Flight Lieutenant Eric Garland died On This Day 17 January 2016
Thrice-decorated soldier, fighter pilot and escapee who saw action at Dunkirk, Lebanon and Italy
Served throughout the Second World War, initially in the Army and then with the RAF; he was decorated three times, including two MCs for gallantry.
As a 20-year old officer in the 6th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, Garland was awarded his first MC for the “conspicuous bravery” he showed in rescuing three men from a burning ammunition store during a very intense bombing raid at Watou during the retreat to Dunkirk. In Lebanon, less than a year later, by now with No 11 (Scottish) Commando, he won a Bar to his MC, during the invasion of Vichy-controlled Syria-Lebanon, for his part in the Litani River raid.
The following year he transferred to the RAF and trained as a fighter-reconnaissance pilot.
Eric Francis Garland was born in Streatham on February 2 1920 and the family are recorded at 21 Canterbury Road, Brixton in 1925
After leaving Whitgift School, Croydon, he worked as a trainee manager with Imperial Airways and also joined the Artists’ Rifles, a TA regiment.
(FInd a Grave)
Thrice-decorated soldier, fighter pilot and escapee who saw action at Dunkirk, Lebanon and Italy
Served throughout the Second World War, initially in the Army and then with the RAF; he was decorated three times, including two MCs for gallantry.
As a 20-year old officer in the 6th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, Garland was awarded his first MC for the “conspicuous bravery” he showed in rescuing three men from a burning ammunition store during a very intense bombing raid at Watou during the retreat to Dunkirk. In Lebanon, less than a year later, by now with No 11 (Scottish) Commando, he won a Bar to his MC, during the invasion of Vichy-controlled Syria-Lebanon, for his part in the Litani River raid.
The following year he transferred to the RAF and trained as a fighter-reconnaissance pilot.
Eric Francis Garland was born in Streatham on February 2 1920 and the family are recorded at 21 Canterbury Road, Brixton in 1925
After leaving Whitgift School, Croydon, he worked as a trainee manager with Imperial Airways and also joined the Artists’ Rifles, a TA regiment.
(FInd a Grave)
