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Brigadier John Platt
Yet another interesting WW2 Obit in the Telegraph:Brigadier John Platt, who has died aged 101, won a DSO in 1944 in one of the fiercest battles of the Italian campaign. As a lieutenant-colonel, Platt was in command of the 2nd Battalion Somerset Light Infantry (2 SLI) at the forced crossing of the River Garigliano on May 11 1944. The assault battalion, just ahead of them, was late into the water, and as a result 2 SLI was held up near the bank and came under concentrated fire. Since the original crossing place had been identified by the Germans, Platt reconnoitred an alternative, again under heavy fire, and personally launched the majority of his battalion over the river. He established two companies on the far bank, where they were held up by strong enemy forces. Platt crossed the river, and was about to organise a further advance when he was hit by fragments from a mortar bomb (known as a Moaning Minnie from the noise it made) and wounded twice. Despite his injuries he crossed the river again at first light to reconnoitre a means of getting the remainder of his battalion on to their objectives. While he was visiting his forward companies Platt was again severely wounded. He lay on the far bank for 30 hours, as the battle raged around him, before he could be evacuated. The citation for his DSO stated: "This officer showed the highest sense of duty, magnificent leadership under most difficult conditions, great gallantry in carrying on with his job when wounded, and complete disregard for anything except the job that was to be done." John Rowley Innes Platt was born at Wylam, Northumberland, on June 17 1905. His great-grandfather had fought at Waterloo, and his father commanded 2 SLI from 1906 to 1915. After attending Wellington and RMC Sandhurst, in 1925 John was commissioned into the SLI and served with the 1st Battalion in Egypt, Hong Kong and India. In India Platt made a name shooting tigers, especially in the Madras district, where they were preying on villagers and their cattle Sounds like we could have used him in Tucson. An all-round field sportsman and a fine horseman, he hunted with both the Ootacamund and the Quetta Foxhounds. Leave it to the the English to have famous packs of hounds in Quetta. Not such a nice place anymore and fox hunting is illegal in the mother country. He then went to Staff College, Quetta, before moving to the Army Gas School as brigade major. Hope the Gas School is closed now. On the outbreak of the Second World War he was in France as a junior staff officer at 1st Corps. He published, in 1972, Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry 1907-1967 and, in 1989, Three Hundred Years of Foxhunting in South and West Wiltshire. Posted by: JAB 2006-11-15 |
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