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Peter Walls 1946.
George Peter Walls was born in Salisbury, the capital of the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, in 1927. Educated at Plumtree School, he travelled to England during the closing stages of the war and was commissioned from Sandhurst on 16th March 1946 into the Black Watch. However, the post-war contraction of the army led to large numbers of enforced transfers to other units and, dissatisfied with the prospect of leaving his regiment, Walls resigned.
Back in Rhodesia, he enlisted as a private in the Rhodesian Staff Corps before being commissioned again, into the Northern Rhodesia Regiment. In 1952, Walls was promoted to captain and second in command of a reconnaissance unit sent to operate with British forces in Malaya. The unit was soon renamed C Squadron SAS and, with the British wanting a Rhodesian to command the squadron, Walls was selected. At the end of a successful two-year tour, he was awarded the MBE.
For the next decade, Walls advanced up the Rhodesian army ladder, attending the Staff College, Camberley, and, in 1964, taking command of 1st Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI). As global decolonisation gathered pace, the government of Ian Smith was pressurised by Britain to adopt universal suffrage and hold free elections. Realising
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