Lieutenant-Colonel G.P. Rickcord
1st Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles

Never have I felt so happy about anything—it is just a wonderful adventure which at one time I though would never turn up for me. Everyone is in terrific form … We are extremely confident and could not feel better. All I want to do is to enjoy and foresee our successes—I am sure they will be—with interest and happiness and for heavens sake don’t worry. I shall be home to tell you all about it and this is something really worthwhile.

(Letter to Mother, 5 June 1944, https://paradata.org.uk/content/4639702-lieutenant-colonel-gerald-rickcord)

Born on 10 July 1913 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, Gerald Percival Rickcord was commissioned into the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1934 after education at Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He served in Hong Kong and India and was aide-de-camp to the governor of Ceylon in 1937. During the early phase of the Second World War, he was adjutant for the 10th Battalion, Royal East Kent Regiment and commanded an anti-aircraft battery during the Blitz.

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