Page 233 - Rifles 2017 Issue No 3

to note is that they are all very welcoming to new members from The Ri es who have not previously served in the RGJ and who nd it convenient and enjoyable to participate in their activities.
On a more sombre note we greatly appreciate the bugling support given by The Buglers Association of The Light Division & Ri es (www.buglers.org.uk ; alan.tamblyn@buglers.org.uk;) at memorial event, funerals and gatherings of our members.
We look forward to seeing as many members of the RGJRA as possible at the 2018 reunion at Sir John Moore Barracks, Winchester on Sat 14 July 2018.
J-D v M
Obituaries
Colonel Michael Dewar The Ri e Brigade and The Royal Green Jackets. Michael O’Malley Dewar was born on the 15th November 1941 at Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, the eldest son of Colonel & Mrs KMJ Dewar. Educated at Downside and Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Ri e Brigade in 1961, joining the Battalion in Dhekelia, Cyprus. In the autumn of 1962 he went up to Oxford and studied History at Pembroke College. This together with the encouragement he had received as an of cer cadet from the military historian, John Keegan, was to lay the foundation for his later career.
In July 1965, he returned to the Battalion deep in the Borneo jungle on counter insurgency operations and, as a platoon commander in B Company, led patrols along and over the border with Indonesia. He remained with the Battalion on its return to its home base at Felixstowe and its subsequent move to Celle in West Germany. He was then posted to Sandhurst as an instructor and it was during this time that his interest in defence strategy was given a further opportunity to ourish.
After attending the Army Staff Course at Shrivenham and Camberley he rejoined 3rd Battalion The Royal Green Jackets in Shoeburyness as a company commander with regular tours to Northern Ireland and then moved with the Battalion to Berlin. A tour on the MOD Precurement Executive honed his skills as an able and articulate staff of cer and was followed by a posting to Winchester, commanding the Training Company where many bene ted from his encouragement and care.
In 1979 he was appointed second-in-command of 2nd Battalion The Royal Green Jackets and for the next seven months acted as commanding of cer in the absence of Peter Treneer-Michell who was on temporary duty on the Cease re Monitoring Force in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. He was then posted to the staff of HQ 1st British Corps at Bielefeld under the demanding leadership of Lt Gen Sir Nigel Bagnall. He must have acquitted himself well as he was promoted and appointed chief of the operational staff of the Headquarters.
In 1985 he found himself back in Winchester, now commanding the Light Division Depot with
the daunting task of moving
the Depot from Peninsula
Barracks, home to Green
Jackets for a century and a
half, to the newly designed
and built Sir John Moore
Barracks to the north of
the city. On relinquishing
command he was appointed
Director of Army Training
but within four months was
chosen to ll a new post,
Colonel Defence Studies,
a role that might have been, and perhaps was, specially designed for him.
After leaving the Army he joined the International Institute for Strategic Studies as Deputy Director where he became well known as commentator on defence and counter terrorism issues on television, radio and in the national press. He was latterly a successful entrepreneurial businessman setting up his own publishing, marketing and PR Company. He edited The Of cer Magazine and was the author of more than 15 published works on military history. His best known works include The British Army in Northern Ireland, which has been required reading at several Staff Colleges for many years; A History of Deception in Warfare; A History of Urban Warfare; Brush Fire Wars; and An
Anthology of Military Quotations.
A devout Catholic, he was a Knight of Malta and as The Dewar of that Ilk and Vogrie was the Dewar clan chief.
Michael Dewar died on
1st August 2016 and is survived by his wife Lavinia and their four children, Alexander, James, Edward and Katharine.
John Taylor
IN 1979
HE WAS APPOINTED SECOND-IN- COMMAND OF 2ND BATTALION THE ROYAL GREEN JACKETS
THE RIFLES
REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS 231