209475 Lt.Col. Edward Hedley Body MC.British Army 5th Battalion East Kent Regiment from:Wittersham Court, Wittersham,Kent Lt Col Edward Body, who has died aged 81, was awarded an MC in 1944 while serving in Italy with the 5th Battalion The Buffs during Operation Diadem, General Alexander's advance on Rome.
On May 19 Body, then a captain commanding "Y" Company, was in his battalion's attack on Aquino when the company was pinned down by machine-guns and snipers whose positions proved impossible to locate.
Although he knew that the enemy was less than 100 yards away, Body continually moved about in the grass trying to observe them. Eventually he was hit in the shoulder by machine-gun bullets. Barely conscious, he continued to command his company and to send wireless messages back to Battalion Headquarters until another officer arrived to relieve him.
Eventually the order was given to withdraw. Two men were detailed to carry Body, who told them to leave him. When they refused and started to lift him, he pushed them away and, so as not to be a burden to them, staggered off unassisted. Throughout the withdrawal, which was carried out under heavy mortar and machine-gun fire, Body continued to shout orders at his men, and showed them the way to safety.
In the words of the citation: "Throughout the whole operation, Captain Body was a continual source of inspiration to all the officers and men in his Company, and set a magnificent example."
Edward Hedley Body was born at Middlesbrough on May 24 1920 and educated at Tonbridge. Intending to emulate his father and become a doctor, he then went up to Brasenose, Oxford, to study Medicine. At the outbreak of war, Body discovered that, as a medical student, he was exempted from conscription; anxious to enlist, he made a point of attending only lectures unconnected with his subject until eventually he was expelled.
He was then called up and joined The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), with which he had family connections. On gaining his commission he joined the 5th Battalion, part of 78th Division, and took part in the North African landings and the Tunisian campaign.
Body was wounded in the leg during the invasion of Sicily and evacuated to Malta. Impatient to rejoin his battalion, he discharged himself from hospital and made his way to Italy. On his arrival at his battalion the adjutant greeted him with the words: "Hello, Edward. We wondered when you would turn up. We've just had you posted as a deserter."
During the 78th Division's march on Cassino, Body was posted at a fork in the road to show the way. It was pouring with rain so he huddled under an umbrella - a sight which soon had the passing troops singing Any Umbrellas. The positive effect of this on morale was such that the adjutant ordered him to carry the umbrella at all times in future. Together with an old blanket which Body draped over his shoulders, this later served as a useful disguise during scouting expeditions around Monte Cassino.
After the action at Aquino, Body was evacuated to England. He was refused permission to rejoin his regiment on the ground that he was not fully fit and posted to the carrier Colossus as Army Liaison Officer, with responsibility for teaching Fleet Air Arm pilots to recognise Army positions. While Colossus was berthed in Alexandria on its way to the Far East, Body learned that a film of Antony and Cleopatra was being made in the desert.
As a training exercise, he instructed his pilots to try to find the film's location. Some time later they returned, having "beat them up at zero feet", sending actors, crew and the Egyptian Camel Corps fleeing in all directions. Fortunately for Body, Colossus sailed the next day, leaving the RAF to take the blame for this event.
Body celebrated the end of the war in Sydney and then spent some time running a camp for former civilian PoWs in Shanghai before returning to England. He re-entered Brasenose but, having inherited the family farm on the deaths of his two brothers (both killed while serving with the RAF), he now studied Agriculture.
In 1948, he took a job as a land agent on a large estate in Cheshire. To gain more practical experience, he then spent a year as a tractor driver and farmhand in Dumfriesshire before buying a small dairy farm in Kent.
After seven years there, a back injury meant that he could no longer work his farm; so he went to Kenya where he ran another large estate for 18 months before joining the Kenya Agricultural Department. After a period as a lecturer in central Nyanza he went to Thika as Sisal Officer, later becoming Colony Potato Officer. Shortly afterwards he was transferred to Kisumu, in Nyanza, to help with the handover to African administration.
After returning once more to Britain in 1965, Body went to live in Wales. Apart from two years in Sarawak as principal of an agricultural college, he remained there for the rest of his life. From 1974 until his retirement in 1989, he ran a bookshop in Brecon.
Edward Body had a fine mind and a cheerful scepticism about conventional wisdom. Quiet and thoughtful, with a gentlemanly disposition, he won the respect and affection of all who knew him. He married, in 1948, Barbro Ygberg, a Swede whom he had met in Alexandria. She survives him together with their four daughters.
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