The old guard passes : January - March 2021

We mark the passing of those who have served their country. Contributions from comrades and families welcome. Email the editor This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ALDRICH Cdr David Ivan Aldrich died 12 March 2021 aged 90

BENHAM Lt Cdr Richard Benham died 6th February 2021

BLAGDEN Brigadier Patrick Martin (Paddy) Blagden CBE 15 March 1935 - 17 December 2020 Royal Ordnance. Bomb disposal post Gulf War 1 Kuwait. Aden, Cyprus, Falklands Cambodia Afghanisatn Bosnia Croatia Somalia

BOHANNAN Brig Tony Bohanna died 22 March 2021 aged 92 Royal Signals.c/o Gurka Brigade

BOLTON Capt Michael William Bolton died 8 February 2021 aged 86

BOWEN Maj Gen Bryan Morris Bowen CB died 5 Febuary 2021 aged 88

BOWEN Captain John T G Bowen RN died 10 January 2021

BROOKS Ralph Alastair Brooks died 17 February 2021 aged 95 MC Korea

BROWN Patricia Marjorie Brown (nee Bartley) 1 May 1917 - 26 February 2021 Wartime codebreakerinc Bletchley Park (Floradora code)

CATHCART Major John David Cathcart died Maarch 2021 aged 89

CHANNER Captain Richard Channer MC 25 December 1921 - 20 January 2021 Hampshire Regt later Royal Artillery Imphal, Kohima Shaenan Ridge wounded MC. Later peace campaigner

CHAPLIN Prof George Brian Barrie Chaplin 27 January 1924 - 12 January 2021 Wartime RAF maintaining radar and van syslems, Lancasters. Later AERE and Chief Scietist, Plessey

CHASE Major P D E Chase MBE died 13 January 2021. Royal Signals

CORKRAN Lt Col Richard Seymour OBE

CROSS James Richard "Jasper" Cross 29 Setember 1921 - 6 January 2021 Royal Engineers Palestine inc terrorist bombing of King David Hotel

EDWARDS Private David Fothergill Edwards 9 April 1925 - 17 November 2020 2nd Bn Monmouthshire Regt. Landed on Sword Beach via Mulberry Harbour 18 June 1944. Shot on both legs by sniper outside Caen. After convalesance returned to battalion in France and Holland.

EVANS Brig Michael Evans died 13 January 2021 aged 87

GOLDSMITH Robert Goldsmith CMG died 28 February 2021 aged 96 Captured in Normandy. liberated in 1945

HINDE major Keith Stevens Gleave Hinde OBE TD dies 23 January 2021 aged 86

HILLEARY Ruaraidh Hillary 8 February 1926 - 16 February 2021 Scots Guards. Territorial 21 SAS, D Sqn 23 SAS

HOOPER Staff Sgt James Michael 'Jim' Hooper 7 April 1922 - 11 February 2021 TA Royal Signals in 1930s; dispatch rider; glider pilt Op Market Garden; captured at Arnhem station; Stalag Luft VII; death march to Stalag III-A ; when guards fled stole bicycle and rode to American lines; prepared to depl0y to Far East. AWE Aldermaston and Washington Embassy

HORNE Lt Cdr Edgar Michael Horne died 14 January 2021 aged 83 Helicopter test pilot

HOWARD Captain Martin Howard RN  MBE 30 October 1936 - 14 March 2021 Sea Vixen nightfigher pilot Naval Attache Delhi. Later built school in India

KELLY Margaret Kelly Bletchley Park

LAMBERT (Thomas) Peter Lambert 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards died 19 Febuary 2021 aged 93

LANE Col John Lane BEM died 28 Dec 2020 aged 84. Welch Regt, Royal Regt of Wales

LINDSY-REA Jean Beatrice Firbes (Grant) Lindsay-Rea 11 May 2021 - 31 January 2021 WRNS Bletchley Park from 1943 (Bombes)

MACLEAY Lt Cdr Neil Oswell MacLeay died 7 February 2021

MACPHERSON (later Captain Sir William Alan Macherson of Cluny)  QC TD 1 April 1926 - 14 February 2021 Scots Guards. Territorial Army para (hon Colonel 21 SAS)

MARLOW Geoffrey Marlow DFC Born 1922 died aged 98 Marlow Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot 32 missions Halifax and Lancasters over Europe

MARTIN Gp Capt Keith Martin died 1 January 2021 aged 96 Auster pilot 656 Sqn  (later attached to BAOR)

MEHTA Brig Furdoon Siavax Behramji "Duck" Mehta 3 March 1920 - 3 March 2021 Royal Regt of Indian Artillery Burma with 14th Army 

MERCER Private Sebastian Andrew 'SAM' Mercer MBE 10 August 1929 - 30 January 2021 Glorious Glosters Jamaica, Korea Battle of Imjin River 1951 Captured, POW, lost leg. Later Korean Veterans Association

MOORE Captain (hon Col Sir) Thomas (Tom) Moore 30 April 1920 - 2 February 2021 Duke of Wllington's Regt, tanks. Arakan, Sumatra Instructor Bovington . Later charity fundraiser

MURRAY-JONES Lt Cdr Paul Johnnie Murray-Jones 26 September 1921 - 4 Jan 2021 HMS Sardonyx (destroyer) 5 submarines in HMS Taku 

PATON Lt Col James Otaway George (Tim) Paton died 15 March 2021 aged 91

PAYNE Wing Cdr Ronald Payne AFC died 7 March 2021 aged 98

PHIPPS Maj Gen Jeremy Julian Joseph Phipps CB 30 June 1942 - 16 March 2021 Queen's Own Hussars SAS Dhofar, Oman, Brazil, BAOR, N Ireland Iranian Embassy Siege planning. Director, Special Forces

RAKE Gp Captain Derek Shannon Vaughan Rake OBE AFC and Bar 26 May 1922 - 11 December 2020 32 Sqn Algiers Spitfires over Italy and Greece. Shot down over Kosovo, parisans smuggled him through enemy lines. 41 Sqn Netherlands Mk XIV Spitfire shot down Arado 234 jet, Junkers 188 on May 3 1945. India. 50 missions against USSR 1958-60 Canberra, Comets CO 51 Sqn CO RAF Wyton

RITCHIE Brigadier Charles David Maciver Ritchie CBE 12 December 1941 - 16 December 2020 Libya, Arctic, East Timor, Belize Expelled from Germany 1978 for photographing Russian equipment. Ulster Defence Regt. SHAPE, Former Yugoslavia. Defence Attache Paris. Later director, Edinburgh Military Tattoo

SMITH Lt Col Michael Charles Smith died 6 Jan 2021 aged 82

SPROT Lt Col Aidan Sprot of Hayston MC died 28 January 2021 aged 101 Late Royal Scots Greys

STEPHENSON Joseph "Steve" Stephenson 15th Dec 1922 - 19th Jan 2021 RAF pilot WW2

SUDBOROUGH Air Vice Marshal Nigel John Sudborough CB OBE died 30 January 2021

THOMAS Brigadier John Francis 'Jack' Thomas CBE 25 June 1926 - 29 January 2021 Lifeguards, commissioned into 6 Commando, 1 Para Palestine (injured by landmine); Korea (shot); Military Police, Far East, East Africa Uganda, Germany, Northern Ireland (RMP Provost Marshal) Later chaired Commnado Benevolent Fund

TURTLE Major "Tommy" Thomas James Turtle BEM MiD 24 December 1950 - 29 December 2020 Royal Irish Rangers Gibralter, Germany Corporal SAS South Georgia , Falklands 21 SAS. Commissioned Bosnia, Hereford

TYLER Peter Anthony Tyler died 12 February 021 aged 95 Bletchley Park and GCHQ

URQUHART Major (later Sir) Brian Urquhart KCMG MBE 28 February 1919 - 2 January 2021 Intelligence officer. North Africa, Sicily. Planning Op Market Garden. "T" Force seeking German nuclear research. Relieved Bergen-Belsen. Later Foreign Office, United Nations (peacekeeping inc Suez, Congo, Lebanon)

WILSON Flt Lt Russell Leonard Wilson died 28 Dec 2020 aged 73 Pilot 46 Sqn

WITHEROW Air Cdre Marcus (Mickey) Spence Witherow 17 August 1936 - 1 Febuary 2021 RAF Regt  Aden, Libya, Germany, NATO ADC to HMQ

WITHEROW Air Cdre Marcus Spence Witherow died 1 February 2021 aged 84. RAF Regiment