Roll of Honour 2023

P AGE 186

W ORLD W AR II

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

Name JOHN VELLACOTT HARRISON (Capt)

Set / House F

Lef SES 1931

Roll Number 2357 Died 27:10:1942

Arrive SES 1928

Where EL ALAMEIN, EGYPT Serving with 4TH, ROYAL SUSSEX REGIMENT

Age 31

Buried El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt Remembered The St. Edward’s School WW2 Memorial

Born Durham 1914, He was a School Prefect, a member of the Rugby Football XV 1940, the Athletics team, the 2nd Cricket XI, a Sergeant in the OTC and in ‘Special’ Form. On leaving the School he worked for the African Life Assurance Society and played Rugby Football for Sussex 1938-9 (captaining the side in 1939). In 1940, like many others he joined an Officer Cadet Training Unit and the same year was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment. He was rapidly promoted and by 1942 was at the rank of Captain. Posted to the Desert Campaign he was reported ‘missing’ during the Second Battle for El Alamein at the beginning of November 1942. His body was not identified until much later so the actual date of death is an approximation.