John Kiszely

Sir John Kiszely
Birth name	John Panton Kiszely
Born	2 April 1948
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1969–2008
Rank	Lieutenant General
Service number	486680
Commands held	1st Bn Scots Guards 7th Armoured Brigade 1st (UK) Armoured Division Regional Forces
Battles/wars	Falklands War Bosnian war Iraq War
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Military Cross Mention in Dispatches Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service Legion of Merit (United States)

Lieutenant General Sir John Panton Kiszely, KCB, MC (born 2 April 1948) is a retired senior British Army officer who was Director General of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. He is a former National President of The Royal British Legion, having resigned because he had said to undercover journalists that he was able to lobby government defence ministers.

Military career

The son of Dr John Kiszely and Mrs Kiszely, Kiszely was educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst before being commissioned into the Scots Guards as a second lieutenant on 20 December 1968.^[1] He served with the regiment as a platoon commander, company commander and commanding officer in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Germany, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands.^[2]

Kiszely became commanding officer of 1st Battalion the Scots Guards in 1986 and, following various other military appointments, took command of 7th Armoured Brigade in early 1993. In 1996 he was appointed General Officer Commanding 1st (UK) Armoured Division and served as Commander of the Multi-National Division (South-West) in Bosnia.^[3]

In September 1998 Kiszely was appointed Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Resource and Plans) at the Ministry of Defence.^[4] In 2002 he was appointed Commander of Regional Forces at Land Command^[2] and in 2004 he was deployed as Senior British Military Representative and Deputy Commanding General, Multinational Force, Iraq.^[2] In 2005 he took up his post as Director General of the Defence Academy.^[2] He retired from this post on 30 May 2008.^[5]

Later life

In December 2008 Kiszely was appointed as the new National President of The Royal British Legion. He took over the role from Air Marshal Ian Macfadyen CB OBE FRAeS who recommended him for the post.^[6] He resigned this post on 15 October 2012 as a result of a Sunday Times article which alleged that Kiszely was among several retired military leaders who had offered to lobby and influence MPs and government defence ministers on behalf of arms firms.^[7]

On 14 December 2009, Kiszely gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry in which he claimed that American officials had refused to admit that they were dealing with an insurgency in Iraq.^[8]

Honours and decorations

Kiszely was awarded the Military Cross for an action during the Battle of Mount Tumbledown during the Falklands War. He led a single-handed charge into the Argentine position, shooting two enemy soldiers and killing a third with his bayonet. The Argentines were promptly routed and surrendered.^[9]

Family

Lieutenant General Sir John Kiszely is married with three children.^[10]

References

1. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 44774. p. 1000. 24 January 1969. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
2. Oxford Leverhulme Biography
3. SFOR
4. NATO/SFOR Informer
5. Lieutenant General Andrew Graham takes over from Lieutenant General Sir John Kiszley
6. Royal British Legion appoints new National President Royal British Legion, 15 December 2008
7. "Inquiry into Legion lobby claim". BBC. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
8. "US would not 'admit' the insurgency in post-war Iraq". BBC News. BBC. 15 December 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
9. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 49134. p. 12846. 8 October 1982. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
10. The peerage.com