Temporary Lieutenant Colonel Norman J L Field

Norman John Lascelles Field was born in Croydon on 29 March 1917, the son of Captain H D Field, RAMC, who was a front line doctor and killed at Ypres in September 1917.

He was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) in 1937 and took part in the campaign in France and Belgium in 1940. He was wounded before being evacuated from the beaches near Dunkirk.

Back in England he was summoned to Coleshill for ‘special duties’ and became one of Winston Churchill’s Auxiliary Unit Commanders. (The British Resistance Movement).

After his service with the Auxiliary Units, Major Field joined Montgomery's staff – at Monty's insistence – before attending Staff College, Camberley, in 1942. He was then posted to HQ 1st Airborne Division as GSO2  in Tunisia, where he was involved with the planning for operations in Sicily and Italy.

In 1943 he was recalled from Italy and involved in the planning of the Allied airborne landings on D-Day. His specialised knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of airborne troops led to a secondment to HQ First Allied Airborne Army in September 1944.  He was mentioned in despatches in March 1945.

Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1945, he was attached to the staff of Lt-Gen Matthew Ridgway for the Rhine crossing before becoming the Chief of Staff to General Richard Gale. He was subsequently awarded the OBE in 1945 and the American Bronze Star in 1946 for his roles in North West Europe.

He was present at the liberation of Copenhagen and was on the point of flying to Burma when he suffered a serious stroke. He retired from the Army in 1948.

Norman Field died on the 10 September 2009, aged 92.

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All images on this profile reproduced courtesy of Richard Field.