page_title: James Oliver Ewart
section_title: Service career
hierarchical_section_title: James Oliver Ewart / Service career
caption_attribution_description: English: Field Marshal Montgomery receives German General-Admiral Von Friedeburg and other members of the surrender delegation at 21st Army Group Headquarters near Lüneburg, 3 May 1945. Deutsch: Der englische Feldmarschall Montgomery empfängt am 3. Mai 1945 den deutschen Generaladmiral von Friedeburg im Hauptquartier der 21. Armee Gruppe bei Lüneburg wegen Waffenstillstandsverhandlungen. (Das Lager befand sich am Timeloberg bei Wendisch Evern).
context_page_description: James Oliver Ewart was a British Army Intelligence Officer who because of his language skills would be posted to a number of staff officer posts in Allied headquarters in Western Europe. He spent most of his active service career in the Mediterranean and European theatres of operation during the Second World War.
context_section_description: Ewart was initially commissioned into the 7th/9th (Highlanders) Battalion Royal Scots (a mobilised Territorial infantry unit) on 13 January 1940; his service number was 113332. However, prior to his battalion's embarkation for France in June 1940 he was transferred to the War Office's Directorate of Military Intelligence. He would later transfer to the Intelligence Corps on 19 July 1940. He would finish his service as the second most senior intelligence staff officer in Field Marshal Montgomery's 21st Army Group during the liberation of Europe; and he would be one of the key staff at the surrender of German forces to Montgomery on 4 May 1945 on Lüneburg Heath. He was even captured on film standing next to his commander, as "Monty" reads out the terms of German surrender to an Allied film crew.
  His qualities as a staff officer during sensitive negotiations were recognised by his commander and he was awarded the CBE on 21 June 1945, having earlier been awarded the OBE for his service in Sicily.
  Sadly he died on duty of injuries he received in a road traffic accident on 1 July 1945, near the town of Melle, Germany. He was buried at the Munster Heath War Cemetery, Kreis Warendorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. He was survived by his wife (Margaret Armstrong Ewart) and his parents.
caption: Field Marshal Montgomery speaking with a delegation of senior German officers at his Tac HQ on 4 May 1945. Colonel Joe Ewart is translating for his commander.
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