1. Desmond Fitzpatrick attended Eton College and then the Royal Military College Sandhurst, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 1st The Royal Dragoons on 1 September 1932.
16 Facts About Desmond Fitzpatrick
1. 2.
Desmond Fitzpatrick next served as a staff officer with the US First Corps and in a position at the War Office, before rejoining his regiment in the Netherlands in 1944 and taking command of one of its squadrons.
3.
Desmond Fitzpatrick's regiment liberated the concentration camp at Fallingbostel, freeing 10,000 allied prisoners of war and 12,000 other prisoners.
4.
Desmond Fitzpatrick was promoted brevet lieutenant colonel on 1 July 1951, and then assumed command of the 1st Royal Dragoons in the Suez Canal Zone.
5.
Desmond Fitzpatrick received substantive promotion to lieutenant colonel on 8 October 1952 and to colonel on 31 December 1953.
6.
On 20 February 1959, he was appointed an Aide-de-Camp to the Queen, and later in the year, Lord Mountbatten of Burma selected Desmond Fitzpatrick to serve as the first Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff.
7.
Desmond Fitzpatrick took up the post on 29 October 1959, with the temporary rank of major general, and the rank was made substantive on 11 December 1959.
8.
Desmond Fitzpatrick was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours, by which time, and he had been appointed honorary colonel of the Royals.
9.
Desmond Fitzpatrick left Northern Ireland on 9 July 1966, and succeeded Geoffrey Baker as Vice Chief of the General Staff on 25 July.
10.
Desmond Fitzpatrick relinquished the colonelcy of the Royals on 29 March 1969 when the regiment was amalgamated into the Blues and Royals, becoming deputy colonel of the new regiment until 9 December 1974.
11.
Desmond Fitzpatrick was appointed ADC on 9 January 1970.
12.
Desmond Fitzpatrick was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Royal Armoured Corps on 1 April 1971.
13.
Desmond Fitzpatrick served as DSACEUR until 12 November 1973, and retired from the Army on 26 January 1974.
14.
Desmond Fitzpatrick was appointed Colonel of the Blues and Royals on 17 December 1979 and held the post until 1998.
15.
Desmond Fitzpatrick was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1997 New Year Honours.
16.
Desmond Fitzpatrick died on 12 October 2002 at the age of 89.