British Army soldier
Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Stuart Michael Thorneloe , MBE (17 October 1969 – 1 July 2009) was a British Army officer who was killed in action on 1 July 2009 near Lashkar Gah , Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. Thorneloe is the highest-ranking British Army officer to have been killed in action since Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones 's death[ 1] in 1982 during the Falklands War .
Early life and education
Radley College
Thorneloe was born on 17 October 1969 at Kirtlington , Oxfordshire .[ 2] His father Major John Thorneloe was a Second World War veteran who died in 2019 at age 96.[ 3] Rupert Thorneloe attended Cothill House school,[ 4] and Radley College in Radley , near Abingdon in Oxfordshire , and the University of Reading in Reading , Berkshire .[ 2] Thereafter, he trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst ,[ 2] and graduated with an MA in Defence Studies from King's College London in 2002.[ 5]
Military career
On 6 September 1991, Thorneloe was commissioned as a second lieutenant on probation in the Welsh Guards on a short service commission.[ 6] [ 7] His commission was later confirmed and backdated to 5 August 1989, and he was promoted to lieutenant with seniority from 5 August 1991.[ 8] He served in Northern Ireland as a platoon commander and company second-in-command , and also worked for a year as an intelligence liaison officer for his regiment, liaising with the Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch in South Armagh .[ 2] [ 9] According to author Toby Harnden , who became a friend of Thorneloe in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s,[ 10] Thorneloe played a key role in the British campaign against the IRA's South Armagh sniper and the arrest of four members of one of the sniper teams.[ 11]
Thorneloe was promoted to captain on 1 April 1995.[ 12] He switched to a special regular commission on 5 October 1995,[ 13] and an ordinary regular commission on 18 September 1996, electing to make the Army his permanent career.[ 14] He was appointed battalion adjutant [ 2] and, on 30 September 1999, was promoted to major ,[ 15] and posted to Permanent Joint Headquarters , Northwood , where he worked in intelligence analysis .[ 2] In 2002, Thorneloe studied at the Joint Service Command and Staff College , Shrivenham , and then took command of a company in Bosnia . Later, in 2004, Thorneloe moved to HQ 1st (UK) Armoured Division as Operations Officer.[ 2] [ 9]
In 2005, as the division was due to take over the role of Multi-National Division (South-East) (Iraq) , Thorneloe was sent to Iraq ahead of the main deployment, and travelled to Basra to begin planning for the transition to Iraqi control.[ 9] The Times said that the divisional commander Lieutenant General John Cooper "looked on Thorneloe as his right-hand man in analysing and presenting the options in this process".[ 9] On 8 September 2006, Thorneloe was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for his service in the Iraq War .[ 16] He became military assistant first to the Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Policy), Major General Andrew Stewart , and then to the Secretary of State for Defence , Des Browne .[ 2]
Thorneloe was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 2008,[ 17] and became Commanding Officer of his battalion just before it deployed to Afghanistan in April 2009 with about a Battle Group of about 1,000 troops based first at Camp Bastion and later in Nad-e-Ali in Helmand Province .[ 2]
Death
Thorneloe was killed by the Taliban in Operation Panther's Claw while riding in an 18-vehicle convoy when an improvised explosive device exploded under his BvS 10 Viking armoured vehicle .[ 18] The explosion also killed Trooper Joshua Hammond of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment [ 18] and injured six other soldiers.[ 19] The deaths of Thorneloe and Hammond brought the total number of fatalities of British Forces personnel in Afghanistan since 2001 to 171.[ 19] Thorneloe had successfully argued that the Brigade plan for Panther's Claw was too ambitious and should be modified. He opted to witness the front line himself.[ 20]
As of July 2009[update] , Thorneloe was the first British Army CO and most senior officer to have been killed in action since Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones in the Falklands War , the highest-ranking to die in Afghanistan in post-colonial times,[ 19] and one of eight British Army commanding officers "killed on operations" since 1948.[ 2] Across the British Armed Forces , Thorneloe was most recent highest-ranking British officer to have been killed on operations since Wing Commander John Coxen of RAF Benson on 6 May 2006 in Basrah, Iraq.[ 21]
Thorneloe's death reinvigorated debate over the adequacy of military equipment supplied to British forces in Afghanistan, with charges focusing on the alleged lack of transport helicopters , which forces troops to travel by land and become exposed to Taliban IED attacks, and the inadequate protection offered by Viking armoured vehicles against IEDs and land mines.[ 22] On 5 June 2009, Thorneloe had written to Brigade headquarters that not only was the number of helicopters inadequate but they were not being tasked correctly: "I have tried to avoid griping about helicopters – we all know we don’t have enough. But the new Ring Route system for managing them is very clearly not fit for purpose."[ 23]
Thorneloe's headstone at Buckland, Oxfordshire
Thorneloe's funeral was held on 16 July 2009. The hearse carrying his coffin passed through Aldershot Barracks , which was lined with Guardsmen, and then to the Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks, London . A bearer party of eight Welsh Guardsmen carried the coffin into the chapel. On his coffin were placed his scabbard , sword, cap, belt and medals along with a wreath of white roses. The service was attended by Charles, Prince of Wales , Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall , Des Browne , and Thorneloe's family.[ 24] He was buried in the parish churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Buckland, Oxfordshire . In 2012, his name was added to the University of Reading War Memorial .[ 25] [ 26]
Thorneloe is featured extensively in the book Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan (Quercus, 2011)[ 27] by Toby Harnden , which won the 2012 Orwell Prize for Books.[ 28] A poetry competition is held at Cothill House every year in his honour.[ 29]
References
^ Harnden, Toby, Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Real Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan, 2011, p.343.
^ a b c d e f g h i j "Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe" . The Daily Telegraph . London. 3 July 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2009 .
^ "John Thorneloe Obituary (2019) - Faringdon, Berkshire - The Times" . www.legacy.com . Retrieved 18 August 2021 .
^ Cothill Memorial Pavilion
^ "A student who exemplifies the virtues of a soldier-scholar" . In Touch. 2009. p. 47.
^ "No. 52754" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 December 1991. p. 19766.
^ "No. 52905" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 April 1992. p. 7380.
^ "No. 53022" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 April 1992. p. 13952.
^ a b c d "Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe: Commanding Officer 1st Welsh Guards" . The Times . London. 6 July 2009. Archived from the original on 24 May 2010. Retrieved 6 July 2009 .
^ Harnden, Toby, Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Real Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan, 2011, p.xvi.
^ A tribute to my friend Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, killed in Afghanistan by Toby Harnden
^ "No. 54060" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1995. p. 8192.
^ "No. 54271" . The London Gazette . 8 January 1996. p. 372.
^ "No. 54610" . The London Gazette . 17 December 1996. p. 16633.
^ "No. 55627" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 December 1996. pp. 10608–10609.
^ "No. 58092" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 September 2006. p. 12271.
^ "No. 58752" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 July 2008. p. 9837.
^ a b "Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe and Trooper Joshua Hammond killed in Afghanistan" . Ministry of Defence . 2 July 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2009 .
^ a b c "Tribute to 'outstanding' soldiers" . BBC News . 3 July 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2009 .
^ Harnden, Toby, Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Real Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan, 2011, p.xxiii.
^ "Crash Victims Named" . mod.gov.uk . 6 May 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2021 .
^ Evans, Michael (4 July 2009). "Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe's death reignites equipment row" . The Times . London. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2009 .
^ Harnden, Toby, Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Real Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan, 2011 p. 245
^ "Funeral for Afghanistan officer" . BBC. 16 July 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2009 .
^ "Role of Honour" . Veterans UK. Retrieved 18 March 2022 .
^ "British Army Officer Killed in Afghanistan Honoured by University of Reading" . University of Reading . 6 July 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2018 .
^ Harnden, Toby, Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Real Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan, 2011
^ "Dead Men Risen" . Orwell Foundation. Retrieved 18 March 2022 .
^ "A day of poetry honours ex-pupil killed in Afghanistan" . Oxfordshire Guardian. 5 November 2014. p. 2. Retrieved 18 March 2022 .
External links