Page 97 - MERCIAN Eagle 2020

and was seriously injured when a Ferret scout car overturned, which resulted in
him losing part of a leg. He did not leave
the Army until 5 March 1978. During the Afghanistan Campaign, he sent comfort boxes to the Mercian Regiment soldiers, which would include squaddie jokes, written on sheets of paper. Sadly, he and his wife Hazel both caught COVID-19. They are succeeded by their daughter Catherine, son Nick and daughter-in-law Lisa, who were able to say farewell to them both.
THIRLBY
23133037 Pte Lawrence THIRLBY died
in 2020. Lawrence was born on 30 September 1936 and was one of the last men to be called for National Service in the early 1960’s where he served for two years with the 1st Bn The Royal Green Jackets. During the 1980’s he served for 10 years with the 4th Bn WFR Home Service Force. He was discharged on 6 November 1989.
TURNER
LCpl Noel TURNER died on 9 September 2020. Noel joined the The Sherwood Foresters in 1963 and was an MT driver and keen boxer and served in Aden, Cyprus and NI. He discharged in 1970.
TWEEDIE
14400962 LCpl Rex Norman Gill TWEEDIE of Derby died on 24 March 2020 aged 95. Rex served with the 2/5th Bn The Sherwood Foresters joining B Coy in N Africa in May 1943 before embarking
with it for Italy in September where he took part in the Salerno Landings and other exploiting moves. After the crossing of the Volturno, the battle weary Bn was sent to the Middle East for rest and refitting before returning to Italy in July 1944 where it fought up through the Gothic Line to the Adriatic before being sent to Greece in December 1944. In April 1945 the Bn returned to
Italy and ended its war in Austria where it became part of the Allied High Commission in settling Austria.
WASHBROOK
Major Reg WASHBROOK Washbrook, TD (RAMC) died on on 11 Feb 2020. He was RMO of 2 MERCIAN (V).
WETTON
Robert Wetton served with 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment
in Berlin in 1969. The Regimental Facebook described it as the coldest part of the cold war, when
people like Robert served defending our precious freedom. Often overlooked, they mounted guards and did patrols, for which no medal was ever awarded. Robert was known to his friends as ‘Winker’. He was described as a staunch ex Stafford, a
member of the Association Breakfast Club which met at the King’s Head. His funeral took place on September 2020. He is sadly missed by his wife Carol, daughters Michelle and Kerry, his sons-in-law Dean and Mark and the remainder of his large and loving extended family.
WHITTLE
461518 Captain Keith Brian Whittle died on 10th August 2020. Keith was commissioned into the
1st Bn The Sherwood Foresters in July 1959, thereby entering a regiment
in which both his father and his brother served. His father was a POW at Tobruk
in 1942 returning to the UK in 1945. Keith joined the Bn in Malaya towards the end
of the Malayan Emergency and was with them when they moved to Singapore
as the Garrison Bn. When the 1st Bn returned to be based in Church Crookham in 1963, Keith was seconded to the Sarawak Rangers, recruiting soldiers in Sabah, training them in Malaysia and being on active service with them during the Indonesian Confrontation (Konfrontasi). He re-joined the Bn in Germany in 1966 as 2IC B Coy. He left the Army in 1969.
WOLLEY
23657921 Cpl Trevor WOLLEY died on
17 June 2020 aged 87. Trevor enlisted in the 1st Bn The Sherwood Foresters on 5 May 1958, he was a Coy operator and had passed cadre in Pln weapons at Hythe “C” Army Outward Bound Towyn. Trevor served with Recce Platoon in Malaya and Cyprus and held the GSM Clasp Malaya, UN Cyprus and was discharged on 4 May 1964
WRIGHT
Brig Antony ‘Tony’ Peter WRIGHT MBE died on 18 July 2020 aged 81. Tony was commissioned from RMA Sandhurst into the 1st Bn The Sherwood Foresters on 19 December
1958. He joined the Bn in mid-1959 as a Pln Comd in Malaya towards the end of the emergency and was promoted to Lt in December 1960 when the Bn had moved to become the Garrison Bn in Singapore. He continued serving with the Bn, when it moved first to Church Crookham in May 1961 and then to Hollywood in NI, as the Regimental Signal Officer. After the Bn’s return to Colchester he deployed to Cyprus on Boxing Day 1963, during the Cyprus Crisis, before moving as an instructor to the Army Outward Bound School in Towyn, North Wales. He returned to the 1st Bn in Minden in Germany as Adjt in May 1967 and was then selected for staff training
at the Royal Military College of Science
at Shrivenham and the Staff College at Camberley from 1970 to 1972 and was promoted to Maj in June 1971. He served as a Coy Comd with 1st Bn The Royal
Hampshire Regiment from 1972 until 1973, which included a tour of duty in Lurgan, NI, where, on patrol, he was shot and wounded suffering injuries that would be with him for the rest of his military service. From 1974 to 1975 he served as a Grade 2 Staff Officer
in GS(OR)5 in London before becoming
2IC of 1 WFR in 1976 then attending the National Defence College at Latimer in 1978. In July 1979 he took over as CO 1 WFR as the Bn moved from Colchester to Hemer to become a mechanised Bn within 3rd Armoured Division. Post-command, Tony served as AAG/COS at HQ The Prince of Wales Division in Lichfield then again
as a Grade 1 Staff Officer in Operational Requirements before promotion to Colonel in June 1986 when he became the Project Manager for Infantry Weapons, a role which included the development of the SA80 rifle. On promotion to Brigadier in June 1988 he became Vice President of the Ordnance Board in London. He left the Army in October 1989.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
95