Lieutenant-Colonel P.R. Ashburner
4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment

He has always worked hard and has had on many occasions to do much more than is own work owing to battle casualties among the other officers at Brigade Headquarters–through the many changes of personnel including the Commander; carried through every action, he has remained the cheerful, confidant personality on which the Brigade has come to rely for the continuity of its success in fighting the Germans.”

(Military Cross citation, 29 Mar 1945)

Born on 18 July 1910. In Mount Abu, India, Peter Robert Ashburner was the son of a British Army brigadier and polo player. After graduating from Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was commissioned into his father’s regiment Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) in 1930. His served in Normandy and North West Europe as brigade major for 71st Infantry Brigade, for which he received the Military Cross:

He has always done more than would be expected of a Staff Officer to help the battalions carry out the tasks given to them. During the fighting in Normandy when Brigade Headquarters was frequently subjected to German MG fire and mortar bombs, he showed a coolness and imperturbability that were an example to everyone.

In February 1945, Ashburner was assigned to take command of 4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, which he led from the advance into Germany until the end of the war in Europe. He later commanded a battalion of the Royal Fusiliers in the British Army of Occupation.

In the early 1960s, he was promoted to brigadier and became Military and Naval Attaché at the British Embassy in Brussels. One day in September 1962 a building collapsed and Ashburner dug out two buried girls with his bare hands. He retired from the army in 1966.

Ashburner died on 10 July 1970 in Winchester, Hampshire.