We regret to announce the death of Lieutenant General Sir David House who passed away on the evening of Saturday 14 July 2012.

TRIBUTE

BY

FIELD MARSHAL LORD BRAMALL KG GCB OBE MC

I consider it such a privilege to be asked by Jennifer and Elizabeth to write some words which, in my unavoidable absence, can be read out for me in order to pay an appropriate tribute to my old friend and comrade-in-arms, David House, and to what he achieved in his long and most productive life.

We first soldiered together 64 years ago and, ever since, I have known him at first hand as a good friend; a most distinguished soldier and public servant; and perhaps above all, as one of the kindest and most generous-hearted and likeable of men, with, ever present, a delightful sense of humour.

David enlisted in the Army in the darkest days of World War 2 shortly after his 18th birthday and, in August 1941 got an Emergency Commission into his chosen regiment, The Kings Royal Rifle Corps, the 60th Rifles (much later to become the Green Jackets). In due course, after training in Yorkshire, he joined the Regiments 1st Battalion in time for the last year of the Italian campaign. Here, in September 1944, during the fierce fighting to break into the German Gothic Line, and commanding a platoon of lightly armoured bren gun carriers closely supporting the tanks of the 9th Lancers, David won an Immediate Military Cross. His citation describes how, with complete disregard for his own safety under intense shell and mortar fire and continuous sniping, he led his small platoon, both mounted and dismounted, into a most successful attack which overwhelmed a much larger force of enemy infantry who, with their anti-tank weapons, were threatening and dealing with our own tanks. In the process he took over 50 prisoners.

At the end of the War, and having by then decided to stay in the Army, he obtained a Regular Commission in early 1947 on his return from Italy to this Country. There then followed, over the next 30 years, a military career of great variety and significance which not only reflected his intelligence and dedication to his profession, but also his great skill both as a staff officer and as a commander, embracing virtually every level of command from company commander to that of a Lieutenant-General.

He held significant staff appointments in five different ranks but his full potential as a staff officer first came to be recognised when he was appointed, as a Major, to the newly-formed staff of the very first Chief of Defence Staff, Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir William Dickson. This was to lead, within the next four years, to accelerated promotion to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, to the award of the OBE for his achievements in a MOD staff appointment in that higher rank, and then, to what is the ambition of all Regular soldiers, the command of a battalion. This was to be the 1st Green Jackets (43rd & 52nd), the old Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, which, based in Malaysia, was on active service operations in the jungles of Borneo (East Malaysia) during that Countrys confrontation with Indonesia. As my own Battalion was shortly to take over from his out there, I saw for myself, when I visited them on my initial reconnaissance, the enormous respect, even awe, with which this tall, impressive man was held by all his officers and men for his firm, fair, effective and indeed, inspirational leadership. He demanded only the highest standards and got them, and they all thought the world of him.

Later, he was to take his Battalion to a complete change of scene in the divided city of Berlin, but, after less than two years in command, he was remarkably and unusually promoted directly to Brigadier in order to return to Borneo to command 51st Gurkha Brigade helping to secure the border from Indonesian incursions this time in the centre and north of East Malaysia. Again, David proved himself an energetic and effective commander flying all over the jungle in helicopters, which he sometimes piloted himself, to visit his most forward troops and give clear and decisive orders. During the later run-down of Commonwealth forces at the successful conclusion of the campaign, he was given overall command of all British forces in Borneo and, in 1967, advanced to CBE.

In that year his career took a dramatic turn when he was appointed Head of the British Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany (BRIXMIS) with his Headquarters behind the Iron Curtain in Potsdam, where diplomatic and intelligence rather than jungle skills were needed. After all, his main job was to find out what the Soviets were up to; and it was an exciting time to be at the heart of the Cold War. The Soviet Union was shortly to invade Czechoslovakia to counter Alexander Dubeks Prague Spring advocating a more liberal form of communism, and East-West relations came to the brink of war.

In 1969 David returned from Berlin to take up an important Army post dealing with officers appointments and career planning, and then it was back to the NATO environment, on promotion to Major-General, in the key appointment of Chief of Staff of the British Army of the Rhine. Here he had to deal, amongst many other things, with the provision of units of all arms to support the urgently-required higher force levels in Northern Ireland at times of acute over-stretch throughout the Army. Two years later he was to become even more involved in the tactics and equipment needed in the Province when he was made Director of Infantry. He was, therefore, well grounded in all the military problems of Ulster when, in 1975, he was appointed the GOC and Director of Operations in Northern Ireland in the higher rank of Lieutenant-General.