| Full name: | John Cuthbert Bune |
| Born: | 17th April 1914, Beckenham, Kent, England |
| Died: | 17th September 1944, Arnhem, Netherlands |
| Education: | Westminster School; St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School; St Catharine's College, Cambridge |
| Occupation: | Barrister at Law |
| Other Sports: | Swimming Half-Blue |
| Biography: | At 8pm on the 15th of September 1944 John Bune was called to an officer’s briefing to receive orders for the Battalion’s part in Operation Market Garden, an airborne operation in conjunction with land forces to secure a river crossing across the Lower River Rhine, which was due to begin just 36 hours later. All other personnel were briefed the following day. On the morning of the 17th of September 1944, the Battalion moved to Barkston Heath airfield where they boarded transport aircraft and took off at 11.30am. They landed at Renkum Heath, to the west of the town of Arnhem, at between 2.03pm and 2.08pm and had assembled by 2.45pm with only three men missing. They moved off from the drop zone at 3.40pm. Twenty minutes later they arrived at a railway station where they were briefed by an officer of the Reconnaissance Corps that there were enemy troops further up the railway line to their east and tanks on the road to the north. Unable to get up the railway line, they set out up the Amsterdamseweg, by which time the enemy tanks had withdrawn. At 5pm R Company attacked strong enemy positions astride the road, inflicting heavy casualties among the enemy troops and forcing them back. The Company then advanced to the Wolfhezerweg junction, where they became heavily engaged with enemy tanks and infantry and were unable to disengage when the rest of the Battalion went around this obstacle. Contact with R Company was lost at 6pm. At 7.30pm, John Bune was sent back to make contact with R Company, returning at 10pm with the second in command of the Company who reported that, although they had managed to disengage, forward progress was slow as half of his men had become casualties and were in need of evacuation. The Battalion Medical Officer was ordered to take all available jeeps to evacuate the wounded with John Bune joining this party for the return to R Company’s positions. Although the convoy of wounded later reached Oosterbeek and were delivered to the dressing station at the Hartenstein Hotel, John Bune’s group is believed to have run into an ambush in the vicinity of the Dreyenseweg during which he was killed. He was recorded as missing at 3am the following morning. His body was recovered and was buried alongside the Dreyenseweg but was later exhumed and moved to its present location. |
| Education: | Westminster School; St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School; St Catharine's College, Cambridge |
| Occupation: | Barrister at Law |
| Other Sports: | Swimming Half-Blue |
| Biography: | At 8pm on the 15th of September 1944 John Bune was called to an officer’s briefing to receive orders for the Battalion’s part in Operation Market Garden, an airborne operation in conjunction with land forces to secure a river crossing across the Lower River Rhine, which was due to begin just 36 hours later. All other personnel were briefed the following day. On the morning of the 17th of September 1944, the Battalion moved to Barkston Heath airfield where they boarded transport aircraft and took off at 11.30am. They landed at Renkum Heath, to the west of the town of Arnhem, at between 2.03pm and 2.08pm and had assembled by 2.45pm with only three men missing. They moved off from the drop zone at 3.40pm. Twenty minutes later they arrived at a railway station where they were briefed by an officer of the Reconnaissance Corps that there were enemy troops further up the railway line to their east and tanks on the road to the north. Unable to get up the railway line, they set out up the Amsterdamseweg, by which time the enemy tanks had withdrawn. At 5pm R Company attacked strong enemy positions astride the road, inflicting heavy casualties among the enemy troops and forcing them back. The Company then advanced to the Wolfhezerweg junction, where they became heavily engaged with enemy tanks and infantry and were unable to disengage when the rest of the Battalion went around this obstacle. Contact with R Company was lost at 6pm. At 7.30pm, John Bune was sent back to make contact with R Company, returning at 10pm with the second in command of the Company who reported that, although they had managed to disengage, forward progress was slow as half of his men had become casualties and were in need of evacuation. The Battalion Medical Officer was ordered to take all available jeeps to evacuate the wounded with John Bune joining this party for the return to R Company’s positions. Although the convoy of wounded later reached Oosterbeek and were delivered to the dressing station at the Hartenstein Hotel, John Bune’s group is believed to have run into an ambush in the vicinity of the Dreyenseweg during which he was killed. He was recorded as missing at 3am the following morning. His body was recovered and was buried alongside the Dreyenseweg but was later exhumed and moved to its present location. |
| Teams: | Westminster School (Miscellaneous: 1932); St Catharine's College, Cambridge (Miscellaneous: 1934) |
| Lists of matches and more detailed statistics | |