Obituary Field Marshal Lord Bramall KG GCB OBE MC JP

Obituary

Dwin Bramall was commissioned into the King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) on 22 May 1943. He took part in the Normandy landings landing on Juno Beach on D+2 in June 1944 and was soon in action against German forces counter attacking North West from Caen. On 16 July 44 he was wounded near Maltot but returning to the Battalion in time to see the Falaise pocket closed in August 1944. In March 1945 he received the Military Cross for an action Near Antwerp, Belgium on 20th October occupation forces in Japan.

Promoted to Lieutenant on 18 June 1946 he served in the occupation of Japan from 1946, before becoming an instructor at the School of Infantry in 1949. Promoted to Captain on 18 December 1950, he was stationed in the Middle East from 1953 and was then promoted to Major on 18 December 1957. Subsequently he served two years as an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley from 1958, and then served on Lord Mountbatten's staff in 1963 creating the MOD.

Appointed OBE in the New Year Honours 1965, and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 25 January 1965, he was appointed Commanding Officer of 2nd Royal Green Jackets (Penang/ Malaysia) which was deployed to Borneo in Spring 1966 during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation where he was awarded a Mention in Despatches (MID). He was appointed commander of 5th (Airportable) Infantry Brigade in Tidworth in November 1967 being promoted to Brigadier on 31 December 1967.

Montgomery pinning the MC on a young 2Lt Bramall

1944. Before the ceremony at which Field Marshal Montgomery pinned on the ribbon, one of Monty’s staff gave Bramall a word of warning: “The Field Marshal will ask you if you have ever met him before. He won’t mind a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’ –but he will be very upset if you say that you can He was General Officer Commanding the 1st Division (Verden/Aller) from 6 January 1972, Commander of British Forces (CBF) in Hong Kong from 1 December 1973 and appointed KCB in the New Year Honours 1974. He went on to be Commander -in-Chief, UK Land Forces on 15 May 1976 and was promoted to full General on 25 June 1976. He was appointed Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff (Personnel and Logistics) on 20 March 1978, advanced to GCB in the New Year Honours 1979, before being made ADC General to the Queen on 26 June 1979 and appointed Chief of the General Staff on 14 July 1979. In this role he strongly supported the plan in May 1982 to land troops at San Carlos Water.

He was promoted to Field Marshal on 1 August 1982 and appointed Chief of the Defence Staff on 1 October 1982. In this capacity he developed the concept of the "Fifth Pillar" pulling together the activities of defence attachés to form a structure for intervention in smaller countries. He retired in November 1985.

He was also Colonel Commandant of the 3rd Battalion the Royal Green Jackets from 1973 to 1984, Colonel of the 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) from 1976 to 1987 and Colonel Commandant of the Special Air Service Regiment from 1985 to 1993.

After his retirement he served as Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London from 1986 to 1998.

He was created Baron Bramall, of Bushfield in the County of Hampshire in 1987 and served in the Upper House until he retired in 2012. He was Invested as a Knight of the Garter in 1990.

He was a former President of the MCC (1988) and became an Honorary Life Vice President of the MCC in 1997. His other interests included painting and travel and he was a Vice-President of SSAFA Forces Help.

Field Marshal Bramall died on 12 November 2019.

The Coat of Arms of Edwin, Baron Bramall of Bushfield

Coronet A coronet of a Baron

Crest

Statant lion barry Or and Azure supporting a UK Field Marshal’s Baton erect proper.

Torse

Mantling Or and Sable.

Escutcheon Per fess embattled Sable and Or between three Stafford knotts a lion rampant all counterchanged.

Supporters Dexter: A Malayan Tiger holding in the dexter paw a Kukri, all proper. Sinister: a Chinese Dragon proper, holding in the sinister claw a Maltese Cross Sable.

Motto PERSTA ET PROESTA Latin: "Stand fast and step ahead”

Orders The Order of the Garter circlet. The collar as Grand Cross Knight of the Order of the Bath. The badge as Officer of the Order of the British Empire.[53]