Major General Philip Thomas Tower, CB, DSO, MBE, GOC - a Part Uniform, comprising a No.1 blues tunic with staybrite buttons, rank pips, scarlet wool gorgets, medal ribbon bars and paratrooper sleeve insignia, a leather crossbelt and pouch badged to the Royal Artillery, a No.1 blues dress cap and a No.2 khaki service cap, each with bullion thread badge and leather chinstrap, a black wool Kangol beret with bullion thread cap badge, an Athol grey general officer's greatcoat with staybrite buttons and scarlet lining, a blue wool evening uniform cloak with scarlet lining, and a khaki greatcoat with leather football buttons - made by his wife and sent to him as a POW in Italy (he used this greatcoat as part of his escape outfit), together with ephemera including a copy of his obituary and the draft eulogy given at his funeral by his nephew Major General Michael Trenchard Tennant. (9)

Footnote:- Philip Thomas Tower was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1937 and served with 25 Field Regiment RA in India until the outbreak of the Second World War. After a staff appointment with 4th Indian Division he rejoined 25th Field Regiment in the Western Desert as a battery commander. In June 1942, at Tobruck, he was forced to surrender to the Germans after his battery were surrounded when their ammunition ran out. His gallantry was later recognised by the awarding of the DSO. He was sent to a POW camp in Italy and made several attempts to escape, finally doing so whilst being transported from the battle zone to a prisoner of war compound. He dispatched his guard and jumped from the vehicle which was travelling at 40 mph. Two days later he staggered into a German workshop and was eventually returned to the Italians as a POW. He escaped again, this time successfully, although he was wounded in the chest by a mine. After he recovered from his ordeal and his wound he went on to qualify as a parachutist and was dropped at Arnhem with 1st Airborne Division. After the war he continued his career in the army and in 1967 was appointed GOC Middle East Land Forces tasked with the withdrawal of British Troops from South Arabia, and it was the town of Aden which was to provide the defining moment in his military career.