Submitting.
Commissioned in 1940, the young officer served in Palestine, survived the Battle of El Alamein, took part in the invasion of Italy and fought through North-west Europe where his fearless leadership under fire earned him the Military Cross. In the words of his citation he had shown “outstanding skill and initiative and a complete disregard for danger.”
The son of Mark and Meliora (correct) Sprot, his father had been a soldier and it had always been his ambition to follow in his footsteps. But he was forbidden to do so on leaving Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. As a result he initially worked in banking until volunteering on the outbreak of the war in 1939.