Colonel Richard Geoffrey Pine-Coffin, DSO & Bar, MC (2 December 1908 – 28 February 1974) was an officer of the British Army who saw service during the Second World War.

His troops, amused by the unusual applicability of his family name (soldiers were usually buried in simple pine wood coffins), referred to him as "Wooden Box".

The two maintained constant correspondence even after Gwen moved to South Africa, where she contracted tuberculosis of the bone and had her leg amputated at the hip.

His battalion was tasked with reinforcing Major John Howard's 181-strong coup de main force, which had captured the Caen canal and Orne river bridges.

Pine-Coffin dropped with his battalion at 00:50; they began to arrive at the bridges at about 01:40, taking up positions in Bénouville and Le Port, west of Caen Canal.

The first relief for the beleaguered troops came at about 13:30, when elements of Lord Lovat's 1st Special Service Brigade arrived from Sword Beach and crossed the bridges to reinforce the Ranville positions.

Pine-Coffin's battalion and most of the division had only limited involvement (compared to US forces) and, after Germany's offensive was defeated in January, were withdrawn to the Netherlands and thence to Britain in February 1945.

Pine-Coffin was awarded a Bar to his DSO[10] for the important role he played in the success of the operation, which was the 7th Battalion's last parachute jump of the war.

He was (according to the citation for the bar to his DSO) instrumental in rallying his battalion to hold out against German counter-attacks, which played a pivotal role in the successful completion of the Brigade's main objectives.

In August 1945 Pine-Coffin was promoted to substantive major;[11] he continued to command the 7th Battalion as a temporary lieutenant-colonel, serving in the Far East and Palestine, until he left them in 1947.

Between his time with the army, Richard married Joan Godfrey, who gave birth to their son, Peter Pine Coffin in 1939 whilst the family was stationed in India.

In addition to this, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Pine-Coffin was very tall and insisted on wearing cowboy boots during combat, making him easily recognisable to his fellow Allied soldiers in Normandy.

Another relative, Sgt Geoffrey Tristam Pine-Coffin (RAF/568487) was killed on 13/14 July 1943, serving as a flight engineer with 102 Squadron on an operational bombing raid to Aachen.