Brigadier J C Currie DSO MC, Italy, 1943

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, Italy, 1943.

John Cecil Currie was born at Westerham in Kent in 1898, the son of Brigadier-General Arthur Cecil Currie (1863-1942). In 1915 he was was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. He joined his father in France in the same year, aged seventeen. Currie also served in Mesopotamia and was awarded the Military Cross in 1918. In 1940 Currie, serving with 2nd Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, was evacuated from Dunkirk. He served in Palestine and North Africa, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and gaining a Distinguished Service Order for his actions commanding 4th Royal Horse Artillery Regiment at Sidi Rezegh in 1941.

In 1942, Currie commanded 9th Armoured Brigade at the Battle of El Alamein. The Brigade suffered terrible losses and General Montgomery later wrote, 'If the British armour owed any debt to the infantry of the Eighth Army, the debt was paid on 2 November by Ninth Armoured Brigade in heroism and blood'.

Currie was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and was appointed Commanding Officer of 4th Armoured Brigade in February 1943. The Brigade fought in North Africa, Sicily and mainland Italy. Currie returned to England in December 1943. In March 1944 he was reunited with 4th Armoured Brigade as they prepared for Operation OVERLORD. The Brigade landed in Normandy on 7 June 1944. On 26 June 1944 Currie was killed after German shellfire hit his position near Brettville. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records his burial at Bayeux War Cemetery.

From an album containing 242 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters).