Mark Pilkington

Captain · #76537 · R1 Patrol · Military Cross (MC)

What this roll records

A Military Cross recommendation in the collection names Captain Mark L. Pilkington (Household Cavalry, attached G(R) East Africa Command) for conspicuous gallantry in Ethiopia, April–27 November 1941 — leading Ethiopian irregulars (the “Uollo Banda”) in raids around Debra Tabor and the final assault on Gondar; Military Cross awarded. Confirmed as the same officer and corroborated by an LRDG remembrance cross ("Capt A. Pilkington MC, LRDG"); the MC has been added to his honours.

Patrol R1 (attached): "Capt. M. Pilkington of the Arab Legion" - observer with R1 Patrol, killed in the CR.42 attack. Brendan O'Carroll, "The Long Range Desert Group in North Africa".

Killed in action 17 Nov 1942 at Wadi Tamet, Tripolitania — air attack by Italian CR.42 fighters during Capt L.H. Browne's R1 Patrol operation; buried with L/Cpl N. O'Malley in a single grave on the western side of the wadi. Source: LRDG Operation Report No. 49 (Brendan O'Carroll).

Checked (2026): The London Gazette holds no wartime notice under service number 76537 — the only return is a 1935 list of bare numbers. His Military Cross is unaffected: it rests on the WO 373 recommendation quoted on this card, which names him and describes the Gondar action. Recorded so the search is not repeated.

See him in the full roll → 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