Tributes
Following news that Jack had been awarded a posthumous VC his
mother wrote on 1 February 1945 to R.S. Thompson, one of Jack’s
teachers at Sherborne School, thanking him for his letter of sympathy
and congratulations, saying:
‘I shall keep your letter & show little John when he is older, for I think
it will help him to realise that Arnhem was no ash in the pan, as you
put it, but the result of a very ne character. Our loss is very great,
Jack was a wonderful son, always trying to help his parents in every
way he could think of. We shall miss him terribly, but I’m grateful that
he has not come back to us with injuries that would mean a life of
pain & inactivity. Better far that the loss & sorrow is ours, than that
he should suffer so.’
Numberous members of Sherbourne school had responded to the
news of Jack’s death to expresss their sorrow and their memories of
him:
“Now that Jack Grayburn has gone, it may be tting to recall an
incident of eighteen months ago. He arrived for training as a
parachute volunteer from a well-known regular battalion, where he
had commanded the carrier platoon. It had not been easy for him
to get away. On arrival he found that he would be posted to the
Airborne Division then forming at home, which had no early prospect
of active service (it had to wait a year, until the battle of Normandy).
He at once applied for the posting to be cancelled, so that he could
be sent on a draft to the division, which had already been ghting
for some months in North Africa and Sicily. He was told that this
could only be done with the written consent of his prospective C.O.
After several telephone calls and a hurried journey south, he wrung
consent out of a reluctant C.O. He then asked if he might have a
few days leave with his wife and infant, and after that he would be
very glad to go. Going on draft is less attractive than joining a new
unit, and most men avoid it as far as possible. But to him only one
thing mattered, to get to grips as soon as he could, since it had to be