The Daily Telegraph Book of Military Obituaries

Book excerpt: In the 17 years since The Daily Telegraph started to take its obituaries seriously by allotting them a special section in the paper, it has published around 1,000 obituaries of soldiers, as well as almost equal numbers of sailors and airmen. The 100 to be found here, which have never before been collected in book form, were chosen to show the widest range of military experience. They include those who performed astonishing acts of bravery, such as the New Zealander Charles Upham, who won the Victoria Cross twice in North Africa, the commando leader "Mad Jack" Churchill and Drum Major Buss, the bugler who rallied the Glosters and the Imjin river in Korea. Among the senior figures are General Mazek, who commanded the Polish 2nd Corps in Normandy, the rigorous Field Marshal Lord Carver and General Sir Walter Walker, who won three DSOs and remained an unflinchingly outspoken critic of Britain's postwar society. But not every soldier is called upon to concentrate on fighting. Kenneth Merrylees spent his career searching for water on behalf of the Army. James Drew was General Montgomery's postmaster. Among those who enjoyed the high noon of British India are Tony 'Raj' Fowler, who was engaged in operations against the Fakir of Ipi on the border of Afghanistan, and that great character Sir 'Honker' Henniker, Bt, who remembered being smartly saluted by elephants. David Twiston Davies, is the Chief Obituary Writer of The Daily Telegraph.