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COLLIER
‘Bud’ COLLIER died on 12 November 2022. Bud served with 2 Para, then as CSM with C Coy and D Coy 3 WFR.
COOPER
Ken Cooper died on 6th May 2022 at the age of 90. He enlisted with The South Staffordshire Regiment in August 1950, and was discharged in 1966 at the wank of WO2. He was a long time branch stalwart having held the position of Chairman some years ago.
CROSS
Colonel (CF1) James Stuart CROSS died on 4 November 2022 aged 86. After a short spell as a Pte in the Queens Own Royal West Kents he entered the Royal Military Academy
Sandhurst in March 1955 and gained
a Commission into The Worcestershire Regiment in July 1956. He served with the 1st Bn in Iserlohn, Jamaica, Belize and
the Bahamas. In November 1960 he was loaned to 1 Staffords for an emergency
tour in Kenya and then moved to Ghana on secondment in August 1961. In December 1961 he, with all British Officers, was expelled from Ghana. He resigned as a Capt in October 1962 in order to study at Magdalen College and Ripon Hall Anglican Theological College, Oxford. He was ordained at Gloucester in 1965 and was granted a Short Service Commission in the Royal Army Chaplain’s Department on 26 September 1966. Postings included the Royal Armoured Corps Centre at Bovington, UNFICYP and Famagusta in Cyprus, Queens Div Depot at Bassingbourne, with
1 Staffords in NI, HQ 39 Bde in Belfast Eastern District, Aldershot, West Midlands District, Berlin Infantry Bde, 3 Armd Div in Soest and as Senior Chaplain at HQ BAOR in Rheindahlen. He retired from the Army in 1991.
CROSS
Jan CROSS, wife of Rev Jim Cross, late WORC R and RAChD, died on 1 March 2022.
DICKINSON
Captain Eric Dickinson died on 24 November 2021, not long after his 100th birthday on 8 October. On that occasion he was his usual sprightly and alert self at a birthday party arranged for
him in Maghull, Liverpool.
Following time with the Bootle Home
Guard Eric was called up in April 1941 and spent the early part of his wartime service as a Gunner in the Royal Artillery, assigned to air defence and coastal defence.
On passing the War Office Selection
Board and completing officer training he was commissioned in The King’s Own Royal Regiment. From England Eric was sent in December 1943 with a draft of reinforcements to the 2nd Battalion, by then in India.
Eric, with five other officers, was sent to Sylhet, the rear base of Special Force, or the Long Range Penetration Group and better known as the Chindits. Operation THURSDAY, the second and largest of
the Chindit operations in Burma, began in early February 1944. After a short period assisting with air drops he and Lieutenant Bill Pinkstone were sent as battle casualty replacements to 1st South Staffords. There they bumped into Lieutenant ‘Tiger’ Taylor, another of the King’s Own officers, who had been an earlier reinforcement and was now wounded and being evacuated. ‘Pinkie’ was also wounded later, Eric being the only one to survive the war unscathed.
Following withdrawal to India the fit men plus considerable reinforcements were formed into 16th (Staffords) Battalion The Parachute Regiment. By this time Eric was Regimental Signals Officer. He was demobilised in August 1946 and returned to Maghull, where he spent the remainder of his long life with his wife, Joy, whom he had met when she was with the ATS in India. Eric was to serve 30 years with the Liverpool Fire Brigade, reaching the rank known today as Station Manager. In 2001 he published a memoir: Marching to the Chop. Joy predeceased Eric and he is survived by their two daughters, Dorothy and June.
DOUGHTY
Harry Doughty, ex 1st Battalion The Cheshire Regiment, died on 6th February 2022.
DUCKERS
Kenneth Duckers, ex 1st Battalion The Cheshire Regiment, died on 21st May 2022.
DUFLEY
Major Dufley died on 21 November 2021.
DUDLEY
Lt James ‘Jim’ Dudley died on 18 July 2022. Jim was commissioned into the 7th Bn The Worcestershire Regiment TA following in the tradition of his family. Jim transferred to Mercian
Volunteers in 1967 and served as a Plt Comd until his civilian employment took him south where he continued to serve in the local TAVR. He was an active member of the Association.
DUNN
Capt Peter Graham DUNN died on 19 October 2022 aged 91. Peter’s father served in 2/7th Worcesters and after a short spell as
a Tpr in 12th Lancers,
Peter entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1949 and
gained a Regular Commission into the Worcestershire Regiment on 22 July 1950. He served with the 1st Bn in Malaya until 1953, during which time he gained a Mention in Dispatches. During this tour he spent some of 1952 in Sarawak recruiting Dayak trackers to work with infantry battalions in Malaya. Following the return of the Bn to Bulford he moved to the Depot at Norton Barracks as a Training Subaltern, in 1954-56, before returning to the 1st Bn in Iserlohn, West Germany in 1956-57. When the Bn moved to the West Indies he became a Staff Officer in HQ Caribbean Area in Jamaica. He returned to 1st Bn as 2IC, A and then D Coy and as the Weapon Training Officer. He retired in 1960. Peter was a very loyal member of the WFRA and was a member of the WFRA Executive for some years and spent many years as the Kidderminster Branch Secretary.
EVANS
Joseph Evans, who served during WWII, died on 16th February 2022 at the age of 95.
FARRINGTON
Sgt John FARRINGTON of Spain died on 24 November 2022. John enlisted with the 22nd Cheshire Regiment and prior to the amalgamation of the WFR, John played with the 1st Worcester’s and later, the WFR bands. He was discharged on 17 November 1980.
DAVIES
CRUM
Pte Mark A CRUM of Nottingham, died on 8 June 2022 aged 47. Mark enlisted on 23 August 1994 into 1 WFR and was discharged on 31 August 2001.
Richard “Dickie” Davies, Ex 1st Battalion The Cheshire Regiment, died on 14th February 2022.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE