Major Sir Brian Edward Urquhart was a British international civil servant and World War II veteran, and author.
23 Facts About Brian Urquhart
2.
Brian Urquhart played a significant role in the founding of the United Nations.
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Brian Urquhart went on to serve as its Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs.
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Brian Urquhart's father abandoned the family in 1925 when Brian was six years old.
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When World War II broke out, Brian Urquhart joined the British Army and, after a brief training period, was commissioned as an officer in the Dorsetshire Regiment on 14 January 1940.
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Brian Urquhart was posted to the 5th Battalion of his regiment, a recently raised Territorial Army unit which was part of the 43rd Infantry Division.
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Brian Urquhart later transferred to the 1st Airborne Division as an Intelligence Officer.
8.
Brian Urquhart was severely injured in a training drop in August 1942, damaging three vertebrae in his lower spine and breaking several bones.
9.
Brian Urquhart was warned that his loss of mobility could be permanent, and spent months in the hospital recovering and regaining his strength.
10.
Brian Urquhart became convinced that the plan was critically flawed, and attempted to persuade his superiors to modify or abort their plans in light of crucial information obtained from aerial reconnaissance and the Dutch resistance.
11.
Brian Urquhart became deeply depressed by his failure to persuade his superiors to halt the operation, and requested a transfer out of the airborne forces.
12.
Brian Urquhart was one of the first allied personnel to enter the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945.
13.
Brian Urquhart subsequently became an aide to Trygve Lie, the first Secretary-General of the United Nations.
14.
Brian Urquhart loyally served by Hammarskjold's side until the latter's death in 1961, admiring him greatly in spite of admittedly never getting to know him very well on a personal level.
15.
When it turned out that those would take six weeks to make, Brian Urquhart proposed the characteristic blue helmets, which could be converted in a day by painting over normal ones.
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At one point Brian Urquhart was abducted, brutally beaten and threatened with death by undisciplined Katangese troops.
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Brian Urquhart was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1986.
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Brian Urquhart was a member of the Order of the British Empire.
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Brian Urquhart received the Freedom from Fear Award in 1984, as well as the Distinguished Peacekeeper Award by the International Peace Academy.
20.
Brian Urquhart was the daughter of Sidney Howard, the American writer and playwright.
21.
Brian Urquhart wrote essays for The New York Review of Books and a memoir, A Life in Peace and War.
22.
Brian Urquhart wrote biographies and books about the United Nations.
23.
In 2021, Brian Urquhart died at his home in Tyringham, Massachusetts at the age of 101 years.