in. Grenades rained down, which Queripel caught and threw back.
Ammunition nearly gone, he issued his nal order: his men were to
withdraw while he stayed behind to cover them.
Private Edward “Ted” James never forgot the scene:
“We were trapped in the ditch, ring what little we had left. Captain
Queripel was hit again, but he kept ghting. He told us, ‘Get out
while you can, I’ll cover you.’ We didn’t want to leave him, but he
ordered us. The last I saw of him, he was standing up, pistol in one
hand and grenades in the other, holding them off. He gave his life so
we could live.”
Queripel was killed in this nal stand, although his death was
not conrmed until after the war ended. He was just 24 years
old. His body was later recovered and laid to rest at the Arnhem
Oosterbeek War Cemetery, among the comrades who fell beside him,
remembered and visited by the families and friends of those he saved.
Captain Lionel Ernest Queripel VC remains one of the most inspiring
gures of the Battle of Arnhem. Facing overwhelming odds, repeatedly
wounded, he chose to ght to the last in order to save his men. His
courage, sacrice, and leadership live on not only in the medal that
bears his name but in the memory of those he inspired and protected
with his life.