Major Edward Thomas MC (15 April 1915 – 1999) was awarded a

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

in May 1941 for his actions at Halfaya Pass.

Early life

Edward Thomas went to school at

Emanuel School Emanuel School is an independent, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ra ...

in London, England, after which he became a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

. He joined the Territorial Army and became an officer in the

Norfolk Yeomanry The Norfolk Yeomanry was a volunteer cavalry (Yeomanry) regiment of Britain's Territorial Army accepted onto the establishment of the British Army in 1794. After seeing action in the Second Boer War, it served dismounted at Gallipoli, in Palest ...

World War II

In May 1941, Halfaya Pass ("Hellfire Pass"), Egypt was in British hands under a battalion of infantry and tanks. The Germans attacked on 26 May in great numbers, but the order to retreat was delayed. Thomas was ordered to the head of the pass with one gun and upon finding 260 Battery without officers he took command and arranged the evacuation of the wounded. He then encountered a further 100 men with no leaders from the

Royal Indian Army Service Corps The Indian Army Service Corps (IASC) is a corps and an arm of the Indian Army which handles its logistic support function. It is the oldest and the largest administrative service in the Indian Army. While the history of supply and transport serv ...

; he commandeered their trucks and drove the remaining survivors through a recently established German camp to safety. Upon reaching safety, he was summoned to appear before General Erskine. Thomas had not thought his actions to be out of the ordinary, and so he feared a Court Martial for an accidental misdemeanour. The award of his Military Cross was therefore a great surprise. He was later seconded to the

Sudan Defence Force The Sudan Defence Force (SDF) was a locally recruited British-led force formed in 1925 to assist the police in the event of civil unrest, and to maintain the borders of British administered Sudan. During the Second World War, it also served bey ...

and remained in the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

and

Abyssinia The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...

for the remainder of the war, rising to the temporary rank of Khamakam (Brigadier). His merit led to him administering large areas of

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

from

Kufra Kufra () is a basinBertarelli (1929), p. 514. and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of nineteenth century Kufra became the centre and holy place of the Senussi order. It also played a minor role in ...

Oasis, in which his fluency in Arabic came in useful.

Post war

As the war drew to a close he was asked to stay on by both

Emperor Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

and the King of Libya, but elected to return home to England and continue the development of the family property business which he did so successfully.

Later life

Thomas later became a popular joint master of the Hampshire Hunt and a keen rider. The onset of bronchitis at the age of 60 encouraged him to settle in Spain with his wife, Ruth. He died in 1999 in France.

Family

Thomas had two sons, David and Hugh Thomas, a former British olympian and now Badminton Horse Trials director and course designer.

References

*Obituary in The Daily Telegraph - 7/10/1999 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Edward 1915 births 1999 deaths People educated at Emanuel School British Army personnel of World War II British surveyors Sudan Defence Force officers Norfolk Yeomanry officers Recipients of the Military Cross