Early Life and Career
The son of the Reverend T. M. Rees, he passed out from the Officer Cadet College, Quetta and was commissioned into the British Indian Army in November 1915 and was promoted to lieutenant in October 1916.
During World War I he was awarded the DSO and MC and was mentioned in dispatches. The citation for his DSO, published in the London Gazette on 29 July 1919 reads:
For conspicuous gallantry throughout the day on September 19th, 1918, during the attack on the Turkish position about Tabsor, and especially after passing through the last objective into open country. Collecting various details of four different units up to a total of about 80 men, he organised them into parties, charged in face of strong opposition, and took two trenches, capturing about 50 prisoners and two field guns. Subsequently, when mounted on a captured pony, he saw a third field gun escaping, whereupon he galloped after it and, single-handed, captured the gun and team complete. He set a magnificent example to all units by his initiative and utter disregard of danger.The citation for his MC, published in the London Gazette on 24 September 1918 reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in charge of a patrol. He pushed on with half his patrol, and charged a line of enemy rifle-pits in face of considerable bombing, springing into a rifle-pit himself and shooting one of the enemy, after which he pursued the remainder for a short time with his patrol.Between the two World Wars he spent much of his time serving on the North West Frontier of India, being mentioned in dispatches three more times. He served a term as private secretary to the Governor of Burma for which he was appointed Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the 1931 New Year's honours list. In December 1937 was made brevet lieutenant-colonel for "distinguished services rendered in the field in connection with the operations in Waziristan, during the period 25th November, 1936, to i6th January, 1937".
Read more about this topic: Thomas Wynford Rees
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