The Most Decorated British Service Person in WW2?

Discussion in 'WW2 Militaria' started by The Cooler King, Apr 30, 2014.

  1. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    A very difficult question!. One that might have been asked before?

    How about this man?....... any other contenders?

    Brigadier Alastair Stevenson Pearson CB, DSO & Three Bars, OBE, MC, TD (1915 – 1995),

    "Pearson was attached to the South Lancashire Regiment and served briefly in France during January 1940. On 8 June 1940, after the end of Operation Dynamo, he returned to France with the 6th HLI. He fought in the Battle of France with the Second British Expeditionary Force. He was evacuated on 17 June as part of Operation Ariel.

    On its return to the United Kingdom, the British 52nd (Lowland) Division was assigned to defend the coast. In 1942 Pearson volunteered to join a special forces unit and on 1 August he joined the Parachute Regiment, part of the Army Air Corps. He was promoted to the rank of Major and served as second-in-command of 2nd Battalion, 1st Parachute Brigade. Within a fortnight, Pearson was transferred to 1st Battalion by its commander Lieutenant Colonel Eric Down. Pearson was promptly demoted by Down after a rioutous night on the town. Pearson was promoted to the rank of Major for the second time before becoming second-in-command of 1st Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel James Hill.

    In October 1942, the 1st Parachute Brigade was sent to Tunisia to participate in Operation Torch.
    Pearson assumed command of 1st Battalion when Hill was badly wounded on 23 November. For his actions while under heavy fire, Pearson was awarded the Military Cross. At the age of twenty-seven, Pearson was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and given command of the 1st Parachute Battalion. Pearson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his actions in late January and early February, 1943. He was awarded a second DSO for actions during the Battle of Tamera in March.

    Pearson was awarded a third DSO for his contribution to the Invasion of Sicily. In July 1943, the 1st Parachute Brigade was assigned to capture Primosole Bridge in Sicily, ahead of Bernard Montgomery's 8th Army. Due to high winds, intense flak, and poor flying, less than 20% of the 1,900 men of the brigade landed on target. However, the bridge was captured and Pearson organized a defence. German forces counter-attacked the following day and the paratroopers were forced to withdraw. Pearson helped to recapture the bridge by guiding a battalion of the Durham Light Infantry in an attack on the flank of the German infantry holding the bridge. After the Sicilian campaign, Pearson recuperated from an attack of malaria.

    During the summer of 1944, the commander of the new British 6th Airborne Division, Richard Nelson Gale gave Pearson command of the division's 8th Battalion, which had been formed from the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Pearson immediately began preparing the battalion for the Battle of Normandy. On the night of 5 June 1944, the battalion departed England for France. On landing, Pearson was shot in the hand but continued to command. The 8th battalion would go on to destroy several bridges over the River Dives and then take up defensive positions in the Bavent Wood, east of Pegasus Bridge. Pearson was awarded a fourth DSO in February 1945 for his contributions during the Battle of Normandy.

    On his return to England in September 1944, Pearson surrendered command of the 8th Battalion due to ill health. He then resigned his commission to return to his bakery in Glasgow. In 1947, he rejoined the Territorial Army and commanded the 15th (Scottish Volunteer) Parachute Battalion. Later, he gave up the bakery to turn to farming. In 1951, he was made a Deputy Lord-Lieutenant for Glasgow. In 1953 he was promoted to full Colonel and in 1967, he was promoted to Brigadier and became Commandant of the Army Cadet Force in Scotland.

    In June 1956 Pearson was appointed Aide de camp to the Queen, a ceremonial post he held until 1961. He was appointed CB on 12 June 1958. He was appointed Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire in 1975, and Lord Lieutenant in 1979"
     
  2. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Paddy Mayne

    Lieutenant Colonel Robert Blair "Paddy" Mayne DSO*** (11 January 1915 – 14 December 1955) was a British Army soldier, solicitor, Ireland rugby union international, amateur boxer, and a founding member of the Special Air Service (SAS). He was controversially denied a Victoria Cross.

    In fact, Mayne was recommended for a VC for this actions. However, although the VC recommendation was signed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commander of the Allied 21st Army Group, Mayne instead received a fourth DSO. Even King George VI was to express surprise at the omission. Mayne replied: “I served to my best my Lord, my King and Queen and no one can take that honour away from me.”
    In fact, Mayne was recommended for a VC for this actions. However, although the VC recommendation was signed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commander of the Allied 21st Army Group, Mayne instead received a fourth DSO. Even King George VI was to express surprise at the omission. Mayne replied: “I served to my best my Lord, my King and Queen and no one can take that honour away from me.”
    An Early Day Motion put before the House of Commons in June 2005 and supported by more than 100 MPs also stated that:
    “This House recognises the grave injustice meted out to Lt Col Paddy Mayne, of 1st SAS, who won the Victoria Cross at Oldenburg in North West Germany on 9th April 1945;
    notes that this was subsequently downgraded, some six months later, to a third bar DSO, that the citation had been clearly altered and that David Stirling, founder of the SAS has confirmed that there was considerable prejudice towards Mayne and that King George VI enquired why the Victoria Cross had `so strangely eluded him';
    further notes that on 14th December it will be 50 years since Col Mayne's untimely death, in a car accident, and this will be followed on 29th January 2006 by the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Royal Warrant to institute the Victoria Cross; and therefore calls upon the Government to mark these anniversaries by instructing the appropriate authorities to act without delay to reinstate the Victoria Cross given for exceptional personal courage and leadership of the highest order and to acknowledge that Mayne's actions on that day saved the lives of many men and greatly helped the allied advance on Berlin."
    The motion was denied bij the British Government.

    TD comment - bl**dy politicians


    DSO with 3Bars.png Companion of the Distinguished Service Order and Three bars (DSO & 3 Bars)
    24 February 1942
    21 October 1943 (1st Bar)
    29 March 1945 (2nd Bar)
    11 October 1945 (3rd Bar)
    1939–45 Star
    Africa Star With '8th ARMY' clasp
    Italy Star
    France and Germany Star
    Defence Medal
    War Medal 1939–1945 with bronze palm for Mentioned in Dispatches 24 February 1942 (MID)
    Officer of the Legion of Honour (France)
    Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France)

    http://en.ww2awards.com/person/42139
     
  3. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Without wishing to detract one iota from the acknowleged bravery of soldiers like Paddy Mayne may I remind you of a chap named Jack Nissenthal

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/44/a2665244.shtml

    and here, on this forum:

    I think it worth mentioning another VC that "never was":

    Following on Gerry's excellent summary of the Dieppe raid I must mention a series of coincidences that have led me to make this posting.

    On Sept 6th I shall be attending my old boy's club reunion and, as always, the table talk will get around to former members who are no longer here to join in our talk of WW2. At my particular table, because we have several vets there, Jack Nissenthal's name is invariably brought to mind.

    I was recently interviewed, about the club, on spitalfieldslife.com and the interviewer known only by his pseudonym of "The Gentle Author" was intrigued by the story of Jack Nissenthal, a former club boy, who was taken to Dieppe to find out about German radar accompanied by a special troop who had instructions to kill him rather than allow him to be taken prisoner. He also placed a link on his Blog so that others might read the story.

    A well known authority on Jack's history is Martin Sugarman and his newly published book "Fighting Back" contains a full chapter on Jack's exploits.

    I've also just been to Wikipedia and on the pages relating to Dieppe found this item:
    Dieppe Raid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    I was amused to find that footnote No.10 took the reader to the BBC WW2 Archives to an article that I had previously posted myself on behalf of Martin Sugarman !

    The Wikipedia excerpt now follows:

    Pourville radar station

    Destroyed Landing craft on fire with Canadian dead on the beach. A concrete gun emplacement on the right covers the whole beach. The steep gradient can clearly be judged


    One of the objectives of the Dieppe Raid was to discover the importance and accuracy of a German radar station on the cliff-top to the east of the town of Pourville. To achieve this, RAF Flight Sergeant Jack Nissenthall, a radar specialist, was attached to the South Saskatchewan Regiment. He was to attempt to enter the radar station and learn its secrets, accompanied by a small unit of 11 men of the Saskatchewans as bodyguards. Nissenthall volunteered for the mission fully aware that, due to the highly sensitive nature of his knowledge of Allied radar technology, his Saskatchewan bodyguard unit were under orders to kill him if necessary to prevent him being captured. He also carried a cyanide pill as a last resort. Nissenthall and his bodyguards failed to enter the radar station due to strong defences, but Nissenthall was able to crawl up to the rear of the station under enemy fire and cut all telephone wires leading to it. This forced the crew inside to resort to radio transmissions to talk to their commanders, transmissions which were intercepted by listening posts on the south coast of England. The Allies were able to learn a great deal about the arrays of German radar stations along the channel coast thanks to this one simple act, which helped to convince Allied commanders of the importance of developing radar jamming technology. Of this small unit only Nissenthall and one other returned safely to England.[10][11].


    I can never read about Dieppe without thinking of this club boy who played such an important role and was never awarded the honour he so richly deserved

    Ron
     
    Chris C likes this.
  4. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Some answers on this other thread overlap...
    http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/33552-the-most-decorated-war-hero-in-the-history-of-the-british-empire/

    As per response by Wills on that thread, 'decorations' can include awards other than for gallantry, ie honours. In which case, there were royals, FMs, etc with a lot of bling, some of which is related to a WW2 service history.


    If asking about gallantry awards only then logically it'll be someone with a VC as well as other medals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_VCs_of_World_War_2
    All VC awards trump any other gallantry groups no matter how 'numerically' superior the latter may be... IMO. :)

    Upham VC & Bar was from New Zealand, so that rules him out as per British in the thread title.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Upham#Other_holders_of_the_VC_and_Bar
    The other two VC & bar holders are British, but are also ruled out as per thread title since they weren't awarded for WW2.
     
  5. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    Thanks for the feedback.

    This man would figure very highly in most peoples view I expect?.... Who is he?
     

    Attached Files:

  6. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    vc.jpg
     
  7. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Bamboo,

    I always think that this particular photo of Guy Gibson, is one of the best.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  8. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi Tom,

    I agree, although it does always tickle me that RAF boys always seem to be holding their pipes or a cigarette. :)
     
  9. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Here is an example of what I mean:

    Leonard Cheshire VC etc. etc.

    459px-Dropping_of_the_Atomic_Bomb_on_Japan,_August_1945_CH13626.jpg

    800px-Cheshire,_Leonard_(VC)_closeup2_-_Copy.jpg
     
  10. The Cooler King

    The Cooler King Elite Member

    It's definately a Theme......
     

    Attached Files:

  11. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    You might well have started something here CK. :lol:
     
  12. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    First person I thought of when I saw this thread was Alastair Pearson. I'm glad to see him there already.

    The following is from Julian James' biography of Pearson A Fierce Quality..

    The day of Pearson's arrival came and the whole [8th Parachute] Battalion was on parade, waiting for him to appear. He turned up in an old fashioned staff car and got out...Pearson inspected the front rank and returned to his car. He stood on the folding steps, a feature of such vehicles, and addressed the assembled troops.

    "I have never seen such a shower in my whole life" he said.

    With that he got into his car and drove away. The effect was devastating. Before he left, Pearson told Marshal that he would return the following day and expected everyone to be in brand new uniforms, including the officers...

    The next day Pearson returned and inspected the Battalion. Once he had seen all the troops he returned to the front and said to them "I am pleased to command you"

    pearson.jpg 388px-Alastair_Pearson.jpg
     

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