Former Chief of the Defence Staff who abhorred war
Aged 19, fresh out of officer training, Field Marshal Lord
Bramall took part in the Normandy landings, and in the months of fighting that followed, he won the MC. More than 40 years later, he ended his career as the head of the Armed Forces. But when he was 91, the peace of his retirement was shattered by false allegations that he had been a member of a paedophile ring that conspired in the rape and torture of young boys. Based on the testimony of a single anonymous accuser, police launched a raid on his house in Farnham on 4 March 2015, said The Times. Weeks later, he faced the further humiliation of being interviewed under police caution at his local police station. Nine months passed before police realised they had been duped by a fantasist and paedophile named Carl Beech. The Met apologised, and paid Bramall compensation, but it was too late for Dorothy, his wife of 66 years: she died before his name was cleared. He later said that never in his years in the Army had he been as “wounded” as he was by the accusations that formed the basis of Operation Midland. Yet he said he felt sorry for Beech: his anger was mainly directed at Scotland Yard.
Born in 1923, Edwin (“Dwin”) Bramall was the son an officer in the Royal Artillery. He was sent to Eton, where he excelled at cricket and art: aged 16, he had two paintings in the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition. He enlisted in 1942, and spent nine months in the ranks before being commissioned into the
King’s Royal Rifle Corps. He landed at Juno beach on D+1 (7 June 1944). He was twice wounded in France, but each time returned to action. He won his MC for his courage under fire in an operation close to the Dutch-Belgian border. At the ribbon ceremony, one of Montgomery’s aides gave him a word of warning: “The Field Marshal will ask you if you have ever met him before. He won’t mind a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’ – but he will be upset if you say that you cannot remember.” He saw the horrors of Belsen, the devastation of bombed out Hamburg – and in Japan soon after surrender, walked through what was left of Hiroshima.
During his postwar career, Bramall was mentioned in despatches in the Borneo confrontation (1963-66), commanded troops in Hong Kong in the early 1970s, became Chief of the General Staff in 1979 and Chief of the Defence Staff in 1982. Although formidable, he was charming and never pompous, said The Daily Telegraph. Once, on learning it was his driver’s birthday he promised the man a present. Later, guards were astonished to see the CO’s car approach with Bramall sitting to attention at the wheel, and a corporal relaxing in the passenger seat. Described by his son as a socialist, he campaigned against Trident, and spoke out against the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. “War settles nothing,” he once said. “It may have its moments, it may bring out the best in some people, but, apart from the suffering it causes in human and economic terms, it usually creates more problems than it solves.”