Sir John Reginald Gorman

CVO CVO may refer to: Science and technology * Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington, US * Chief veterinary officer, the head of a veterinary authority * Circumventricular organs, positioned around the ventricular system of the brain * Co ...

, CBE, MC, DL (1 February 1923 – 26 May 2014) was an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician who served as a Deputy Speaker of the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

from 2000 to 2002, and was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for North Down from 1998 to 2003. He was a Catholic Unionist.

Early life

He was born at Mullaghmore House, Omagh in 1923 and educated at

Rockport School Rockport School is an independent day and boarding school for boys and girls from 2.5 years to 18 years in the British Public School tradition. It is situated in of woodland on the shore of Belfast Lough in Craigavad, near Holywood, County ...

in Holywood Co Down, Loreto Convent Grammar School (Omagh), Portora Royal School, Glasgow University and

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

World War II

When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, Gorman was attending the Imperial Service College in Windsor. He then attended Portora Royal School, before joining the British Army. Gorman 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 ...

into the Irish Guards on 5 December 1942. He was posted to the regiment's 2nd Battalion, which formed part of the

5th Guards Armoured Brigade The 5th Guards Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade of the British Army, a component unit of the Guards Armoured Division, that served in the Second World War in North-west Europe from June 1944 until May 1945. History This brigade was con ...

of Major General

Allan Adair Major General Sir Allan Henry Shafto Adair, 6th Baronet, (3 November 1897 – 4 August 1988) was a senior officer of the British Army who served in both World wars; as a company commander in the Grenadier Guards in the First World War, and as ...

's Guards Armoured Division, which, in late June 1944, landed in Normandy as part of

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

, a few weeks after D-Day landings. King Tiger rammed

On 18 July 1944, while taking part in Operation Goodwood, he was commanding a group of M4 Sherman tanks east of Cagny that suddenly encountered a mixed group of four German tanks at a range of only . The group included one of the formidable Tiger II heavy tanks. As he knew his Sherman's gun would have little effect on the Tiger's thick armour, Gorman ordered his driver to ram the German tank. Gorman's gunner had time to fire one round before impact, but the shell was an explosive one, not armour piercing, and had little effect. Both tanks were disabled by the collision and both crews immediately abandoned their vehicles. The last to leave the Sherman was the assistant driver, whose exit was slowed by his hatch being blocked. Once clear of the tank, he followed a group of men who were running for a nearby ditch, only to discover after joining them that they were the German tank crew. They glared at him, so he simply saluted and ran off to join his own crew. While his crew took shelter, Gorman ran to fetch a Sherman Firefly, a Sherman fitted with the powerful, British 17-pounder anti-tank gun. One of the Firefly's four crew had been decapitated and two others were in shock, but Gorman was able to remove the body and take command of the tank. With the Firefly, he was able to complete the destruction of both the Tiger II and his disabled Sherman. He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions, while his driver, Lance-Corporal James Baron, was awarded the Military Medal. Gorman was promoted to the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. However, this account is contested by the German tank's gunner, ''Gefreiter'' Thaysen, who said that his commander ordered to back up, hitting the Sherman with its rear. Thaysen's testimony also contradicts Gorman finishing off the Tiger II with a Sherman Firefly and capturing the German crew. Later in the war, Gorman took part in

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allies of World War II, Allied military operation during the World War II, Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a Salient (military), salient into G ...

, the unsuccessful attempt to break through German lines in the Netherlands and advance into Northern Germany. The Irish Guards were a leading part of the ground part of the operation and Gorman's tanks reached the bridge at

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

before the operation was called off.

Post-war career

After the war, Gorman left the army and joined the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

. He was the district inspector for Antrim until 1955, when he became district inspector for

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

. This was during the Irish Republican Army's Border Campaign. With the approval of John D'Alton, the Archbishop of Armagh, Gorman uncovered an IRA bomb factory hidden in

St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh There are two St Patrick's Cathedrals in Armagh, Northern Ireland: * St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland), the Anglican cathedral (and the Catholic cathedral prior to the Protestant Reformation) * St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Roma ...

. He was also responsible for liaising with MI5 and MI6. He left the police in the early 1960s to become head of security for the British Overseas Airways Corporation. He later became head of personnel, then manager of the airline's operations in Canada, and then manager for South Asia. He left the airline in 1979 and returned to Northern Ireland.

Political career

After an assorted career, during which he was for a time Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, he was elected to the

Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue The Northern Ireland Forum for Political Dialogue was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The forum was elected, with five members being elected for each Westmin ...

in 1996 as a ''top-up candidate'' from the Ulster Unionist Party list. He served as Chairman of the Forum from 1996 to 1998. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

he was elected to the

for North Down and served as a Deputy Speaker of the Assembly. He resigned as Deputy Speaker in February 2002.

Honours

He was knighted in the Birthday Honours of 1998 and was a Deputy

Lord Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

(DL) of

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. In 2007 Sir John was awarded the Croix de Guerre (France) for actions during World War II."Gorman set to retire from Assembly"
, bbc.co.uk, 17 September 2002; accessed 23 October 2014.

References

External links

Death marked of Sir John Gorman
niassembly.gov.uk; accessed 23 October 2014.

ulster-scots.co.uk; accessed 23 October 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorman, John 1923 births 2014 deaths Military personnel from County Tyrone British Army personnel of World War II Catholic Unionists Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Deputy Lieutenants of Down Irish Guards officers Knights Bachelor Members of the Northern Ireland Forum Northern Ireland MLAs 1998–2003 People educated at Portora Royal School People educated at Rockport School People from Omagh Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Ulster Constabulary officers Ulster Unionist Party MLAs Alumni of the University of Glasgow Harvard Business School alumni British expatriates in the United States