Captain Gareth F H Drayson

Gareth Fitzalan Howard Drayson M.B. (Edin), son of Rear-Admiral Edwin Drayson, C.B.E. and Hilda Jeannie Drayson, of Lustleigh, Devon, was granted a commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps and volunteered for airborne forces.

Captain Drayson successfully completed his parachute training on course number 23 at RAF Kabrit, Egypt, and was attached to 10 Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. He took part in Operation Market Garden (Arnhem).

Capt Drayson was killed in action on 19 September 1944, aged 27, when a grenade exploded in the Regimental Aid Post (RAP) and was given a field burial by Reverend Daniel McGowan near the Bilderberg sports ground in Oosterbeek. He was re-interred to Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery on 24 August 1945.

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Grave image by Bob Hilton.