Joe Vandeleur

{{Short description|British army officer (1903–1988)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = Brigadier |name= Joe Vandeleur |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DSO*}} |image= Brigadier Joe Vandeleur.jpg |image_size= |alt= |caption= Brigadier Joe Vandeleur during World War II |nickname= |birth_date= 14 November 1903 |birth_place= Nowshera, British Raj (now Pakistan) |death_date= {{death date and age|df=yes|1988|8|4|1903|11|14}} |death_place= Maidenhead, Berkshire, England |burial_place= Brookwood Cemetery |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= British Army |service_years= 1924–1951 |rank= Brigadier |service_number= 28140 |unit= Irish Guards |commands= 3rd Battalion, Irish Guards<br>129th Infantry Brigade<br>32nd Guards Brigade |battles= World War II |awards=Distinguished Service Order and Bar |relations= |other_work= }}

'''John Ormsby Evelyn Vandeleur''', DSO and Bar (14 November 1903 – 4 August 1988), usually known as '''Joe Vandeleur''' from his initials,<ref>Biography, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''</ref> was an Anglo-Irish British Army officer who served in the Second World War.

==Early life== Born in Nowshera in British India (now Pakistan), Vandeleur was the son of Colonel Crofton Bury Vandeleur and Evelyn O'Leary. His family was originally from Kilrush, County Clare, where they were the local landlords.<ref name=unit>{{cite web |title=Vandeleur, John Ormsby Evelyn 'Joe' |url=http://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_V01.html#Vandeleur_JOE |website=unithistories.com |access-date=4 February 2020}}</ref>

==Military career== [[File:Vandeleur Grave Brookwood Cemetery 2019.jpg|thumb|right|Vandeleur's grave in Brookwood Cemetery in 2019]] Vandeleur was commissioned into the Irish Guards as a second lieutenant in 1924, serving in Sudan and Egypt before the war.<ref name=unit/>

As commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, Irish Guards,<ref name=unit/> he led the breakout of XXX Corps during Operation Market Garden. His second cousin Lieutenant-Colonel Giles Vandeleur (their grandfathers were brothers) was acting commanding officer of the 2nd Armoured Battalion, Irish Guards.<ref name="Record">{{cite web |title=Vandeleur, Giles Alexander Meysey |url=http://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_V01.html#Vandeleur_ |website=unithistories.com |access-date=4 February 2020}}</ref> He went on to command the 129th Infantry Brigade and 32nd Guards Brigade.<ref name=unit/> He retired from the Army in 1951.<ref name=unit/>

==After military service== Vandeleur acted as a military consultant to the production of the 1977 feature film ''A Bridge Too Far''. Michael Caine played Vandeleur and Michael Byrne played Giles Vandeleur.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Bridge Too Far |url=https://www.allmovie.com/work/7107 |website=AllMovie.com}}</ref>

His memoirs ''A Soldier's Story'' were privately printed by Gale & Polden in 1967.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Soldier's Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9sIIAQAAMAAJ |via=Google Books| last1=Vandeleur | first1=J. O. E. | year=1967 }}</ref>

==Later life and death== He married Felicity Bury-Barry, who died in 1948.<ref name=clare>{{cite web |title=Brigadier John Ormsby Evelyn (JOE) Vandeleur |url=http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/Clare_Emergency_Where_From.pdf |publisher=Clare County Library |access-date=21 May 2020}}</ref> He later married Norah Christie-Miller (who was a Vandeleur cousin on her mother's side).<ref name=clare/>

After the war, Vandeleur resided in a manor house in Pinkneys Green, near Maidenhead in Berkshire.<ref name=clare/>

He died in Maidenhead in 1988 and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery.<ref name=unit/> His grave is marked by a simple headstone inscribed only "J.O.E. V. 1903 – 1988" and underneath "Once an Irish Guardsman".<ref name=clare/>

==See also== *Joe's Bridge, the nickname given to Bridge No.9 on the Maas–Scheldt Canal in the Belgian city of Lommel just south of the Belgian–Dutch border.

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography== *{{cite book |last=Doherty |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Doherty |title=Ireland's Generals in the Second World War |publisher=Four Courts Press |year=2004 |isbn=9781851828654}}

==External links== *[https://generals.dk/general/Vandeleur/John_Ormsby_Evelyn/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II] *[http://www.irish-guards.co.uk/neerpelt.htm Irish Guards site] *[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/83/a4544183.shtml WW2 – A Peoples War] <BR>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vandeleur, Joe}} Category:Irish Guards officers Category:British Army brigadiers of World War II Category:1903 births Category:1988 deaths Category:People from Nowshera District Category:Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Category:Sudan Defence Force officers Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:Military personnel of British India