Notes
Richard John Michael Harrison was born in Cornwall on 6 September 1924, the elder son of Major General Desmond Harrison DSO and Kathleen (née Hazley). He was educated at Rugby School from 1938 to 1943, where he served as a cadet officer in the Officer Training Corps, and was appointed Head of House.
Richard Harrison won a Classical Exhibition to Worcester College, Oxford, for October 1943 but did not take his place, joining the army instead. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards on 14 May 1944 and was posted to the 4th (Armoured) Battalion of his regiment, which he joined in the field on 17 October 1944.
On 1 March 1945 the 4th Battalion Coldstream Guards began an attack on the German village of Kervenheim in Rhineland. Lieutenant Richard Harrison’s tank led the attack across an improvised bridge over the Muhlen Sleuth to the south east of Kervenheim but as they reached Weykermanshof he was shot and killed by a sniper. He was 20 years old.
Richard Harrison is buried at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in Germany and is commemorated on the war memorials at Rugby School and Worcester College, Oxford.