Captain Count John de Bendern 4th County of London Yeomanry (The Sharpshooters)
John de Bendern joined 4CLY as a troop commander in 1940. Before the War, John whose family had indisputable Hapsburg connections, had been a leading amateur golfer. As John de Forest, he won the 1932 Championship at Muirfield. This enabled him, as an amateur, to enter the US Open, which he did at Augusta the following year and he played on every major golf course in the United States during his career.
John had a slight problem in 1939 when he offered himself for a commission - his passport showed his country of origin as Liechtenstein: fortunately John was able to satisfy the interviewer when he gave the British War Minister as a personal reference. He was initially destined for the Welsh Guards, but after passing out of officer training he was informed that the vacancy had been filled and that he was to report to "some regiment called 4th CLY".