Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Freeland
7th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
1/5th Battalion, Queen’s Royal Regiment

The petrol bomb is a lethal weapon … anybody who manufactures, carries, or throws a petrol bomb is liable to most terribly tough punishment. They are liable to be shot dead in the street if, after warning, they persist. So, if you could get that across to any potential … bomb throwers, I would be grateful.

(Freeland interview, 6 Apr 1970)

Born on 14 September 1912 in Milton, Hampshire, Ian Henry Freeland was commissioned into the Norfolk Regiment after completing RMC, Sandhurst in 1932. Following service in India, he became adjutant for the 1st Battalion in 1940 shortly before it returned to the United Kingdom. He was brigade major for the 7th Infantry Brigade in 1942 and posted to the War Office in 1943. In April 1944, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in command of the 7th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment.

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