Victoria Cross and Legacy
For his actions on 19–20 September 1944, Captain
Lionel Ernest Queripel was posthumously awarded
the Victoria Cross, gazetted on 1 February 1945.
The citation praised his “magnicent leadership and
determination” and noted that his courage was “an
example to all around him.”
His medals, including the VC, are held by the
Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces
Museum at Duxford. His sword is preserved at the
Royal Sussex Regiment Museum in Eastbourne.
Memorials also to him stand at Marlborough
College, in Chichester Cathedral, and in Tunbridge
Wells (right), where a road bears his name. He is
also named on the Tenth Memorial in Borough on
the Hill, near Somerby (below).
In September 2022, a plaque (left) was
unveiled in the church at Winterborne
Monkton, the place of his birth. This project
was instigated by two local men, Peter
Metcalfe and Nick Speakman who thought
he deserved a memorial in his local church.