John “Jock” Easton

Guardsman · #3054349 · T Patrol · MID

What this roll records

The Mention in Despatches recorded above can be dated. His name and service number appear in a War Office honours list in the London Gazette, Supplement 35209, p. 3887, of 4 July 1941, in the Infantry section: “Easton, No. 3054349 Gdsmn. J.” He had been dead five months by then, having died in the desert after Gebel Sherif on 1 February 1941. The heading naming the award itself was not legible in the search return, so this is recorded as his name and number in a War Office honours list of that date, consistent with the Mention already held. Source: The London Gazette.

ROLL OF HONOUR: died on active service with the LRDG (Scots Guards) per W.B. Kennedy Shaw, "Long Range Desert Group" appendices. Appendix 2.

Honours added from LRDG Honours & Awards list (Middle East 1940–43): MID. Source: W.B. Kennedy-Shaw, “Long Range Desert Group” (original honours & awards list, comp. D. Buxton).

North Africa — 1 Feb 1941, Jebel Sherif: died. Posted missing 1 Feb 1941 but not taken prisoner; died (story well known). Source: TRACKS magazine (LRDG Association), Ian Chard, 'Not all were lucky — LRDG missing in North Africa', June 2023.

One of the Guardsmen who, with Trooper Moore and the fitter Tighe, escaped on foot from Gebel Sherif (Jan–Feb 1941); wounded in the throat, he dropped behind on the eighth day and, though found alive by the French, died that evening. Source: ‘Long Range Desert Group in Libya, 1940–41’, Episodes & Studies Vol. 1 (NZ official war history).

HIS MENTION IN DESPATCHES, DATED. London Gazette, 4 July 1941, Supplement 35209, page 3887: “S. G'ds. Easton, No. 3054349 Gdsmn. J.” That supplement is the Mentioned in Despatches list for the Middle East covering December 1940 to February 1941 — the Long Range Patrol’s first operations, Murzuk and Kufra — its preamble on page 3885. He was a GUARDSMAN of the SCOTS GUARDS, and the date places his Mention in the Group’s very first operations. Source: The London Gazette.

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• Missing info added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.
• AKA added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll (missing information).
• Murzuk Raid roll (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy)

In collaboration withThe Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) Preservation SocietyTo add information about this man, or note a correction, please post in the Society’s Facebook Group →

This page is part of the Long Range Desert Group roll of members at lrdgarchive.org. If you hold rights to anything on it and would like it credited differently, or taken down, please see Sources and Copyright. It will be dealt with promptly.

Not By Strength But By Guile