Glyn Gilbert Major - General Glyn Charles Anglim Gilbert CB MC ( 1920 – 26 September 2003 ) was a 20th - century British military officer who saw active service during the Second World War . In 1970 he became the highest ranking Bermudian military officer when he was promoted to the rank of Major General in the British Army . Early life . Gilbert was born into a family with its roots in the 17th century settlement of Bermuda . His father , Major Charles Gray Gosling Gilbert , OBE , MC , was the long - time head of the Colony ' s education department ( 1924 – 56 ) ( the school of Gilbert Institute , in Paget , is named for him ) . Charles Gilbert , 1913 Bermuda Rhodes Scholar , had been studying at the University of Oxford , Brasenose College , in England when the Great War began . He left his studies and was commissioned into the Royal West Kent Regiment , before serving on the Western Front in the Machine Gun Corps . ( Other Bermudian students in Britain similarly left their studies for the Army , including 1916 Bermuda Rhodes Scholar at Oxford , Lennock de Graaf Godet , killed - in - action while serving in the Royal Flying Corps ) . During the Second World War , he was also in charge of cable censorship in Bermuda . Glyn Gilbert was born in England , where his father worked briefly after leaving the Army on the end of the Great War . Raised in Bermuda , he was sent to Eastbourne College in England . After finishing school the year before the start of the Second World War , and anticipating the coming conflict , Glyn Gilbert returned briefly to Bermuda before enrolling at the Royal Military College , Sandhurst . The 1939 class of officer cadets was hurried through its training , and Gilbert was commissioned into the Lincolnshire Regiment . Two contingents from the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps ( BVRC ) had served with the Lincolnshire Regiment on the Western Front , during the Great War . Since the 1920s , the affiliation between the two units had been given official sanction , with the Lincolns taking a paternal relationship to the BVRC , akin to that with its own Territorial battalions . The BVRC would send drafts to the Lincolns again , in 1940 , and 1944 . Service in Second World War . In 1944 , Major Gilbert , as Officer Commanding " C " Company , 2 Lincolns , was one of only two Bermudians to land on the beaches of Normandy . He later earned the immediate award of the Military Cross in the crossing of the Escaut Canal , part of a larger operation to cross the Rhine . He , and another Company Commander involved , was decorated with the medal by Field Marshal Montgomery , personally . As Gilbert put it , ' later that day [ of the crossing ] , the ribbon was pinned on while we were still in the field . The next day we were relieved by a contingent of Bermudians ' , which included his cousin , Lieutenant Ambrose Gosling . The Bermudians were part of a draft of Lincolns sent from England , under the command of Bermudian Major Anthony W . F . " Toby " Smith , who was killed in action shortly thereafter . Glyn ended the War in Northern Germany , where 2 Lincolns had taken part in the capture of Bremen . He was one of four Bermudians who served in the Lincolns during the War and who attained the rank of Major ( the others were Anthony Smith , Robert Brownlow - Tucker , and Patrick Purcell ) . Post - war service . After the War , Gilbert attached to the Third Battalion of the Parachute Regiment ( 3 Para ) , serving in Palestine . He moved through a number of subsequent positions , ultimately transferring wholly to the Parachute Regiment . In 1962 , Gilbert was appointed Regimental Colonel of the Parachute Regiment . In that position , he was responsible for a number of significant changes , including the introduction of a battle training course for NCOs at Brecon , which was eventually made mandatory throughout the Infantry , and the creation of the Red Devils parachute display team . Following this , he was promoted to Brigadier General , in command of the Territorial Army ’ s 44th Parachute Brigade . After attending the Imperial Defence College , Gilbert became Commandant of the School of Infantry , Warminister , in 1967 . While there , he hosted HM the Queen in his own home when she visited the school . He was promoted to Major - General in 1970 and appointed General Officer Commanding 3rd Division before he retired from the Army in 1974 . Gilbert was one of the umpires for the 1974 on Operation Sea Lion . Gilbert also played a pivotal role in the development of the Bermuda Regiment , the Bermudian territorial unit formed in 1965 by amalgamating the BVRC ( retitled the " Bermuda Rifles " ) with the Bermuda Militia Artillery . The Bermuda Regiment ' s original strength was about 400 , all ranks . Following discipline problems during an exercise in the West Indies , a report on the unit was commissioned from Major - General Gilbert , who also took into account the difficulties the Regiment subsequently experienced in meeting its obligations when embodied during the civil unrest of 1977 . He made a number of recommendations , including the increase of the Regiment ' s strength to a full battalion of about 750 , with three rifle companies and a support company . Private life . In 1943 , Gilbert married Heather Mary Jackson , and they had three sons and one daughter . In retirement , Gilbert continued to live at Heytesbury . A member of the Army and Navy Club , in " Who ' s Who " he stated his recreation as " following the sun " . His wife died in 2000 , and he himself died in 2003 , at the age of 83 .