Guy Prendergast (British Army officer)

Guy Lenox Prendergast DSO (c. 8 July 1905 - 6 October 1986) was an English Saharan explorer, and British Army soldier in World War 2. He was the Commanding Officer of the Long Range Desert Group from 1941 to 1943.[1]

Guy Lenox Prendergast
Guy Lenox Prendergast
Bornc. 1905
Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Died(1986-10-06)October 6, 1986 (aged 81)
Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Service/branch, British Army
RankBrigadier
UnitLong Range Desert Group
Special Air Service
Commands heldLong Range Desert Group
Battles/warsSecond World War
AwardsDistinguished Service Order

Early life

Guy Lenox Prendergast was one of a group of British Saharan explorers in the late 1920s and early 1930s, which included Ralph Alger Bagnold, Pat Clayton and Bill Kennedy Shaw, who had explored the desert before World War 2 and had gained much valuable experience in navigating its hostile terrain.[2] Prendergast learnt to fly as part of the Western Arab Corps in Sudan in the 1930s.[3]

Military career

After the outbreak of World War 2 Prendergast received a commission with the British Army's Royal Tank Regiment. Together with his explorer associates he was involved in the formation of the Long Range Desert Group (L.R.D.G.) under the command of Bagnold.[2] On 1 August 1941 Prendergast was promoted Lieutenant Colonel, and was appointed as the Commanding Officer of the L.R.D.G., which he led between November 1941 and October 1943.[4]

After commanding the L.R.D.G., he went on to be Deputy Commander of Raiding Forces, and later Deputy Commander of the Special Air Service Brigade in 1944–1945, and subsequently Commander of the Free French SAS Regiments, with the rank of Brigadier-General. For his wartime service he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in December 1942.[5] and the Czechoslovakian Order of the White Lion III Class.[6]

Death

He died on 6 October 1986 at the age of 81 years. His body was buried at Strathoich Cemetery, in Fort Augustus, Scotland.[7]

Notes
  1. 'The Long Range Desert Group in World War 2', by Gavin Mortimer (Pub. Osprey, 2017).
  2. Molinari 2007, p. 14
  3. Mortimer, Gavin (20 April 2017). The Long Range Desert Group in World War II. Osprey Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-1472819338.
  4. Molinari 2007, p. 19
  5. "No. 35697". The London Gazette. 8 September 1942. p. 3948.
  6. "No. 38122". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 November 1947. p. 5354.
  7. Entry for Prendergast's grave, Findagrave website (2019). https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146803328/guy-lenox-prendergast
gollark: Or, well, can be described quite simply.
gollark: The proof of the halting problem being impossible is pretty simple.
gollark: If you can "figure it out", a computer can do the same thing, except it can't.
gollark: No. Not for arbitrary TMs.
gollark: I made my laptop determine whether arbitrary Turing machines would halt and now I have attained 26 octillion bees and the solution to the Riemann hypothesis.

References
  • Molinari, Andrea (4 July 2007). Desert Raiders: Axis and Allied Special Forces 1940-43. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1846030062.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Military offices
Preceded by
Ralph Alger Bagnold		 Commander, Long Range Desert Group
November 1941 – October 1943		 Succeeded by
John Richard Easonsmith
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