Brigadier David Stileman OBE, who died on June 24, aged 87, was commissioned during World War II and enjoyed an exotic military career before working in the House of Lords.
David Madryll Stileman was born on April 9 1924 in Wimbledon, the son of Arthur Stileman, a naval commander. He was educated at Wellington College in Berkshire, where his speed and size was used to good effect on the rugby field. On leaving Wellington in 1942, he joined the army and was commissioned in the Rifle Brigade the following year.
Normandy
He saw action in Normandy in 1944 and, as part of the 11th Armoured Division, was in the vanguard of Operation Goodwood, the breakout by the British and Canadian forces from the bridgehead established by the D-Day landings. In the heat of the battle, his colonel, wanting to find out whether the village of Hubert-Folie was occupied by enemy forces, ordered Lt. Stileman to lead a patrol through the main street of the village in a half-track. If he failed to appear, it would be assumed the village was occupied; if he emerged unscathed, the chances were it wasn’t. It transpired later that the village was groaning with Germans, yet, for some reason, his carrier patrol was not attacked. He was even more fortunate two weeks later when he survived being shot between the eyes by a German sniper. The bullet somehow managed to miss his jugular vein and exited via his neck, taking a chunk of jaw with it. Eight operations later he rejoined his unit. For his gallantry during the Normandy campaign, Stileman was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit for Poland. In subsequent years Stileman returned frequently to Normandy as an instructor, becoming known to generations of officers who went on battlefield tours while attending the Staff College, as well as becoming firm friends with his war-time enemy, Colonel Hans von Luck.
