The regimentally fine and well documented Second World War North Africa 1st Army, Sicily and Italy Mention in Despatches and United States Bronze Star Medal, with post-war Malayan Emergency and Cyprus group awarded to Lieutenant Colonel K.D.H. Rowlette, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, sometime attached to the 2nd Battalion, London Irish Rifles, and Federation Army of Malaya. Rowlette was from Dublin, Ireland, and saw continuous service between July 1939 and April 1961 as a regular officer. He spent the early part of the war as an instructor with the Special Training Centre up at Lochailort in Inverness-shire, training the early Commandos, and then landed in North Africa as part of Operation Torch when in command of company of the 6th Inniskillings in November 1943. Having transferred to the 2nd London Irish Rifles in March 1943 as a company commander, his outposts were amongst the first to gain information of the impending surrender of German and Italian troops in Tunisia, and he then entered Tunis with the London Irish. He lately fought in Sicily and Italy with the London Irish in the 38th (Irish) Brigade, before being appointed to the position of a Staff Officer in December 1943, and latterly ended up the Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General to the 36th Infantry Brigade during the advance from Italy into Austria, including the fighting at Monte Grande, River Senio, the Argenta Gap and the River Po. He was twice decorated for this period, with a Mention in Despatches in May 1946, and a Bronze Star in May 1948. Rowlette went on to be with the 1st Inniskilling’s during the period of troubles caused by the partition of India and Pakistan when stationed at Lahore, and was with this battalion during the early period of the Malayan Emergency and the early period of the EOKA Emergency in Cyprus. He was also employed on attachment to the Federation of Malaya Army, and ultimately ended up working both in and then out of uniform for the Ministry of Defence.
Group of 8: 1939-1945 Star; Africa Star with 1st Army Clasp; Italy Star; Defence Medal; War Medal with Mention in Despatches Oakleaf; General Service Medal 1918-1962, GVI 2nd type bust, 2 Clasps: Malaya, Cyprus; (MAJOR. K.D.H. ROWLETTE. INNISKS.); United States of America: Bronze Star Medal; Malaysia: Active Service Medal (Pingat Khidmat Berbakti), mounted swing style as worn.
Condition: Good Very Fine.
Together with the following quantity of original documentation and ephemera:
The recipient’s personal Officer’s Record of Service, 5 pages, these being officially copied facsimile pages, now very hard to read as it has faded, and presumably acquired by the recipient at his own instigation whilst he was in service, or just after his retirement, the having been sent to him along with the only copy of the citation for his Bronze Star Medal.
United States of America Bronze Star Medal Citation, as issued by the Brigadier commanding the 36th Infantry Division, and sent to the commanding general of the 15th Army Group, written up on 14th July 1945 and forwarded the same day. 2 pages.
Ministry of Defence forwarding letter for the award of the Malaysian Active Service Medal, dated 8th March 1967.
University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate School Certificate Examination, issued to Rowlette, for his exams taken in December 1937.
University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate School Certificate Examination December 1937 Detailed Report, as sent to Rowlette when living in Hythe, Kent.
Letter from General Sir Richard W. Goodbody, GCB, KBE, DSO, ADC, as sent to Rowlette on his retirement and thanking him for his services whilst apologising that the end of his service has come sooner than expected. Dated 7th February 1963.
Letter from the Ministry of Defence thanking him for service as a Retired Officer with the Civil Service, dated 29th October 1984. Also eight other letters relating to his retirement
Letter to Rowlette from Lieutenant Colonel D.W.A. Swan, Army Air Corps, apologising for not making Rowlette’s leaving party from his work as a retired officer with the Ministry of Defence, this was owing to Swan being held up by a Ministerial Meeting at the Ministry of Defence, dated 1st November 1984.
Recipient’s set of miniature medals mounted swing style for wear, representative of his Second World War entitlement mounted together with a General Service Medal without clasps.
A typed up account of his involvement in Operation Torch during the landings in North Africa in November 1942. 6 pages, and written for an enquiry by The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Regimental Museum in August 2001. Together with correspondence concerning this.
A biography of his services believed written for his regiment.
Documents etc relating to the recipient’s father, Colonel L.M. Rowlette, D.S.O., M.C., R.A.M.C.
Mention in Despatches Award Certificate, issued to: Lieut.-Colonel (A/Colonel) L.M. Rowlette, D.S.O., M.C., Royal Army Medical Corps’, dated 24th June 1945.
Second World War Middle East Forces Certificated of Appreciation for outstandingly good service, issued to: ‘Col. L.M. Rowlette D.S.O., M.C., dated July 1944.
Newspaper cutting from 14th November 1917, with an image of Rowlette departing Buckingham Palace after having been awarded the Distinguished Service Order.
2 x photographs of Colonel L.M. Rowlette, D.S.O., M.C., R.A.M.C., one in uniform and wearing his medal ribbons, and another photograph of him with his children, presumably Kenneth Rowlette is one of the children.
Letter from Major General W.D. Hughes, C.B., C.B.E., Commandant and Director of Studies, Royal Army Medical Corps, as sent to Rowlette, and requesting that his fathers Great War medals to include the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross, be Headquarters Mess in order that the deeds of Lionel Rowlette can inspire the junior officers. This dated 28th July 1960, having been written shortly after his father’s funeral. Also a further letter from Hughes thanking Rowlette for the loan of some photographs of his father, dated 28th July 1960.
Kenneth Donald Haughton Rowlette, known as Mickey, was born on 25th October 1919 in Dublin, Ireland, the son of a decorated officer of the First World War, Colonel Lionel M. Rowlette, D.S.O., M.C., R.A.M.C. His parents were both Irish. Educated at Copthorne School in Sussex, followed by Sherborne School in Dorset, and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst from 1939 through into 1939, he was commissioned into the British Army on 3rd July 1939 as a 2nd Lieutenant (No.95610) with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and was posted to the 2nd Battalion at Catterick in July 1939. Shortly afterwards the Second World War broke out, and his battalion was posted to France, however Rowlette then found himself posted to the Depot.
Rowlette was shortly afterwards posted to the newly formed 6th Battalion over in Hollywood Barracks outside Belfast in Northern Ireland, where he remained until his battalion was posted to Bangor in Anglesey, and he was instead posted to Scotland with the rank of Acting Captain from 5th July 1940, he being posted for duty as an Instructor with the Special Training Centre at Lochailort in Inverness-shire, which was newly formed to give special training to the first Royal Marine Commandos under the guidance of Lord Lovat. The Commandant and Chief Instructor were both Inniskillings.
Rowlette held the rank of temporary Captain from 14th November 1941, whilst remaining on home service, and at the end of his posting to the Special Training Centre, was then posted back to the 6th Battalion, then located in Cumnock, Ayrshire, and earmarked for the landings in North Africa. As such Rowlette formed part of Operation Torch during November 1942, and landed as part of the 6th Battalion as a Company Commander, being part of the advance party of his battalion to come ashore, they being known as Rowlette Force for the duration of the landings. He would later supply and account of this time for his regimental museum, written some fifty years later. Rowlette served out there for the remainder of the campaign in North Africa as part of the 1st Army, eventually entering Tunis with the 2nd Battalion, The London Irish Rifles. It was one of his outposts which in fact received the first indication of the start of the surrender of the German and Italian forces in Tunisia.
He then fought in Sicily as part of the 38th (Irish) Brigade followed by the landing on the mainland of Italy, and he was continuously in the forward area until 14th September 1943, when he was appointed an Acting Major. Rowlette was then given a staff appointment with the Headquarters of the 78th Division, and was promoted to War Substantive Captain and to temporary Major on 14th December 1943 on taking up this post. He was then selected to attend the Staff College in Palestine in September 1944, and on completion of this two month course, then returned to Italy for service as the Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General to the 36th Infantry Brigade. He would remain in this position until after the campaign in Italy was over and the troops had advanced into Austria.
It was for these services that Rowlette was awarded the American award of the Bronze Star Medal, having been put up for it on 14th July 1945 by the 36th Infantry Brigade commander. The recommendation reads as follows: ‘Major Rowlette has served overseas continuously for over 2 1/2 years. In November 1942 he landed in North Africa as a Company Commander in the 6th Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, being transferred to the 2nd Bn London Irish Rifles in March 1943. He served in this battalion as a Company Commander in Sicily and Italy until December 1943. During this period of 13 months Major Rowlette was almost continuously in action and at all times led his company with distinction and great courage. In December 1943 he was attached to the Staff of H.Q. 78 Division where he served with distinction and was selected to attend a Staff College in the Middle East in September 1944. Having completed this course successfully he was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General of 36 infantry Brigade. As in his previous appointments Major Rowlette carried out his duties with great distinction and showed himself to be a courageous officer who never spared himself to ensure the efficient administration and welfare of the troops under his command. In particular in January 1945 at Monte Grande (Italy) when 36 Infantry Brigade was under command of 1 (British) Division in the Fifth Army Sector, there were four Battalions of Infantry and a Reconnaissance Regiment under command as well as supporting units. The conditions were appalling with deep snow and intense cold. The maintenance of more than half of the Brigade Group had to be carried out at night with mule transport under considerable enemy small arms, artillery and mortar fire. Major Rowlette organised this maintenance with great skill and spent many hours under fire at night with the forward units ensuring that their maintenance was completed satisfactorily. He showed outstanding skill and devotion to duty. Later on the River Senio (Italy) in February and March 1945 and again during the April offensive when the Brigade advanced from the River Senio to Austria, Major Rowlette continued to give extremely meritorious service under difficult and dangerous conditions. In particular between 18 and 23rd April 1945 during the advance through the Argenta Gap (Italy) to the River Po he showed outstanding powers of organisation and ensured the successful maintenance of the troops under command of the Brigade. He was often under artillery and mortar fire and had to work for many days with little or no rest. The fact that the Brigade advanced with such speed is proof of Major Rowlette’s excellent administration and organisation. His devotion to duty has been of the highest order.’
For his gallant an distinguished services in Italy, Rowlette was awarded a Mention in Despatches in the London Gazette for 25th May 1946, and his award of the American Bronze Star Medal was eventually published in the London Gazette for 14th May 1948.
In the meantime, after the campaign in Italy and Austria was over, the 78th Division was disbanded and he was posted out to India to join the 1st Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, with whom when stationed at Lahore, he was involved in the troubles resulting from the partition of Pakistan and India in 1947, and he then remained with the 1st Battalion during a tour out in the Far East, when station in Hong Kong and Singapore, and then participated in the Malayan Emergency, with his General Service Medal with clasp for Malaya being issued to him in October 1950.
Having returned to the United Kingdom, he was appointed Brigade Major to the 159th (Territorial Army) Brigade in Worcester, and then rejoined the 1st Battalion, which was the Demonstration Battalion at the School of Infantry in Warminster. Rowlette was already out in the Mediterranean when the EOKA Emergency broke out in Cyprus in April 1955 and he saw service there with the 1st Battalion until posted home in April 1956. After a period of time spent with his Regimental Depot, he was then posted on attachment to the Federation Army of Malaysia which was then being formed in readiness for the independence of Malaysia from the United Kingdom, and he saw service as a Major with the Federation Army from January 1958 onwards until posted home for duty with the Ministry of Defence in January 1960. For his services during the transition of Malaysia, he was eventually awarded the Malaysian Active Service Medal in March 1967.
Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 19th January 1961, his last posting was as Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Sub District in Bicester, and he was retired from service on 1st April 1961. He however then joined the Civil Service as a Retired Officer with the Ministry of Defence, working with the Staff Duties Branch and later in the Personnel Branch for the Army Air Corps. He retired from this work in October 1984. As of 2001 he was living in Hampstead, London.
