 Rathbone wore a special camouflage suit that resembled a tree with a wreath of freshly plucked foliage on his head with burnt cork applied to his hands and face.As a result of these highly dangerous daylight reconnaissance missions in September 1918, he was awarded the Military Cross for "conspicuous daring and resource on patrol".During the Summer Festival of 1919, he appeared at Stratford-upon-Avon with the New Shakespeare Company playing Romeo, Cassius, Ferdinand in "The Tempest" and Florizel in "The Winter's Tale"; in October he was at London's Queen's Theatre as the aide de camp in "Napoleon", and in February 1920 he was at the Savoy Theatre in the title role in "Peter Ibbetson" with huge success.