Lieutenant Michael Robert Onebye Leach was originally commissioned into the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant in March 1940, direct from the Artist's Rifles. Subsequently engaged with the Battalion in France between April and June of the same year, he escaped via Dunkirk. Leach was advanced to Lieutenant in September 1941 and to Temporary Captain in February 1942, and was a Company Commander at the Battle of El Alamein that November. In the autumn of 1943 he volunteered for the Parachute Regiment and in January 1944 joined the 12th (Yorkshire) Battalion. As part of the 5th Parachute Brigade, 6th Airborne Division, it is probable that Leach participated in the D-Day and Rhine Crossing operations. What is certain is that he subsequently sailed for the Far East and was killed by a mine in Java in March 1946. He is buried in the Djakarta War Cemetery.