Field Marshall The Right Honourable The Viscount Slim KG, GCB, GCMG, GBE, DSO, MC KStJ was born 8 ...

Field Marshall The Right Honourable The Viscount Slim KG, GCB, GCMG, GBE, DSO, MC KStJ was born 8 May 1891 at Bishopston, United Kingdom (UK). Significantly for one who rose to the rank of Field Marshall, William Joseph Slim was not a graduate of the Sandhurst, UK military college but commenced his military service in 1914 as a temporary subaltern with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. During the First World War, he served with distinction, was wounded at Gallipoli and was awarded a Military Cross. By war’s end he had obtained a permanent commission with the Indian army. Between the first and second world wars, he remained with the Indian army as a staff officer. By 1938 he had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1941 he was promoted to major general. As commander of the Indian Division, he served with great distinction during the Second World War, in Abassynia, Syria-Lebanon, Iran and Burma. In particular, his 1945 Burma offensive, isolated the Japanese attacking forces and significantly contributed to the countrywide uprising and defeat of the Japanese army in Burma. Slim retired from the Army in late 1945 but was recalled by Prime Minister Clement Attlee in 1949 to become Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) with the rank of Field Marshall. On 8 May 1953, he was sworn in as Governor-General of Australia, a post he held until 2 February 1960 when he returned to England . He was raised to the peerage in 1960 and took the title Viscount Slim of Yarralumla and Bishopston. He died on 17 December 1970 at St Marylebone, London aged 79. Together with other British Field Marshalls dating back to the Duke of Wellington, Field Marshall Slim is commemorated by a plaque in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral, London.