Henry ‘Harry’ Rawlins, who served with The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, has died at the age of 98, just days after the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The WWII veteran passed away at The Royal Hospital in Chelsea on June 10 with his niece, Angela, and her husband, Andrew, at his bedside.
Born in 1925, Harry joined the army at the age of 18 and was posted to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps.
At Operation Market Garden his unit was part of the 8th Armoured Brigade that advanced through France, Belgium and into the Netherlands.
They halted briefly at Nijmegen and watched the drop of the Polish paratroopers.
After Harry was hurt in Arnhem, his officer stopped to chat with him about his injury.
A German sniper took aim and shot the officer in front of a baffled Harry – who always felt guilty that this kind gesture should have resulted in his own death rather than the officer’s.
Alongside his unit, Harry played a key role in liberating Nazi-occupied Holland in 1944.
As a result of his heroic actions, Harry was presented with the ‘Thank You Liberators’ medal in 2022 – a sincere token of gratitude towards the veterans who served in the Netherlands during WWII and helped to liberate the country.
The Chelsea pensioner made the short journey from The Royal Hospital to the Netherlands Embassy in South Kensington and met Ambassador Karel van Oosterom who presented him with the medal.
Navy Captain Gerrit Nijenhuis, Defence and Naval Attaché of the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, said: ‘Harry is a very modest, gentle and humble man and it is hard to imagine what he and his mates went through and I can only imagine the hardship and suffering those on the ground endured during the war.’
Harry was also awarded the Belgium Croix de Guerre with Palm and received the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest order of merit, in 2015.
Later he was delighted to meet the King of the Belgian’s at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in 2023.
Although his health was fleeting, Harry was an important part of the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans – an organisation run by black taxi drivers in London.
The charity, which received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2021, enables thousands of veterans from all conflicts to embark on trips to participate in acts of commemoration.
Harry was a regular on the charity’s annual trips to the Netherlands to mark Dutch Liberation in May as well as for the Operation Market Garden commemorations in September.
Ian Parsons, a London cab driver and Taxi Charity for Military Veterans volunteer, said, ‘Harry was an extremely intelligent man who spoke with authority on a wide range of subjects.
‘A voracious reader, Harry was self-taught, having absorbed the information from many hundreds of books he’d read over the years.’
Parsons continued: ‘Conversations with him were both fascinating and illuminating, from knowledge he had accumulated over a lifetime.
‘Military history was undoubtedly his specialist subject.
‘I was always amazed by his ability to simply look at a fellow veterans’ row of medals and then be able to tell you where they fought.’
Military-minded Harry also enjoyed visits to Worthing in the summer and attending the Christmas party in December.
Speaking of his friend, London cab driver and Taxi Charity for Military Veterans volunteer Dave Hemstead said: ‘The many trips we made together were always a joy and never a chore.
‘My last visit to you in the Royal Hospital Chelsea was a short time before you left us for your “final RV” in a different place.
‘Harry, you were a gentleman, and thank you for being my friend. Swift and Bold.’
Harry’s love for the Taxi Charity was reciprocated, as seen in a poem he penned.
Harry wrote: ‘It was well worth being shot at to join this happy band. The taxi driver’s charity, the finest in the land.
‘It’s for military veterans who’ve come back from the wars. They’d been fighting overseas to keep them from our shores.
‘Now some of these veterans are getting old and frail. But with their berets and their medals they still can tell their tale.
‘They are taken to old battlefields to remember former friends. There they pause and reflect on how suddenly life ends.
‘With rollators, Zimmer frames and walking sticks they go. A taxi driver’s guiding hand to regulate the flow.
‘So, here’s to the taxi drivers and all their helpers too. It’s almost a tradition, and it’s all thanks to you.’