Stephen Shoosmith

Education

Shoosmith was educated at Blundell"s School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Career

He served as Principal Staff Officer to the Deputy Supreme Commander, Allied Powers in Europe, and, but for his early death, was expected to reach the highest positions in the service. He was commissioned in the Royal Artillery in 1920 and passed the Staff College in 1936. By the time the broke out, Shoosmith had served in India and Egypt, and in the autumn of 1939 he went to France as a brigade major with the 3rd Division.

He was assistant military secretary to the War Cabinet in 1941 and the following year he was given command of a field regiment He later served in North Africa, Italy, and Greece, and rose to command the 10th Infantry Brigade in 4 British Infantry Division.

He was awarded the Defence Science Organisation and Bar and was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

His next post was in Washington, District of Columbia, where he assumed command of the Army Staff of the British Joint Services Mission. There had been lack of consultation between the British and Americans over an implied threat to bomb Chinese bases in Manchuria, and the appointment was regarded as an assurance that a similar failure would not be repeated.

However, his presence ensured that British reactions would not be ignored through lack of representation. General Clark welcomed his arrival and recalled their happy association in Washington when he was Chief of the United States Army Field Forces.

In the summer of 1954 Shoosmith was relieved in of Korea by Major-General Hirsch and transferred in November to Supreme Allied Headquarters in Europe as principal staff officer to Field-Marshal Lord Montgomery, the Deputy Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Achievements

• After the war Shoosmith was in Germany for two years and then in 1949 became Chief of Staff, Associate of Arts Command in the United Kingdom. His experiences there served him in good stead when, in July 1952, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff to General Mark Clark, the United Nations Commander in of Korea. Shoosmith was made a Commander of the United States Legion of Merit in 1954.

Views

Shoosmith quickly gained the confidence of all the United Nations officers with whom he was associated, while putting the British Government’s point of view tactfully yet firmly.

Membership

He was not an agent of the British Government at General Clark’s headquarters but a senior member of the latter’s staff, the only one who was not an American.