Captain Ian Oswald Liddell VC – 5th Battalion Coldstream Guards
Died 21st April 1945 Age 24
Ian was born in Shanghai in 1920, the second son of Percy William and Gwendoline Ray Liddell. His father was the Chairman of Liddell Brothers, a family Merchant Trading Firm in China. On returning from China they settled at Mounton House, one branch of the family being already established at Shirenewton Hall, and Percy was soon elected a member of Monmouthshire County Council
Ian was educated at St Andrews School, Eastbourne, followed by Harrow. His mother described him as the mischievous boy who grew up to be “a frightfully happy and unshakeably good tempered man. He was devoted to animals and loved music. He delighted in writing pantomimes and plays.” In an obituary tribute the Vicar of Mounton wrote “We knew him as the boy who could not do a dishonourable thing, for as we have watched him grow up we have been struck by his modesty, his hatred of pride and snobbery, and his extreme thoughtfulness and kindness towards those whose lot in life was less fortunate than his own.”
Ian left Harrow in 1937 and began training to be a Veterinary Surgeon but in May 1940 he enlisted in the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. He was sent to Sandhurst, by November was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant with the Coldstream Guards and the following February was made a member of the Coates Commission: this was a select band of officers, only eight in number, whose special responsibility was to protect the King, Queen and two Princesses if the Germans successfully invaded Britain. The very existence of this team was a secret throughout the War.
Eventually the threat of an invasion receded and Ian was returned to his unit. Meanwhile his brother David was serving with the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and was awarded the Military Cross for outstanding bravery in Italy in June 1944. Their sister was a welfare supervisor with a Bristol firm and Ian himself, whilst training in Yorkshire, had met a W.A.A.F. officer, Patricia Patton-Bethune.
He took part in the liberation of Europe from the first day, marched with his unit in their triumphal entry into Brussels and was among the first to enter Germany. In his style of leadership he used all his varied talents to guide and encourage his men as shown in the tribute from The Times. He also took time off to marry Patricia in January 1945 – she was from Hampton Hill in Middlesex but came to live in Mounton with her in-laws.
On 3rd April, showing amazing courage and blessed with unbelievable good luck, he saved a strategic bridge from destruction. Details of this, for which he was awarded the V.C. are given in the next section. Then on 21st April, his Company were fighting their way down the road towards Rothenburg. Having just positioned a new Platoon Commander, he was returning to his HQ with a colleague when both men were shot by a sniper. Ian died on the way to hospital.
Ian was buried in Becklingen War Cemetery, Soltau, Germany. His V.C. was presented to his widow and his mother by His Majesty King George VI on 12th February 1946. Thereafter Patricia eventually remarried and the rest of the family moved back up to Shirenewton Hall, where they continued to live until 1976, when they moved to Dorset. Both parents lived to a ripe age, Percy until 1967 and Gwendoline until 1978.
THE HEROISM OF IAN LIDDELL
