General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir Robert Napier Hubert Campbell (Bobbie) Bray (14 June 1908 – 14 August 1983) was a British

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

, deputy Supreme Commander Europe of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

's Allied Command Europe from 1967 to 1970.

Education

Bray was educated at

St Ronan's School Saint Ronan's School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for boys and girls from 3 to 13 years located in Hawkhurst in Kent, England. It currently has about 440 pupils, the majority of them day pupils, although boarding is ava ...

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

, followed by

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

, Holt, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

Career

Bray was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment on 2 February 1928.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He served in North West Europe and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

being promoted to temporary

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

on 19 October 1942. He became a Brigadier on the General Staff at the

British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Both formations had areas of responsibility located ...

in 1950 and then Director of Land-Air Warfare and

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Standardization at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in December 1954. Promoted to major-general on 29 October 1955, he became General Officer Commanding 56th (London) Armoured Division in April 1957. He then became GOC British Land Forces in the Arabian Peninsula in 1959 and GOC

Middle East Land Forces Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

in 1960. He was promoted to lieutenant-general on 27 February 1961 and served as GOC-in-C at Southern Command from August 1961 to September 1963. He was promoted to full

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

on 25 February 1965. He was the colonel-in-chief of the

Duke of Wellington's Regiment The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, forming part of the King's Division. In 1702, Colonel George Hastings, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, was authorised to raise a new regiment, which he di ...

from 1965 to 1975. He served as Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe between November 1963 and February 1967 and as Deputy Supreme Commander Europe at

's Allied Command between May 1967 and December 1970, succeeding Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Thomas Pike. He retired on 9 March 1971.

Honours

*1944 –

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

for gallant and distinguished services in Normandy *1945 – Bar to

for gallant and distinguished services in north west Europe *1952 –

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

*1956 – Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) *1962 – Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) *1966 – Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) *Colonel of the

, October 1965 to July 1975 *

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

North West Frontier 1935 *

20 December 1940

Notes

References

Bibliography

*''I Will Plant Me a Tree'' by Steve Benson and Martin Crossley Evans (James & James, London, 2002)

External links

Military Career of RNHC Bray at ordersofbattle.comThe Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding)
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, Robert 1908 births 1983 deaths British Army generals British Army brigadiers of World War II Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Duke of Wellington's Regiment officers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire NATO military personnel People educated at Gresham's School People from Worthing Military personnel of British India