David Jamieson ( VC ) Major David Auldjo Jamieson VC , CVO ( 1 October 1920 – 15 May 2001 ) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross , the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces . Background . David Auldjo Jamieson was born in Westminster , on 1 October 1920 , the elder son of Sir Archibald Auldjo Jamieson ( KBE MC ) , Chairman of Vickers Armstrong . He attended Ladycross School , Seaford , East Sussex and Eton College . In his youth he spent time at the family holiday retreat in Norfolk . He was a volunteer in the Territorial Army unit at Dersingham for the 5th Battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment , which he joined in May 1939 . He transferred to the 7th Battalion and was subsequently commissioned as a Second Lieutenant despite a lack of experience . He was considered too young for overseas service and did not initially go with the Regiment in the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) when it went to France in 1940 but followed later . When the majority of the battalion was captured in August 1940 during the Fall of France he was at Rouen and was able to return to Britain . The battalion was reformed in 1941 and he was promoted to company commander . VC action . Jamieson was 23 years old , and a Captain in the Royal Norfolk Regiment , British Army during the Second World War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC . On 7 / 8 August 1944 , south of Grimbosq , Normandy , France , Jamieson was in command of a company which established a bridgehead over the River Orne . The enemy made seven counter - attacks on the company ' s position , but throughout 36 hours of bitter and close fighting Captain Jamieson ' s company didn ' t give up . The attacks included assaults with Tiger and Panther tank s which shot up the Norfolks ' tanks . Jamieson at one point mounted a British tank to talk to the commander under enemy fire . He dismissed it as anything heroic saying that he had to as the telephone didn ' t work - tanks were equipped with an external handset so that the commander could talk to an infantry commander without opening the hatch . The image of him riding a Churchill tank while enemy tanks attacked was immortalised in a painting . The citation for Captain David Jamieson in the " London Gazette " of 26 October 1944 ends Post - war life . Following the war , he worked for the Australian Agricultural Company , which ran several sheep and cattle stations ; he became a director in 1949 and was Governor from 1951 - 75 . He was also director of other companies including National Westminster Bank . In 1948 he married Nancy Elwes , who died in a car accident in 1963 . He remarried , to Joanna Windsor - Clive , in 1969 . He was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1979 . Death . He died on 5 May 2001 in Burnham Market , Norfolk , and was interred in the churchyard in Burnham Norton . He was survived by his widow , his son Andrew Jamieson , and two daughters of his first marriage , three grandchildren and by a stepson and stepdaughter . Height . Due to his height , 6 ft 5 , he was designated the ceremonial umbrella man to Queen Elizabeth , the Queen Mother , carrying an umbrella over her at social functions . The medal . David Jamieson ' s Victoria Cross is displayed in the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum , Shirehall , Norwich , Norfolk .