Major John Edgar Grahame Vivian MC and Bar (28 October 1919 – 10 July 2015) was a British Army officer who won the

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

in Burma in 1944 and again in Malaya in 1956. He later served as an officer in the army of the

Sultan of Oman The sultan of the Sultanate of Oman () is the monarchical head of state and head of government of Oman. It is the most powerful position in the country. The sultans of Oman are members of the Al Bu Said dynasty, which has been the ruling fami ...

.Major Grahame Vivian - obituary.
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'', 27 July 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.

Early life

John Edgar Grahame Vivian was born in

Camborne Camborne (from Cornish language, Cornish ''Cambron'', "crooked hill") is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth, C ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

on 28 October 1919. His father managed mining companies and the family moved to

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

and

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

to take up work there. He went to school at

Repton Repton is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, located on the edge of the River Trent floodplain, about north of Swadlincote. The population taken at the 2001 census was 2,707, increasing to 2 ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

and would go on to attend

Camborne School of Mines Camborne School of Mines (), commonly abbreviated to CSM, was founded in 1888. Its research and teaching is related to the understanding and management of the Earth's natural processes, resources and the environment. It has undergraduate, postg ...

. However, the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

curtailed his studies at the mining school.

Military service

Second World War

Vivian entered the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry but was disappointed to be posted close to home. After volunteering for service with the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

, in December 1942 he joined the 4th battalion of the

8th Gurkha Rifles The 8th Gorkha Rifles is a Gorkha regiment of the Indian Army. It was raised in 1824 as part of the British East India Company and later transferred to the British Indian Army after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The regiment served in World War I ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. His battalion deployed to

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

and to

Arakan Arakan ( or ; , ), formerly anglicised as Aracan, is the historical geographical name for the northeastern coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, covering present-day Bangladesh and Myanmar. The region was called "Arakan" for centuries. It is ...

area of Burma towards the end of 1943.

Military Cross Action

On 9 January 1944 Vivian was ordered to infiltrate Dhobi Hill which intelligence suggested was lightly defended. However, when Vivian closed on the position he found it to be defended by the

Japanese Army The , , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service branches. New military guidelines, announced in December 2010, direct t ...

in strength. In spite of the enemy strength being greater than anticipated Vivian decided to attack. Once battle had been joined Vivian was knocked over by a

mortar shell A mortar today is usually a simple, lightweight, man-portable, muzzle-loaded cannon, consisting of a smooth-bore (although some models use a rifled barrel) metal tube fixed to a base plate (to spread out the recoil) with a lightweight bipod m ...

and received wounds to his chest, stomach and arm. He refused medical treatment and ordered his men to dig in and hold their position in the face of strengthening Japanese resistance. Vivian continued to arrange the defence of the position until he was overcome by his wounds. Two of his men improvised a stretcher from their rifles and carried Vivian for three days back to the regimental base. His actions saw him awarded the Military Cross, the citation for which read -

Treatment and Recovery

After the battle Vivian was sent to military hospitals in Ranchi and Poona before being evacuated in 1945 to Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. In Exeter he underwent several operations, especially on his right hand. For the rest of his life a piece of shrapnel remained in his shoulder and another in his throat (the removal of which was thought too dangerous). Vivian was finally able to leave hospital in February 1946 when he rejoined the Gurkha Rifles at

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

Malaya

After transferring to the 2nd Ghorkhas in 1947, Vivian served in Malaya and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

before returning in 1956 to Malaya. There he commanded troops in anti-bandit operations in the

Kuala Pilah District The Kuala Pilah District () is a district in central Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Its seat is the town of Kuala Pilah. Kuala Pilah District borders Jelebu District to the north, Jempol District to the east, Tampin District to the southwest a ...

Negri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan''), historically spelled as Negri Sembilan, is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in ...

Operation Googly

Vivian accompanied a police officer on 28 September 1956 to one of three meetings with a terrorist informant as part of Operation Googly. These meetings yielded intelligence of a meeting between high ranking terrorists. On 2 October, Vivian lead an assault which saw the capture of four leading terrorists.

Second Military Cross

On 6 October Vivian lead a second assault. Along with two police officers he waited within 60 yards of a terrorist camp for eight hours before making a 40 minute march in darkness to get into position for their attack. The terrorists opened fire with shotguns and automatic weapons but Vivian and the police officers silenced them with two terrorists killed. This actions lead to Vivian being awarded a bar to his Military Cross. The citation for the award stated -

Post Army Life

Civilian Work

Vivian retired from the army in 1959, going to work for

English China Clays English China Clays PLC, or ECC, was a mining company involved in the extraction of china clay, based in St Austell, Cornwall. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but in 1999 was acquired by Imetal. History English China Clays was i ...

in Cornwall. From there he moved to the

Sultanate of Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

to become an officer in the Sultan’s Armed Forces.

Sultanate of Oman

In Oman, Vivian served as Deputy Commander of the Oman Gendarmerie up to 1965 and Commander Coastal Patrol till 1966. A political appointment followed in 1973 as Djebel Liaison Officer where he reported to Sayyid Fahr bin Taimur Al Said, based at Saiq in the Djebel Al Akhdar mountains. He was known as Abu Primus (Father Primus Stove) as his temper could flare up as quickly as a

Primus Stove The Primus stove was the first pressurized-burner kerosene (paraffin) stove, developed in 1892 by Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist, a factory mechanic in Stockholm. The stove was based on the design of the hand-held blowtorch; Lindqvist's patent covered ...

. Vivian retired in 1985 and was awarded the Sultan’s Distinguished Service Medal.

Return to Britain

After leaving Oman, Vivian returned to Cornwall where he cared for his wife, who died in 1987. He lived for the next nine years Vivian lived at the family home in

Lostwithiel Lostwithiel (; ) is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 census. The Lostwi ...

before remarrying and settling in

Golant Golant () is a village in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is on the west bank of the River Fowey and in the civil parish of St Sampson. Golant is about north of Fowey and east of St Austell. Golant church is dedicated to St ...

. Vivian was a member of the Regimental Association and contributor to the

Gurkha Welfare Trust The Gurkha Welfare Trust is a British charity (Reg. Charity No. 1103669) established in 1969. It is the principal UK charity for the provision of aid to Gurkha ex-servicemen and their dependants in their homeland of Nepal, and increasingly in ...

. Vivian died at Golant in Cornwall on 10 July 2015.

Personal life

He learned languages and spoke

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Gurkhali Nepali (; , ), or ''Gorkhali'' is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official and most widely spoken Languages of Nepal, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a ''lingua fr ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

fluently. Vivian first married Gwen Caswell, to whom he had been engaged for six years, in 1945. Gwen predeceased him 1987 and he remarried in 1996 to Lorna Kirby. He had two sons and a daughter from his first marriage and three step daughters from his second.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vivian, Grahame 1919 births 2015 deaths Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War II British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency People from Camborne Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry officers People educated at Repton School Omani military personnel Royal Gurkha Rifles officers Indian Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from Cornwall