Charles Henry Pepys Harington General Sir Charles Henry Pepys Harington , GCB , CBE , DSO , MC ( 1910 – 13 February 2007 ) was an officer in the British Army . He served in the British Expeditionary Force and in Normandy in the Second World War . He was later Commander - in - Chief of the three - service Middle East Command from 1963 to 1965 , based at Aden . He ended his Army career as Chief of Personnel and Logistics at the UK Ministry of Defence from 1968 to 1971 . Early life and career . Harington was born in Tunbridge Wells , into a military family . He was related to General Sir Charles Harington Harington , the commander in Constantinople in 1922 during the Chanak crisis . His father , Lieutenant - Colonel Herbert Hastings Harington , an officer in the Indian Army , was killed in Mesopotamia in 1916 , and Harington and his two sisters were raised by their widowed mother . He was educated at Malvern College and Sandhurst . He was commissioned into the 22nd ( Cheshire ) Regiment in 1930 . He excelled at athletics , holding the Army record for the 440 yard hurdles and competing for the Army against the other services . He was captain of the 2nd Battalion ' s athletics team , winning the Army Inter - Unit Team Athletic Championship in 1937 , 1938 and 1939 . He was the adjutant of the 2nd Battalion from 1936 to 1939 . Second World War . He joined the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium in 1939 and 1940 , commanding a machinegun company of the 2nd Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment in the 1st Infantry Division . During the retreat from the River Dyle in the face of the German blitzkrieg in May 1940 , his company formed part of the division ' s rearguard , supporting the 13th / 18th Royal Hussars and 21st Anti - Tank Regiment of the Royal Artillery . He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions , and was evacuated from Dunkirk . He spent most of the Second World War on staff appointments , and married Victoire Marion Williams - Freeman in 1942 . Promoted to lieutenant colonel , he took command of the 1st Battalion , Manchester Regiment , in March 1944 . The unit was poorly trained and virtually unfit for duty , but Harington quickly brought it to full combat readiness . The battalion fought well in Normandy after D - Day , and Harington was awarded the DSO . Post - war service . Harington was rapidly promoted after the war . He was General Staff Officer Grade 1 at the headquarters of the 53rd ( Welsh ) Division , then served as an instructor at the Staff College in Camberley for two years , before joining the British Military Mission in Greece during the Greek Civil War . He commanded the 1st Battalion , Parachute Regiment from 1949 to 1951 . He then served as military assistant to two Chief of the Imperial General Staff , Field Marshal Viscount Slim and General Sir John Harding , before spending time at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in France . Promoted to Brigadier , he commanded the 49th Infantry Brigade in Kenya in 1955 and 1956 , during the Mau Mau Uprising . He was appointed CBE in 1957 , and was commandant of the School of Infantry in Warminster in 1958 . He was promoted to Major General , and took command of the 3rd Division in 1959 . He then became commandant of the Staff College , Camberley in 1961 . He succeeded Major General Tom Brodie as Colonel of the Cheshire Regiment in January 1962 , remaining the regiment ' s Colonel until 1968 . Aden . Promoted to lieutenant general , he was appointed Commander - in - Chief of the three - service Middle East Command in May 1963 , with responsibility for an area extending from the Persian Gulf to East Africa . In January 1964 , he had to deal with mutinous battalions in newly independent Kenya , Tanganyika and Uganda , formerly part of the King ' s African Rifles . He was knighted in 1964 . He then had to deal with insurgency of Haushabi and Radfan tribes in the Western Aden Protectorate on the road between Aden and Dhala . The deployment of British forces bolstered support for the Front for the Liberation of South Yemen , triggering a campaign of violence in Aden itself . Sir Arthur Charles , the Speaker of the nascent National Council , was murdered outside his house in Crater in September 1965 . Direct British rule was reimposed when the President of the Council , Abdull al - Qawi Mecca - wi , refused to condemn the killing . The subsequent counterinsurgency operations failed : the Aden Police were infiltrated , and officers in the local Special Branch were killed . In 1966 , the British government , led by Harold Wilson , decided to withdraw British forces from Aden and the Protectorates by 1968 , by which time Harington had returned to the UK . Late career . Harington returned from Aden in 1966 to take up the position of Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff . He was promoted to general in 1968 , and became Chief of Personnel and Logistics at the UK Ministry of Defence . He was appointed GCB in 1969 , and was an Aide - de - camp to the H . M . the Queen from 1969 to 1971 . He retired from the Army in 1971 . In retirement , Harington was president of the Combined Cadet Force Association from 1971 to 1980 and also from 1972 to 1980 chairman of the Governors of the Royal Star and Garter Home , Richmond , for disabled ex - servicemen . He was a vice - president of Battersea Dogs ' Home and from 1966 to 1999 president of the Milocarian ( Tri - Service ) Athletic Club . He also enjoyed sailing , and was president of the Hurlingham Club for over twenty - five years . Harington ' s wife died in 2000 , and he himself in 2007 , to be survived by a son and two daughters .