Terence Airey
Sir Terence Airey | |
---|---|
Croix de guerre (France)[1] |
Family and education
Airey was the son of Sydney Airey.[1] He was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Airey was married on 1 November 1933 in Egypt to Constance Hedley,[1] who bore him a son named John Francis St George Airey. This marriage was dissolved in 1947, when he married secondly Bridget Georgiana Vesey,[1] a daughter of Colonel the Hon. Thomas Eustace Vesey and Lady Cecilia Kathleen Browne, daughter of the 5th Earl of Kenmare. Lady Airey died in 2006.
Military career
Before the Second World War
After passing out from Sandhurst, Airey received a commission in the Durham Light Infantry on 16 July 1919, over eight months after the First World War had ended.[2][3] He later went on to serve as a staff officer in the Sudan in 1929 and on the British Military Mission to the Egyptian Army.[3] Returning to England, he attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1935 to 1936.[4]
Second World War
Airey was still involved in military affairs at the outbreak of the
In June 1944, Airey was promoted
The three met the
Postwar service
After the war, Airey served for a year as Chief of Staff to Commander-in-Chief of Central Mediterranean Forces and was for a time Acting Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean Theatre.[3]
In 1947, he was appointed Commander and Military Governor of the Anglo-American Zone,
After his service at Trieste, Airey was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence, to General Dwight D. Eisenhower at Supreme Allied Headquarters.[3]
His last military appointment was as Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong from February 1952 to 1954.[3] He retired from military service in 1954,[3] and served as honorary Colonel of the Regiment of the Durham Light Infantry until 1956.
Retirement
In August 1956, he was appointed delegate-general of the European Foundation of Culture, which sought to revive the idea of Europe as a single cultural community.
Airey is known[
He lived in
References
- ^ a b c d e "British Army officer histories". Unit Histories. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ^ "No. 31305". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 August 1919. p. 10343.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
- ^ a b Smart 2005, p. 3.
- ^ Allen W. Dulles Papers - Princeton University Library Digital Initiatives Retrieved 2018-01-17.
Bibliography
- Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.