Lieutenant, Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment
Born: June 23rd 1923
Died: June 6th 1944
Age at Death: 20
Killed, June 6th 1944
House Prefect 1940
1st 15 1940-41
Tennis 6 1940
Squash 5 1941
Fives 8 1941
Scholar
Father: B.C. Belcher, Wine Merchant
Address: The Cottage. Abingdon, Berks.
Bunny was born in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, on 23 June 1923, to Bernard Belcher, a wine merchant and amateur dramatics enthusiast, and his wife Joyce (née Sides). He won a scholarship to Brighton College, but was also a good sportsman, earning a place in the 1st XV and playing tennis, squash and fives for the school.
On leaving the College he trained as an officer at Sandhurst, and, as the outstanding cadet of his troop, was presented with a special belt. He served with the Airborne Light Tank Squadron and then with the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment, an elite unit that required members to pass a special intelligence test and then train as parachutists. His instructor on this course described him as ‘cheerful’ and ‘humerous [sic]’. By this time he had met Corporal Kay Pearce of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the army. After a whirlwind romance, they married a month after they met.
With D-Day approaching, Bunny was placed in charge of the regiment’s Harbour Party, a group of around 15 parachutists whose role was to jump with the very first units to land on French territory, reconnoitre, and secure strategically important points. His Short Stirling aircraft crashed on the night of D-Day, probably after being shot down, killing everyone on board.
As the plane had caught fire, detonating the shells and bullets and other explosives aboard, the crash site was deemed too dangerous for recovery of the bodies. It took many months for the Comte of the local château to persuade the Allies to arrange a military team to make it safe enough for the deceased to be removed.
The Belchers’ only child, Anthony, was born on 9 September 1944, three months after his father’s death. Bunny is buried at Ranville War Cemetery in France.