Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 176

W ORLD W AR II

S T . E DWARD ’ S S CHOOL , O XFORD R OLL OF H ONOUR

Name ROWLAND MERCER GRADWELL (Sec Lt)

Lef SES 1934

Roll Number 2568 Died 15:06:1944

Set / House F

Arrive SES 1930

Where IMPHAL, BURMA Serving with 1ST, YORKSHIRE & LANCASTER REG

Age 29

Buried Imphal War Cemetery, Burma Remembered Ribble Valley Memorial Shield and the St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial

Born in Clitheroe, Lancashire 1916. ‘Though he left young, he was a boy of notably strong character of the type which shows qualities of leadership early’ (Chronicle). After school he was an engineer/draughtsman then later a managing director of a carpet company. When war broke out he enlisted in the Yorkshire & Lancashire Regiment, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, later attached to the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own). Posted to Burma, his regiment was involved in the intense fighting against overwhelming Japanese odds at Imphal. He died under withering machine-gun fire and his body recovered much later.