Lieutenant-Colonel George Hewetson
8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion

During this period, a glider crashed on his command post, killing the officer beside him, and wounding others. Lieutenant-Colonel Hewetson was himself very badly shaken, but he flatly refused medical aid until not only the securing of the dropping zone but also the capture of his Bn’s next objective had been completed.

(D.S.O. citation, 21 June 1945)

Born on 27 December 1910 in Ireby, Cumberland, George Hewetson was a rugby player, school headmaster and a Territorial Army Officer. He took a commission with the 5th Battalion, Border Regiment in 1938 and mobilized in 1940, serving as adjutant in the Battle of France. In 1943, he volunteered for the paratroops.

He served with the 6th Airborne Division during the Normandy campaign and succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel Jock Pearson of the 8th Parachute Battalion in late 1944. Hewetson led the battalion back to the continent when the division returned during the Ardennes offensive in early 1945. He earned the D.S.O. for the Rhine crossing in March:

This officer established his headquarters in a wood commanding the dropping zone. The whole area was under continuous and very heavy shelling and mortar fire. Lt. Col. Hewetson, however showed the most resolute refusal to be deterred from his task. With utter disregard for his own safety, he walked freely about the dropping zone, encouraging his own men in the winkling out of a number of enemy strongpoints, and directing the men of other units to their appointed rendezvous.

Although Hewetson had been concussed when his glider crashed and taken to a field dressing station: “… after a short rest he overrode all protests and insisted on returning to his bn. He arrived in time to undertake the capture of the important village of Lembeck. Opposition here was provided by a [Panzer Grenadier] Tgn Unit, and was bitter. Lt. Col. Hewetson himself led his bn attack, which he pressed home with such irresistible vigour that the objective was taken with very heavy enemy losses in killed and prisoners.”

In 1946, Hewetson commanded the 8th Battalion in Palestine, for which he was awarded the Order of the British Empire. He remained in the postwar regular army, commanding a battalion in the Malayan Emergence and a brigade during the Suez Crisis. He retired in 1960 and returned to teaching.

 He died on 18 August 1988 in Keswick, Cumberland.