Captain Denis Lloyd

Denis Lloyd was the younger son of Colonel Glyn Lloyd, DSO and grew up in London, India and Gibraltar where his father was stationed.  He and his older brother, Geoffrey, were educated at Wellington College where Denis excelled as a rugger player.  On leaving school in 1942 he gave up the place he had earned at Trinity College, Oxford and, instead, volunteered for the Army joining  the King’s Royal Rifle Corps on his 18th birthday as a Private at their Winchester barracks. 

Some months later he was selected for officer training and, on completion, he was sent to Italy.  Soon after arriving in Italy he and some of the other junior officers were selected at random to join other units whose officers had been either killed or wounded and Denis found himself attached to the York and Lancaster Regiment and almost immediately in action on the Garigliano River and then Anzio. Denis was pulled out of the line at Anzio to join the Parachute Regiment and, following his training in Italy, took part in Operation Dragoon and Operation Manna.

After the war Denis read for the bar and joined Gray’s Inn as a barrister later becoming a Circuit Judge. He married Margaret Bushell and they had 3 children. Margaret died in 1976 and in 1983 he married an American, Ann Zink and the two moved to London where Denis became Senior Resident Judge at Knightsbridge Crown Court also sitting part-time at the Old Bailey.  He retired in 1994 and died in 1998.

For Denis Lloyds account click here.

For a documentary on Op Dragoon, made by Camilla Whitby, please click here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/78eitbpd659hwww/Operation%20Dragoon.mp4?dl=0