Major-General John Carpenter - Telegraph Major-General John Carpenter, who has died aged 88, was Transport Officer-in-Chief (Army) from 1971 to 1973 and Director of Movements (Army) from the latter year until 1975; to these appointments he brought an exceptionally wide professional experience. Victor Harry John Carpenter was born at Exeter on June 21 1921 and educated mainly at Army and local schools. After Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and, when the Second World War broke out, went to France with 522 Company RASC, part of 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. His platoon supplied the infantry and divisional artillery with ammunition, but when the Germans, who had air superiority, cut the rail lines of communication, Carpenter and his men were reduced to scavenging for ammunition; sometimes this involved unloading one end of a train while the other end was on fire and exploding. In the early hours of May 31 1940, during the retreat to Dunkirk, he led his platoon on foot to the beach at Bray Dunes. There was not a ship in sight, but he waded out, grabbed an abandoned lifeboat and crammed his men in. They were machine-gunned by enemy aircraft but managed to get aboard a small Dutch coaster with only a few casualties and returned to England. In May 1941 Carpenter embarked for Suez and, a year later – after a spell in Cyprus, Palestine and Iraq – he was promoted to captain and second-in-command of 524 Company RASC and joined the Eighth Army on the Gazala Line, south of Tobruk. During the Battle of Mareth, as Brigade RASC Officer, he received an urgent message to get hold of three-inch mortar ammunition. He obtained two three-ton vehicle loads and led them through the gaps in a minefield to Brigade HQ. The HQ was being subjected to desultory shelling, and he found the staff dug in and with their heads well down; the brigadier (who held a VC) and his brigade major were in a slit trench. "John, what the hell have you got in those trucks?" demanded the brigadier. Carpenter told him. "Well, get them away from here and look sharp about it,"came the reply. Nobody volunteered to help unload the trucks, and Carpenter and his drivers did the job by themselves under shellfire. Aged 22, in the rank of acting major, he took part in the invasion of Sicily as adjutant of the Divisional RASC. On D-Day, in Normandy, he commanded 508 Company RASC and, subsequently, 522 Company RASC. He stayed in command of this unit in a general transport role until February 1945, and was mentioned in despatches. In the final phase of the campaign in north-west Europe he served as deputy assistant director supplies and transport at HQ 30 Corps. An appointment as second-in-command of the Divisional RASC was followed by a move to Palestine. After Staff College, he served in Korea as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General British Commonwealth Forces. In 1955, after commanding 12 RASC Company, Carpenter was posted to Sandhurst as an instructor and then as a company commander. An appointment as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General at HQ SW District followed and, in 1960, he moved to HQ British Forces Arabian Peninsula as Commander RASC. He then became, successively, assistant director of supplies and transport at the War Office, Colonel Q (Movements) HQ Far East Land Forces, inspector and deputy transport officer-in-chief in the MoD and chief transport and movements officer at HQ BAOR. Promoted to major-general in 1971, he was appointed Transport Officer-in-Chief (Army) at the MoD. After a final appointment as Director of Movements (Army), in 1975 he retired early to assume the appointment of traffic commissioner in Yorkshire. He became chairman of Traffic Commissioners, Northern Area, in 1982 and Traffic Commissioner Western District in 1985. He was national chairman of the 1940 Dunkirk Veterans' Association from 1974 to 1991 and then president until the association was disbanded in 2000. Carpenter was Colonel Commandant Royal Corps of Transport from 1975 to 1987. He was appointed MBE in 1945 and CB in 1975. Settled in Somerset, he was kept busy with regimental and charitable activities and enjoyed gardening. John Carpenter died on July 8. He married, in 1946, Theresa McCulloch. She predeceased him and he is survived by their son and daughter.
