Geoffrey Havilland
Officer who led his platoon up a hill in Korea and with them ‘wrought havoc among the enemy’
GEOFFREY HAVILLAND, who has died aged 88, won an MC in Korea before retiring from the Army and having a successful career in the shipping industry. In October 1951 Havilland was serving with 1st Bn The Royal Leicestershire Regiment. On October 13 the battalion disembarked at Pusan, Korea. An American “Negro band” was playing on the quayside. A few days later, 1 RLR, as part of 29 British Infantry Brigade, 1 Commonwealth Division, relieved a battalion of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers and took up their position five miles behind the front line.
On the afternoon of November 4, the Communists mounted a large-scale attack against a battalion of the King’s Own Scottish Borderers that was holding a ridge-line running west of a dominating feature at Maryang-san and looking over the Imjin River. A half-battalion group from 1 RLR was ordered to move to support them and arrived in the Brigade area at midnight.
At first light the following morning, the KOSB had been forced back from the ridge and the CO of 1 RLR was ordered to recapture it. Havilland commanded a platoon in an attack on a hill feature called “United”. During the approach march he and his men came under heavy and accurate shell fire.
During the actual assault, he positioned himself with the leading section and in the words of the citation, his men “wrought havoc among the enemy immediately opposed to them and killed 18”. Despite being severely wounded in the leg, he led his platoon on to the objective and personally accounted for six of the enemy.
When his platoon, greatly outnumbered, was forced to withdraw, Havilland was the last to leave the hill and covered his men all the way down. He delayed reporting his own wounds until all his comrades had been attended to. It was then seen that his injuries made immediate evacuation essential. His courage and selflessness were recognised by the award of an Immediate MC. The RLR was granted the action at Maryang-san as a Battle Honour.
Geoffrey Arthur Havilland was born at a hill station at Kasauli, India, on May 10 1930. His father, Lieutenant-colonel “Happy” Havilland, served in India with 1 RLR.
Young Geoffrey was educated at Trent College, Nottingham. While he was there, he showed early proficiency in weapons by climbing on to the roof during a wartime blackout to snipe at any lights that were showing. On one occasion, he fell through a skylight and landed in the middle of the masters’ table during supper.
He went on to Sandhurst, where he was an Under Officer. He was on one of the Academy’s first parachute courses and played rugby for the first XV. In 1950 he was commissioned into 1 RLR. During a large exercise on Bodmin Moor, in which the objective was to “capture” Jamaica Inn, he commandeered a fire engine and had his platoon dress up as crew. This initiative was not well-received by the senior officers. After he was wounded in Korea, his fiancée had the anguish of being informed that he had been reported “Missing, believed killed in action”. When he had recovered, he served on secondment to 1st Bn The Parachute Regiment as a company commander and then motor transport officer. This tour included a spell in Cyprus.
In the last of these appointments he had to demonstrate a parachute drop of a fully laden jeep to a group of high-ranking officers. The vehicle should have floated gently to earth in front of the grandstand but there had been an error in calculating the weight and it hit the ground with such force that it exploded. This posting included a year-long secondment to the US 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
In 1959 he was posted to 4/5 RLR as adjutant. After two years in Hong Kong with the 1st Bn The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, in 1963 he retired from the Army.
In 1967 he joined John Swire and Sons, the China coast trading company. Based in Hong Kong, he was the marine personnel manager of China Navigation, the shipping company. He was held in great affection by his staff and he and his wife were generous hosts. In 1983, he moved to London on being appointed shipping manager.
After retiring, he lived at Wimbledon and then Oxford. Besides having a lifelong interest in photography, he collected Japanese woodcuts. Classical music was another passion. As a younger man, he had a great interest in weaponry. He owned a Colt revolver and was an excellent shot.
He was also an expert at DIY and this included things electrical, computers, plumbing, carpentry, bricklaying and repairing cars. Long-distance walking and sailing were other hobbies. For more than a decade, he served on the board of the Missions to Seamen (now Seafarers) and he was a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights.
Geoffrey Havilland married Mary Mcdonnell in 1952. She predeceased him and he is survived by their son and two daughters.