Major General

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 John Bryan Churcher CB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 DSO

Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 & Bar

Medal bar

A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It is most commonly used to indicate the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the...

 (1905 - 2 August 1997) was a British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 officer who commanded 3rd Infantry Division.

Military career

Churcher was commissioned into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry

The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1959. Its lineage is continued today by The Rifles....

 in 1925. He fought in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as Commanding Officer

Commanding officer

The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...

 of 1st Battalion the Hereford Regiment

Herefordshire Light Infantry

The Herefordshire Light Infantry was a regiment of the British Army from 1861 to 1967. Its heritage survives as a platoon of Company, 4th Battalion the Mercian Regiment.The Regiment had no lineal connection with the 36th Regiment of Foot....

 and then as Commander of 159th Brigade

159th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)

.The 159th Infantry Brigade was a motorised infantry brigade of the British Army during World War II.- History :The creation of the 11th Armoured Division was part of the British answer to the success of German panzer divisions in the previous years...

 serving in North-West Europe. After the War he became General Officer Commanding

General Officer Commanding

General Officer Commanding is the usual title given in the armies of Commonwealth nations to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC II Corps or GOC 7th Armoured Division...

 43rd Division. He was appointed General Officer Commanding 5th Division in 1947 and Chief of Staff at Southern Command

Southern Command (United Kingdom)

-History:The Command was established in 1905 from the Second Army Corps and was initially based at Tidworth but in 1949 moved to Fugglestone Farm near Wilton in Wiltshire....

 in 1951 - in this capacity he organised the response to the devastating Lynmouth Flood

Lynmouth Flood

On 15 and 16 August 1952, a storm of tropical intensity broke over south-west England, depositing of rain within 24 hours on an already waterlogged Exmoor. It is thought that a cold front scooped up a thunderstorm, and the orographic effect worsened the storm...

 in 1952. He went on to be General Officer Commanding 3rd Division in 1954 and Director of Military Training at the War Office

War Office

The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...

 in 1957 before retiring in 1959.

He is buried at St Mary's Churchyard at Wargrave

Wargrave

Wargrave is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, which encloses the confluence of the River Loddon and the River Thames. It is in the Borough of Wokingham...

 in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

.