PEDDER, Richard Robert Newsham (Lt Col)

Rank: 
Lieutenant Colonel
Unit / Base: 
11 Commando
Regiment/Corps: 
Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment)
Service: 
Army
Number: 
31724
Died : 
Monday, June 9, 1941
Killed in action or died of wounds
Age: 
36
Cemetery/Memorial: 
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Pedder, Officer Commanding No.11 (Scottish) Commando, was killed in action during operations at Litani River, Syria. Commissioned on 27 August 1924 he served with the Highland Light Infantry until the outbreak of war.
Son of Brigadier General Ernest Newsham Pedder and Mary Aloisa Pedder; husband of Pamela Anne Pedder.
Winston Churchill later wrote: "Their advance (referring to the Australians) was aided by a daring raid by No.11 Commando, which was landed from the sea behind the enemy lines.
In this devoted stroke the Commando lost its leader Colonel Pedder, and all its other officers were either killed or wounded, together with nearly 120 other ranks, or a quarter of its total strength."
 
Sources
CWGC. 
Casualty Lists / National Archives file WO417/2.
[Image] His daughter Mrs Elisabeth Humphryes.
 
Primary Roll of Honour: 
Photo of grave in Gallery: 
Yes

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