans and another of Russian deserters from the Wehrmacht. Although this was agreed to, Farran was not enamoured with the state of the partisans when he first inspected them, stating "nearly all of them had some physical defect." To improve their fitness and training, Farran arranged for several instructors and an Italian interpreter to be parachuted in, as well as a large quantity of supplies. Within a few days the SAS company, with a strength of forty men, had arrived to form the core of the battalion, with one officer and four men attached to each of the other companies in a supervisory capacity.

The battalion's first target, as proposed by both Farran and Lees, was the headquarters of the German 51 Mountain Corps (LI Gebirgs Korps) of General Valentain Feurestein and his Chief of Staff, stationed in the area of Albinea, 20 miles from where they landed. Initially, HQ vetoed the plan after receiving intel regarding a German anti-partisan drive in the area. Farran, disregarding orders, pushed on with the attack, fearing loss of morale and credibility amongst the partisans if their first ever attack was to be binned. On 27 March the attack on the two villas containing the German HQ was carried out, with ~ sixty Germans killed by the partisans, including the Chief of Staff. Afterwards, the SAS and partisans openly fought the Germans, once they had received a supply of heavy weapons. The SAS/Partisans would kill some 600 Germans, and captured over 400 by the end of TOMBOLA. Farran anticipated a court-martial for ‘falling’ from the plane but the Americans awarded him the Legion of Merit instead and the incident was forgotten.

When the Second World War in Europe came to an end, Farran accompanied 2 SAS to Norway, where the unit aided in the process of disarming the German troops stationed there. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1946, and then returned to the 3rd Hussars where he became the regiment's second-in-command. He served with the regiment in Syria for a time, as well as British Mandate Palestine. During his initial period in Palestine, he was with several fellow officers when guerrillas destroyed a nearby ammunition dump; Farran and his comrades pursued the guerrillas, managing to wound two of them. Shortly after this, Farran transferred back to Britain to serve as an instructor at Sandhurst, but then volunteered to be seconded to the Palestine Police Force, which maintained order in the Mandate. His career was marred by an accusation of his involvement in the suspected murder of a 16-year old Jewish youth in covert anti-terrorist operations in 1947. Court-martialled, he was found not guilty, when no body was produced or any witness failed to identify him in an identity parade. Tragically, his brother Rex back in England was murdered by a parcel bomb sent from Israel, intended for him.

After army discharge, Roy Farran became first a quarryman in Scotland, then went to Africa, then returned home and stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1950. He then went to Alberta, Canada, where he became a farmer, then a journalist, starting the weekly North Hill News in 1954, and from 1961 to 1979 served in the provincial legislature. He then started a foundation, French Vosges, providing Franco-Canadian student exchanges. France awarded him the Legion d’Honnuer in 1994 for this program. Cancer led to the loss of his larynx but he learned to speak through an incision in his throat. He also published a number of books, which included two about his wartime SAS experiences - Winged Dagger and Operation Tombola.

The life of this remarkable soldier ended on 1^st June 2006. We shall remember him.