Lieutenant-Colonel F.W.A. Butterworth
2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment

During the operation, his personal leadership was of a very high order and his presence on the battlefield at places where he was most … was an inspiration to all ranks. His personal attention to detail in the planning period and his drive, determination, and leadership during battle were responsible for the Bn seizing four important objectives almost entirely within the time laid down by Bde HQ.

(D.S.O. recommendation, 20 Sep 1944)

Born on 18 November 1906 in Headingley, Yorkshire, Francis Wyndham Arthur Butterworth was commissioned in the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own) in 1925 after attending Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1936, he joined the Sudan Defence Force and served as second-in-command of the Equatorial Corps during the first phase of the Second World War. For his administrative and security work in Sudan, he awarded with Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1942.

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