CAPTAIN Mark Leslie PILKINGTON MC THE LIFE GUARDS & LRDG
76537. KIA 18/11/42 aged 28.
Mark was born on the 12th January 1914 the son of Captain Herbert Charles Pilkington & Ruth Pilkington. He was educated at Eton College and in 1938 had been the prospective conservative candidate for East Woolwich. Later he married his wife Susan and was described as a man who had a vague desultory manner which concealed a gentleness and dislike of aggressive pompous individuals. Later in 1938 he joined the Life Guards Special Reserve and went with a composite unit of the Household Cavalry to the Middle East in 1940. In 1941 he volunteered for service in the Abyssinian campaign when he was with guerrilla units from Ethiopia engaged in fighting the Italians at Gondar and in this he proved to be both hardy and gallant in a campaign led by a very few British officers. Later, Mark was attached to the headquarters of the Arab Legion under Glubb Pasha in Transjordan in a campaign against Raschid Ali. It was whilst serving here that he volunteered form service with the Long Range Desert Group and was to be attached to them for a month. Mark was killed by Italian fighter aircraft in Wadi Tamet 50 miles from the coast near El Ageila and Marble Arch in Tripolitania. He was manning a machine gun, either a Bren or a Lewis, when his patrol was attacked on the way from Kufra to Birtala, a one thousand mile journey behind enemy lines. He was awarded a posthumous Military Cross on the 8th July 1943. The entry for the London Gazette reads, "For gallant & Distinguished services in East Africa & Madagascar. Mark is buried in Tripoli War Cemetery, Libya. (10.H.3)
Does anyone have any further detail on this man's military career, the award of his MC and/or a photograph?
Your help would be appreciated.
Regards
PAUL JOHNSON
