John Bradburne

John Randal Bradburne, O.F.S.,M.C. (14 June 1921 in Skirwith, Cumbria, England, U.K. – 5 September 1979 near Mutoko, Mashonaland South, Rhodesia – now Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe), was a lay member of the Order of St Francis, a poet, warden of the Mutemwa leper colony at Mutoko. Killed by guerrillas, he is a candidate for canonization. But he has not yet received from the Vatican the official title of “Servant of God”, the first step toward canonization.

John Randal Bradburne was born on 14 June 1921 in Skirwith, Cumbria, England. He was baptized there as an Anglican on 31 July 1921, the son of Thomas William and Erica May Bradburne He had two brothers and two sisters. Their father, an Anglican clergyman, was the Rector of Skirwith at that time. John was also a cousin of the playwright Sir Terence Rattigan and a distant relative of Lord Soames.

Bradburne was educated at Gresham's, an independent school in Norfolk, England, from 1934 to 1939. He was planning to continue his studies at a University. But, when World War II began, he went straight to the Army.

Bradburne was assigned to the 9th Gurkha Rifles of the Indian Army in 1940. He soon found himself with them in Malaya to face the invasion of the Imperial Japanese Army. After the fall of Singapore, Bradburne spent a month in the jungle. With another Gurkha officer, he tried to sail a sampan to Sumatra but they were shipwrecked. A second attempt was successful, and Bradburne was rescued by a Royal Navy destroyer and returned to Dehra Dun. For his escape, he was awarded the Military Cross. He then saw active service with Brigadier Wingate’s Chindits in Burma.

...
Wikipedia