Page "William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw" Paragraph 2

The battalion second-in-command was killed when his tank was hit in front of Whitelaw's eyes and Whitelaw succeeded to this position, holding it, with the rank of Major, throughout the advance through the Netherlands into Germany and until the end of the war.

He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions at Caumont ; a photograph of Field-Marshal Bernard Montgomery pinning the medal to his chest appears in his memoirs.

After the end of the war in Europe, Whitelaw's unit was to have taken part in the invasion of Japan but the Pacific War ended before this.

Instead he was posted to Palestine, before leaving the army in 1946 to take care of the family estates of Gartshore and Woodhall in Lanarkshire, which he inherited on the death of his grandfather.