Richard McCreery

Sir Richard Loudon McCreery
Richard McCreery, pictured here during the interwar period, sometime in the 1930s.
Nickname(s)	Dick
Born	1 February 1898 Market Harborough, Leicestershire
Died	18 October 1967 (aged 69) Templecombe, Somerset
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1915–1949
Rank	General
Unit	12th Royal Lancers
Commands held	2nd Armoured Brigade 8th Armoured Division VIII Corps X Corps British Eighth Army British Forces of Occupation in Austria British Army of the Rhine
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order Military Cross Legion of Merit, Officer (USA) (1943) Distinguished Service Medal (USA) (1945)

General Sir Richard Loudon McCreery GCB KBE DSO MC (1 February 1898 – 18 October 1967), was a career soldier of the British Army, who was decorated for leading one of the last cavalry actions in the First World War. During the Second World War, he was Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander at the time of the Second Battle of El Alamein, and later commanded the British Eighth Army fighting in the Italian Campaign from October 1944 until the end of the war, leading it to victory in the final offensive in Italy.

Richard (Dick) Loudon McCreery was born on 1 February 1898, the eldest son of Walter A. McCreery of Bilton Park, Rugby, a Swiss-born American who spent most of his life in England but who represented the United States at polo at the 1900 Summer Olympics. His mother was Emilia McAdam, a great, great granddaughter of the Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam, famous for his invention of the process of "Macadamization", a method of road surfacing, and great granddaughter of James Nicoll McAdam, known to his contemporaries as "The Colossus of Roads". Emilia's father had been a major in the 7th Dragoon Guards.