Upon graduation , Gairdner was commissioned a second lieutenant in the artillery in May 1916 and sent to the Western Front . In this campaign , he sustained a serious wound to the right leg which necessitated numerous operations throughout his life and eventual amputation in 1976 . After the war he transferred to cavalry . He spent two years at the Staff College , Camberley from 1933 to 1934 . As a lieutenant colonel , from 1937 to 1940 he was the commanding officer of the 10th Royal Hussars , before being chief of staff of the 7th Armoured Division then General Officer Commanding of the 6th and 8th Armoured Divisions . Gairdner was General Sir Harold Alexander 's Chief of Staff during the planning stage of Operation Husky but was relieved and went on to become Prime Minister Winston Churchill 's personal emissary to Douglas MacArthur in the Far East . He was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the United States on 16 January 1947 . He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1941 , Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1946 and Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1948
Medal of Freedom
Medal of Freedom (1945)
Charles Gairdner