Claud Raymond

Despite three wounds he led his men into the enemy defences.

Claud Raymond was born on 2 October 1923 at Mottistone on the Isle of Wight. He was the younger son of Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Claud Raymond and Margaret Lilias Nancy Raymond, and his family later had strong ties with Seaford, Sussex. During the Second World War, Raymond entered the British Army and received a commission in the Corps of Royal Engineers. By 1945 he was serving as a Lieutenant and, during operations in Burma, was attached to D Force of the Intelligence Corps.

On 21 March 1945, the patrol landed on the south bank of the Thinganet Chaung and moved several miles inland toward Talaku. As the men crossed exposed ground near the village, they suddenly came under heavy fire from a strongly entrenched Japanese force positioned on a jungle-covered hill. Rather than remain under cover, Raymond immediately moved toward the enemy position and led his section into the attack.

While climbing the hill, Raymond was struck in the right shoulder. Despite the wound, he continued advancing and firing his rifle. Only a short distance farther on, a Japanese grenade exploded close to his face and inflicted severe additional injuries. He fell but almost immediately regained his feet and continued leading his men forward under intense enemy fire.

During the same assault he was wounded for a third time when his wrist was shattered. Even after suffering three serious wounds and losing a dangerous amount of blood, Raymond refused to stop. He continued into the Japanese defensive position and played a major role in breaking the resistance there. Two enemy soldiers were killed and another wounded during the close fighting, while the remaining defenders abandoned the position and withdrew into the jungle.

Several other members of the patrol had also been wounded. Although Raymond’s own injuries were eventually fatal, he refused treatment until the other casualties had been attended to. He also insisted on attempting to walk back toward the landing craft because he feared that carrying him would slow the patrol and expose the men to a Japanese counterattack. He managed to walk for nearly a mile before finally collapsing and allowing himself to be placed on an improvised stretcher.

Raymond died from his wounds on 22 March 1945, the day after the Talaku action. He was only 21 years old. His courage, endurance and refusal to put his own survival ahead of his men resulted in the posthumous award of the Victoria Cross, the highest British and Commonwealth decoration for gallantry in the face of the enemy.

Raymond was buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery in Myanmar. His memory also remained closely connected with Seaford, where a road was later named in his honour. His story became one of the most striking examples of Royal Engineers gallantry during the Burma campaign, because his defining action was not a single moment of courage but a sustained refusal to withdraw despite wounds that would ultimately take his life.

Victoria Cross citation

In Burma, on the afternoon of 21st March, 1945, Lieutenant Raymond was second-in-charge of a small patrol, which was acting in conjunction with a larger detachment of a special force, whose objective was to obtain information and create a diversion in the area of Taungup, by attacking and destroying isolated enemy posts some 40 miles in advance of an Indian Infantry Brigade, pushing down the road from Letpan to Taungup. The patrol was landed on the south bank of the Thinganet Chaung, an area known to be held by numerous enemy strong points and gun positions, and marched about five miles inland. As they were nearing the village of Talaku and moving across an open stretch of ground, they were heavily fired on from the slopes of a jungle covered hill by a strongly entrenched enemy detachment. Lieutenant Raymond immediately charged in the direction of the fire. As he began to climb the hill he was wounded in the right shoulder, but he ignored this wound and continued up the slope firing his rifle from the hip. He had advanced only a few yards further, when a Japanese threw a grenade which burst in his face and most severely wounded him. He fell, but almost immediately picked himself up again, and, in spite of loss of blood from his wounds, which later were to prove fatal, he still continued on, leading his section under intense fire. He was hit yet a third time, his wrist being shattered by what appeared to have been an explosive bullet. In spite of this third wound, he never wavered, but carried on into the enemy position itself and, in the sharp action that followed, was largely responsible for the killing of two Japanese and the wounding of a third. The remaining Japanese then fled in panic into the jungle, thus leaving the position in our hands, together with much equipment. The position itself was strongly fortified by foxholes and small bunkers and would have proved extremely formidable had not the attack been pressed home with great determination under the courageous leadership of Lieutenant Raymond. Several other men were wounded during the action and Lieutenant Raymond refused all treatment until they had been attended to, insisting despite the gravity of his injuries, on walking back towards the landing craft in case the delay in treating his wounds and carrying him should endanger the withdrawal of the patrol. It was not until he had walked nearly a mile that he collapsed and had to allow himself to be carried on an improvised stretcher. Even then he was continually encouraging the other wounded by giving the thumbs up sign and thus undoubtedly helping them to keep cheerful and minimise the extent of their injuries until the landing craft was reached. Soon after he died of his wounds. The outstanding gallantry, remarkable endurance and fortitude of Lieutenant Raymond, which refused to allow him to collapse, although mortally wounded, was an inspiration to everyone and a major factor in the capture of the strong point. His self-sacrifice in refusing attention to his wounds undoubtedly saved the patrol, by allowing it to withdraw in time before the Japanese could bring up fresh forces from neighbouring positions for a counter attack.