Just been reading John Frost's excellent 'A Drop Too Many' in which he details his involvement in the landings on Sicily. He mentions, in passing, an officer, previously decorated for bravery, who somehow managed to avoid the fighting and turned up "fresh, clean and untroubled" after it was all over. Frost goes on to say that the officer left the battalion, "prospered greatly and became a byword in more ways than one". I'm intrigued. Who can this man have been and how did he become a byword? Anyone have any ideas?
Tomkil you can just about take your pick as way too many managed to avoid battle by one means or other.....they were called scroungers Cheers
Tomkil you can just about take your pick as way too many managed to avoid battle by one means or other.....they were called scroungers Cheers Maybe the word slacker is a more appropriate term than scrounger.
2 Paras officer field return only shows 4 officers with gallantry awards on the 3rd July: Frost DSO MC Lonsdale MC Ross DSO Brayley MC Never heard of any of them
If that's Dickie Lonsdale of Lonsdale Force / speech in Oosterbeek Church fame, he became rather famous for, well, Lonsdale Force and his speech in Oosterbeek Church. I believe he was associated with 2 Bn (2i/c?) at some time, but not at Arnhem.
I wonder if he was OC B Coy? On the 15th July at 1100 hrs the diary says: OC B Coy with about 8 men rejoins the Bn after having made his way from the lower slopes of Mt Etna.
How about Elliott? Had an MBE and was on the bench with 1st Reinforcements. I can't say that I recognise the name. LG only has two hits for his service number: a transfer from RA to AAC and a postwar promotion to Lt RA with seniority backdated to 1941.
What about Brayley? - he became very successful Desmond Brayley, Baron Brayley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Desmond Brayley, Baron Brayley MC DL (29 January 1917 – 16 March 1977) was a British Army officer and businessman who had a brief, scandal-hit career as a Government minister At the age of 17 he joined the Royal Artillery and later became a physical training instructor. He was an enthusiastic boxer and became Army Boxing Champion. During the war he served in the Parachute Regiment, winning the Military Cross in 1942 for action in the North African desert campaign. He was part of a unit - a forerunner for today's special forces, set up to train soldiers to parachute behind enemy lines and cause as much disruption to the enemy as possible. He also served in Sicily and Crete and was mentioned in despatches (23 September 1943). He was awarded government office in March 1974 as Under Secretary for the Army. At this point he resigned as chairman of his company, and sold his shares for over £1 million. After inquiries were made into a company with which he had been involved, he signed a letter of resignation rather than cause the Prime Minister any embarrassment. Despite an initial but extensive enquiry into his business dealings nothing was ever proved before his death in 1977. (The book was written in 1980 and he probably didn't want to name the recently deceased ex-officer)
First edition was 1980, so the 'scandal' could have prompted the memory? There's no Brayley in the 1994 revised edition's index, for what it's worth.
You need to narrow the search by finding those previously decorated Officers who left the battalion! Best, Steve.
I would suggest looking at the left hand side of the Field return of officers to identify those who "Quitted or were posted" during the relevant period. John
How about Elliott? Had an MBE and was on the bench with 1st Reinforcements. I can't say that I recognise the name. LG only has two hits for his service number: a transfer from RA to AAC and a postwar promotion to Lt RA with seniority backdated to 1941. James Roland Elliott left 2 Para (date N/K) and by January 1944 was back with the RA, this time with 2nd (Oban) A/L Anti-Tank Bty. He fought at Arnhem as a Battery Captain and 2ic of the unit and was taken POW. Held at Oflag 79 (Braunschweig) as POW number 543. He died in 1985. All the best..........
