Johnny Ramensky - Safe-cracker and War Hero

Johnny Ramensky AKA Gentle Johnny, John Ramsay and Yonas Ramanauckas (1905-1972). Born the son of a Lithuanian immigrant in Lanarkshire, where his father was a miner, Johnny Ramensky became an infamous safe-breaker. His early years where spent in the Gorbals district of Glasgow to which his family moved when he was young. An extremely strong and acrobatic individual, Ramensky used his physical abilities to undertake the life of a professional criminal. These attributes he coupled with knowledge of explosives gained in the mining industry to become a burglar and safe-cracker. However, such a lifestyle is not without its consequences and Ramensky spent a good deal of his life in prison – mainly Barlinnie and Peterhead. Not only was he good at breaking into houses, but Ramensky also had a talent for breaking out of jails; he managed to break out of both Barlinnie and Peterhead several times, simply by scaling the prison walls with bare hands.

Because of the lack of violence in his crimes and a gentle nature, Ramensky earned the nickname, Gentle Johnny. During the war he was offered his freedom and elected to fight for the Allies against Nazi Germany. He was parachuted behind enemy lines where his burglary and safe-breaking came into its own. When Rome was liberated by the Allies, Ramensky was ordered to, and successfully managed to open the safes of fourteen foreign embassies. For this exploit he was awarded the Military Medal and given a full pardon for previous crimes. Post-war Scotland saw Ramensky return to crime, return to Peterhead Prison and return to breaking out (three times in 1958 alone). His status as a war hero and Scottish working class hero was now cemented. He is the subject of the Labour MP and Scottish culture advocate Norman Buchan’s The Ballad of Johnny Ramensky – published in the Scotsman newspaper.

Johnny Ramensky worked on the hydroelectric tunnel projects as an explosive man which meant that he lived for a while in the county of Perthshire.

Age caught up with Ramensky and whilst scaling the walls of Stirling County Buildings in 1970 he fell and was seriously injured. He never recovered from this fall and died in Perth Prison in 1972. Every Scottish newspaper included an obituary of him.

THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY RAMENSKY: Words by Norman Buchan; Tune Traditional, arrangement Buchan ("Jamie Foyers")

Far distant, far distant, in Peterheid Jail, Lies Johnny Ramensky, his escape bid did fail, Iron bars and red granite keep him frae the sun, An' Johnny Ramensky nae freedom has won. He has been in a prison for the maist o' his days, An "I must hae ma freedom" is a' that he says. There are nae horizons in a twenty foot cell And bitter the music of a hard prison bell. He has slipped frae the darkness an' intae the light Tae the green fields around him he has taken his flight For one breath o' fresh air, just one glimpse o' the sun, - But Johnny Ramensky nae freedom has won. Oh the cauld frosty clay whaur he lays his head Is sweeter tae him than a hard prison bed. Oh foxes hae holes an' the birds hae their nests, But whaur is poor Johnny Ramensky tae rest? Like a dog he is huntit, like a dog he is ta'en, But sweet was the smell o' the grass an' the rain, Forgotten his prison, on his windows nae bars, For Johnny Ramensky walked under the stars. Far distant, far distant, in Peterheid Jail, Lies Johnny Ramensky, his escape bid did fail, Iron bars and red granite keep him frae the sun, An' Johnny Ramensky nae freedom has won.