Brig. John Thornton MC

"Brigadier John Thornton, who has died aged 87, had first-hand experience of the sectarian violence that followed Indian partition and won an MC in the Malayan Emergency.
In 1953, Thornton was serving in Malaya with 2nd Battalion 7th Gurkha Rifles (2/7 GR). On February 18, he was commanding two platoons in an operation in the jungles of Negri Sembilan.
He sent two patrols forward to locate a Communist camp and reconnoitre ambush positions. One of the patrols reported that it had found the camp but it was getting dark and an attack was postponed until the next day.
Before first light the following day, Thornton moved off with one platoon to assault the camp, having deployed the other in positions to cut off the bandits’ escape routes. When his leading scout shot the sentry, Thornton led his men in an attack.
They immediately came under fire from a machine gun, but the assault was carried out with such dash that the enemy broke and fled, most of them running towards the “cut-off” platoon. When this platoon opened fire, he realised that some of the Communists could still get away down two streams running along the foot of the hill on which the camp was situated.
He sent one section to one stream and led the other to the second stream where he directed fire on the enemy as they ran towards him. This strategy placed him in the line of fire from his own “cut-off” platoon but it resulted in the complete success of the operation. His coolness, skill, quick-wittedness and courage were recognised by the award of an MC.
John Thornton collecting his MC at Buckingham Palace with his mother and sister
John Michael Chetwynd-Talbot Thornton was born at Lucknow, India, on September 21 1927 and educated at Downside. One afternoon in May 1943, while some cricket matches were being played, two Hurricane aircraft from the Fleet Air Arm, Yeovilton, Somerset, flew over the grounds practising low level attacks. One of the aircraft clipped some trees and dived into the ground. The wreckage ploughed into the spectators. Eight boys were killed and about 25 were injured."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11292887/Brigadier-John-Thornton-obituary.html