Gordon Piper

Medals are shown left to right, as per the bullet point list above.

Gordon Piper served with the 6th Battalion throughout the Second World War, before embarking in a civilian career which oversaw the introduction of computers.

Joining the Green Howards as a Private in November 1938, Piper was evacuated from Dunkirk, embarking on the Lady of Mann from the beaches on 31st May.

After further training, Major Piper moved with the 6th Battalion to Egypt and was appointed Adjutant whilst in Palestine; a job he was to hold until the end of the war. Serving at El Alamein, Piper was wounded with a splinter in his back and a bullet lodged in his heel. He was back in Egypt by May 1943 but was medically downgraded; his prospects looked bleak but that didn’t put off his Brigade Commander (‘Red Ted’ Cooke-Collis, a Green Howard) who agreed, over a whisky, that Piper’s injuries would not affect his performance. He was thus re-appointed Adjutant 6th Green Howards on 14 June 1943.

In addition to his duties as Adjutant, he took over the administration of the landing of 6th Battalion on D-Day after the death of the battalion second-in-command. After Operation Market-Garden in September 1944, Piper was ordered to rest and he returned to quieter climes in Belgium. Becoming Staff Captain ‘A’ in Brussels, he took leave after being awarded a Mention in Despatches on 22 March 1945.

Piper transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in 1952. He left the army in 1960 and went to work for IBM. He retired in 1981 and died, aged 91, on the 3 August 2012.