Collection LETHBRIDGE - LETHBRIDGE, Maj Gen John Sydney (1897-1961)

Born 1897; educated at Gresham's School, Uppingham, Leicestershire, the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and Jesus College, Cambridge; served in World War One, 1914-1918; commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers, 1915; service with 123 Field Company, Royal Engineers, 38 (Welsh) Div, Western Front, 1916-1917; Battle of the Somme, Picardy, France, 1916; served as temporary Capt with 51 Field Company, King George V's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners, Roorkee, India, 1917; service with Aden Frontier Force, operations in southern Arabia, 1917-1918; commanded, as acting Maj, 57 Company, King George V's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners, Third Afghan War, Afghanistan and North West Frontier, India, 1919-1922; awarded MC, 1919; undergraduate, Jesus College, Cambridge, 1922-1924; commanded 43 Div Headquarters Company, King George V's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners, Roorkee, India, 1924-1925; Adjutant, Corps of Bengal Sappers and Miners, India, 1925-1929; Assistant Superintendent of Instruction,Roorkee, India, 1929; commanded 3 Field Company, King George V's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners, Rawalpindi, India, 1929-1931; engaged in operations on the Kajuri Plain, Peshawar, against Afridi raiders, 1930; graduated from Staff College, Quetta, India, 1932; Superintendent of Instruction, Roorkee, India, 1932-1933; Field Works Maj, Chatham, Kent, 1933-1935; General Staff, Headquarters, Northern Command, York, 1935-1936; Military Operations Branch and Directorate of Recruiting and Organisation, War Office, 1936-1939; Instructor, Senior Officers' School, Sheerness, Kent, 1939; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; served with BEF (British Expeditionary Force), France, 1939; Commander Royal Engineers, 59 (Staffordshire) Div, Territorial Army, Western Command, UK, 1939-1940; Lt Col, 1940; Deputy Director of Staff Duties, War Office, 1940-1942; temporary Brig, 1941; specially employed on liaison duties with US Forces in London and the USA, 1942; acting Maj Gen, 1942; awarded CBE, 1942; Director, Liaison and Munitions, War Office, 1942-1943; Col and temporary Maj Gen, 1943; commanded 220 'Lethbridge' Military Mission, to the USA, India, South West Pacific and Australia to study tactics and equipment required to defeat Japan in the Far East, 1943-1944; Chief of Staff, 14 Army, Burma, 1944-1945; Chief of Intelligence, Control Commission for Germany and British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), 1945-1948; awarded CB, 1946; Commander, US Legion of Merit, 1946; retired as Hon Maj Gen, 1948; Commandant, Civil Defence Staff College, 1949-1952; Director of Civil Defence, South West Region (Bristol), 1955-1960; died 1961.