Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : Captain

Army Number : 109504

Unit : 1/5th, 1st Bn

Biography :

Educated at Chiswick Grammar School, Raymond Savage joined The Artists' Rifles in 1937 as a cadet (it being an Officer Producing Unit (the other two units in the OP Group were the HAC and the Inns of Court Regiment)). He was commissioned into The Leicestershire Regiment on 17.12.1939. He served as a Platoon Commander in A Company 1/5th Bn in Norway in April 1940, and avoided capture by escaping on skis to Sweden, where he was interned for 6 months. He was repatriated to England in late 1940 via the port of Petsamo in Finland. Promoted Lieutenant on 17.1.1941, he served at the Infantry Training Centre, Brentwood Road, Leicester, including as MTO, and in late 1941 joined 1st Bn in Malaya as a Platoon Commander. He took part in the fighting against the Japanese invasion, being attached to HQ 15th Inf Bde as Brigade Liaison Officer. On arrival in Singapore he took over as Staff Captain in Bde HQ. He was taken Prisoner of War at Singapore on its surrender in Feb 1942, and incarcerated in Changi Jail before being taken north in cattle trucks to build the Thai-Burma railway. He was released from POW camp in the Far East in 1945, and after a few weeks at Budbrook Barracks, Warwick, he was discharged in August 1946. He was awarded the three British war medals and the Pacific Star. He did not serve in any part of the Armed Forces after the war, but was belatedly awarded the Territorial Efficiency Medal on 21.2.1978. While working for Kraft Foods he was involved in corporate hospitality; one of boxes at Cheltenham Racecourse was nicknamed the 'Raymond Savage Box'. From St Alban's, in 2004 he went to live in Devon. As a result of Norwegian research, in 2016 it was established that he was "the last man standing" from the British Army's involvement in the defence of Norway in April 1940. In recognition of that, in June 2017 he was awarded by the Norwegian Chief of Defence a diploma and medallion recognising his contribution there in 1940.

Date of Birth : 2.12.1919

Place of Birth : Ealing, London

Date of Death : 5.1.2022

Place of Death : Sidmouth, Devon

Civil Occupation : National Provincial Bank; Kraft Foods

Period of Service : 1937-46

Conflicts : WW2

Places Served : UK, Norway, Sweden, Malaya, Singapore, Thailand