Editing John Masters (section)

==Life==
Masters was the son of a regular soldier, a [[lieutenant-colonel]] whose family had a long tradition of service in the [[British Indian Army]]. He was educated at [[Wellington College (Berkshire)|Wellington]] and the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]. On graduating from Sandhurst in 1933, he was seconded to the [[Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry]] (DCLI) for a year before applying to serve with the [[4th Gurkha Rifles|4th Prince of Wales's Own Gurkha Rifles]]. He saw service on the [[North-West Frontier (military history)|North-West Frontier]] with the 2nd battalion of the regiment, and was rapidly given a variety of appointments within the battalion and the regimental depot.<ref>Bugles and a Tiger, pp. 3–69</ref>

In 1938, he organised a hunt for a leopard reported to be roaming the depot at [[Bakloh]], only to find himself facing a full-grown tiger (which killed one of the Gurkhas acting as beaters). He later commented that whatever rank and decorations he was awarded, he was always known to the Gurkhas as "The [[Sahib]] who shot the Bakloh tiger".<ref>Bugles and a Tiger, pp. 207–212</ref>

In early 1939, he was appointed the [[Adjutant]] of the 2nd battalion of the 4th Gurkhas. During the [[World War II|Second World War]] his battalion was sent to [[Basra]] in Iraq, during the brief [[Anglo-Iraqi War]]. Masters subsequently served in Iraq, [[Syria]], and [[Iran|Persia]] with the battalion, before being briefly seconded as a staff officer in a Line of Communications HQ. In early 1942, he attended the Indian Army's [[Staff College at Quetta]]. Here he met the wife of a fellow officer and they began an affair.  Even though they later married, there was something of a scandal at the time.

After passing the Staff College, Masters next served as [[brigade major]] in the [[114th Indian Infantry Brigade]] before being "poached" by [[Walter David Alexander Lentaigne|Joe Lentaigne]], another officer from the 4th Gurkhas, to be brigade major in the [[111th Indian Infantry Brigade]], a [[Chindit]] formation. From March 1944, the brigade served behind the Japanese lines in [[Burma]]. On the death of General [[Orde Wingate]] on 24 April, Lentaigne became the Chindit commander and Masters commanded the main body of the 111th Indian Infantry Brigade.

In May 1944, the brigade was ordered to hold a position code-named 'Blackpool' near [[Mogaung]] in northern Burma. The isolated position was attacked with great intensity for seventeen days and eventually the brigade was forced to withdraw. Masters felt obliged to order the medical orderlies to shoot 19 of his own men, casualties who had no hope of recovery or rescue. Masters later wrote about these events in the second volume of his autobiography, ''The Road Past Mandalay''. In recognition of his "gallant and distinguished services in Burma", he was in October awarded the DSO.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36730/supplement/4570/data.pdf |title=London Gazette |date=5 October 1944 |website=www.thegazette.co.uk|access-date=22 September 2020}}</ref>

After briefly commanding the 3rd battalion of his regiment, Masters subsequently became GSO1 (the [[Chief of staff (military)|Chief of Staff]]) of the [[19th Infantry Division (India)|Indian 19th Infantry Division]], which was involved in the [[Burma Campaign 1944-1945|later stages of the Burma Campaign]]. Near the end of the war he was offered command of an Indian airborne brigade but the [[Victory over Japan Day|Japanese surrender]] intervened. On 17 January 1946 he was awarded an OBE for his service in Burma.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37433 |date=17 January 1946 |page=494 |supp=y}}</ref>

After a spell as a staff officer in [[GHQ India]] in [[Delhi]], he then served as an instructor at the British Army [[Staff College, Camberley]]. He left the army in 1948 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and moved to the United States, where he set up a business promoting walking tours in the [[Himalayas]], one of his hobbies.<ref>A recurrent theme in Masters's work is [[rock climbing]].</ref> The business was not a success and, to make ends meet, he decided to write of his experiences in the army. When his novels proved popular, he became a full-time writer.

In later life, Masters and his wife Barbara moved to [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]]. He died in 1983 from complications following heart surgery. His family and friends scattered his ashes from an aeroplane over a mountain trail he frequently hiked in. General Sir [[Hugh Michael Rose|Michael Rose]], the former [[United Nations|UN]] commander in Bosnia, is a stepson of Masters.