Paul was born on 26 February 1909, and educated at the Oratory School, Reading, and Sandhurst. He was commissioned in 1929, and served in anti-riot operations in Palestine the same year, and was then posted to Shanghai, where he was attached to the Shanghai Defence Force. During that period, he traveled up the Yangtze by naval boat, a trip no longer possible. After service in India, He returned to Palestine in 1938, on internal security duties. In 1940 he was a Captain, commanding an anti-tank company of the Green Howards near Kjorem, Norway. He was awarded an MC for an act of gallantry in that campaign.
After Norway, his career was interrupted by tuberculosis, but after recovery he held various staff appointments, and became an instructor at the Staff College, Camberly, from 1942 to 1944. After further staff appointments - including Assistant Adjutant General at the War Office from 1945 to 1948 - he was
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Assistant Military Secretary in Western Command from 1948 to 1951.
He was Military Attache in Rome from 1952 to 1955, after which he was appointed OBE. He was then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Intelligence Division of SHAPE, until 1957.
Colonel Dessain left the Army in 1959, and worked for a time in the printing industry, then became export sales manager for Rylands Wire Drawers (a subsidiary of Lancashire Steel) in Warrington. He retired in 1963.
He was a good linguist, and qualified as an interpreter in French and German. A keen sportsman, he was secretary of the Cheshire Polo Club, and a useful golfer.
He married Sybil Hester Haggie (nee Thompson) in 1947.
All the above information was extracted from his obituary, published in The Daily Telegraph, on 17 February 1999.
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