Captain Robert James HOLDEN (172305) MC
1st Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Date of birth: 3rd July 1919
Date of death: 18th September 1945

Killed on active service aged 26
Buried at Horsmonsden (St Margaret) Churchyard
He was born at Norbury on the 3rd of July 1919, the son of Everard Osborne Holden OKS, bank director, and Josephine Agnes (nee Paice) of Alexandria, Egypt; Jerusalem, Palestine; and of The Mill House, Horsmonsden in Kent.

He was educated at the Junior King's School from January 1930 and at the King's School Canterbury from September 1933 to July 1938, where he was in School House. He was a King's Scholar, a House Monitor and served as Hon Secretary of the Cantuarian and of the Pater Society. He was a School Monitor, gained his 2nd XI colours for hockey and his 2nd XV colours for rugby. He was a Warrant Officer in the Officer Training Corps. He went on to Christ Church Oxford.

Soon after the outbreak of war he joined the Royal Sussex Regiment as a Private but he was sent for Officer Training at the 164th Officer Training Unit on completion of which he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on the 15th of February 1941 and was posted to the 1st Battalion of his regiment. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 15th of August 1942.

At the beginning of June 1944 the 1st Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was based at Faversham prior to embarking for Normandy. On the 17th of June 1944 Robert Holden left the camp at 7.30pm in command of the battalion track party and travelled by rail to the marshalling area, the London Docks. They were joined by the battalion vehicles on the 20th of June and the battalion set sail on the 23rd of June, landing in Normandy the following day. The battalion's first major engagement was during the fighting for Caen where they were charged with the capture of Cahier and a nearby mill.


For his part in the action Robert Holden was awarded the Military Cross which was announced in the London Gazette on the 19th of October 1944. The recommendation for the award read: -

"Soon after dawn on 16 Jul 1944, during Operation “Villa” in the area of Cahier 9062, Captain Holden was sent forward with a carrier to reach C Coy’s HQ which had become partially isolated. He reached this Coy just as an enemy counterattack was launched. He found the Coy Commander to be wounded and incapacitated and immediately took command. He withdrew the Coy from an exposed position successfully and in doing so was wounded in the elbow. The situation being critical, he refused to have his wound attended and moving to D Coy’s HQ slightly to a flank, took over their wireless set and though under heavy enemy mortar fire personally directed the fire of the mortars which effectively checked the enemy’s counterattack. He then took command of D Coy and was preparing to lead counterattack when he was ordered to stand fast. He then had his wound dressed, walked back to Bn HQ where he gave a calm, detailed and lucid account of the situation which was instrumental in the launching of the final and successful counterattack to restore the position SE of Cahier. This officer seems to be exhilarated by danger and his behaviour on this occasion, his first operation under fire, was beyond all praise.”

After recovering from his wounds, which left him with a slight disability in his left arm, he returned as an instructor to the 164th Infantry Officers Cadet Training Unit. He was promoted to temporary Captain on the 27th of March 1945.

On the 18th of September 1945, whilst loading explosive charges on to a truck at Barmouth, North Wales, there was a sudden explosion which killed him instantly.

His father wrote:-

"He lost his life in one of those unhappy accidents for which there is no apparent explanation. He had finished his morning operations and was loading unused explosive charges, of a type requiring to be detonated electrically, into a truck when there was a sudden explosion and he was killed instantaneously. Mercifully he could have known nothing whatever about it."

His Commanding Officer wrote:-

"When Bob arrived here he was posted, owing to his medical category, to a very minor appointment. But within a few days it was obvious his talents were entirely wasted there, and I made him assistant to the Chief Instructor, where his chief responsibility was the creation of new methods of instruction. At this he was an outstanding success. His quick imaginative brain produced an endless flow of really original ideas and his popularity with the officer instructors, who had enormous confidence in him, made it easy to put these ideas into practice. The officer cadets loved him. His magnificent war record, of course, attracted them, but what really endeared him to them was that they could look up to him as the ideal officer--the kind of officer each one of them hoped to be."

The Chief Instructor wrote:-

"He made a great success of his time here. The nature of the work gave him full scope for the exercise of his vivid imagination and original, fresh outlook. The qualities which made him so successful in the army would, I feel sure, have carried him to great heights eventually in civilian life. In addition his social gifts and great sense of humour made him a most popular and valued member of the Mess. it is especially tragic, therefore, that having survived the war, he should go in this way....I am only expressing the views of every member of the Instruction Staff when I say that we have all lost a most valued and delightful friend as well as a very brilliant colleague."

He is commemorated on the war memorial at Horsmonsden and on the memorial at Christ Church Oxford.

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