Major Richard Arthur Rubinstein MC TD (29 August 1921 – 23 February 2005) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

officer who earned the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

and the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

for organising guerrilla resistance in France and Burma.

Personal life

Rubinstein was born in

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the son of Florris (Newport) and Arthur Bernard Rubinstein, who was from Birmingham. His father was born to a Jewish family and his mother

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( he, גיור, ''giyur'') is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. ...

. His father, a

milliner Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...

, sent him to Hampstead's

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_he ...

. Already in the Territorial Army from the age of 16, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers as the war broke out. In 1941 he was commissioned into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

as a

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular dir ...

officer. After converting from

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

to the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

, he married his wife Gay Garnsey, with whom he had been friends since their childhood, in 1943. Shortly after the wedding he volunteered for the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

, and began training in Peterborough before his first mission to France. Rubinstein was the grandfather of comedian

Jolyon Rubinstein Jolyon Rubinstein (born 22 April 1981) is a British actor, writer, producer and director. He is best known for writing and performing on '' The Revolution Will Be Televised'', a show on BBC Three, alongside Heydon Prowse. He acted in a popul ...

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Career

He led the

Jedburgh team that was parachuted safely, despite ground fire, into Brittany on the night of 6 August 1944, bearing five million francs for the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

. The following weeks were spent with the SAS and the Forces Français de L'Interieur helping to land gliders loaded with arms and hiding in an oyster farm between operations. The mission was a success, and resulted in most of the region being cleared of German forces by the end of the month. The Jeds returned to France on 15 September parachuting into eastern France close to the Swiss border, there to gather intelligence on enemy movements and to help repel the German troops. He was mentioned in dispatches, and awarded the

. In December 1944, he and two colleagues were parachuted into northern Burma to gather intelligence on Japanese supply lines and to stoke the resistance movement among the local Kachins, who were sympathetic to the Allied forces. Again it would be a successful mission, with the guerilla groups organised by Rubinstein taking a heavy toll on the enemy. He had similar success in an operation in April 100 miles to the east. The 200 guerilla fighters he raised carried out ambushes on Japanese troops and captured weaponry. After two months, he led his team south to

Toungoo Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ; also spelled Toungoo) is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east and west. The main industr ...

to join forces holding back the Japanese advance on

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. After the war, in which he reached the rank of Major, Rubinstein stayed in the Territorial Army, transferring to the Parachute Regiment in 1950.Sugarman, Martin
Richard “Ruby” Rubinstein'
jewishvirtuallibrary.org, Retrieved 17 November 2010

References

External links

Imperial War Museum Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubenstein, Dick Royal Artillery officers British Parachute Regiment officers British Special Operations Executive personnel British Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Military Cross 1921 births 2005 deaths People educated at University College School Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France)