Page 211 - Bugle Autumn 2014

TAYLOR, John, who died in July
and who’s funeral was very well
attended in Colchester on 17 July
14. John joined The DLI in the
early 1960’s and served in Berlin,
Hong Kong, Borneo, Cyprus and Colchester, where he settled after
leaving the Army. He was best remembered for his time as 1DLI
MT Cpl and as one of the original
founders of the Borneo Veterans Association Colchester Branch
and also founder of the 1 DLI
Reunion held annually in Chester- le-Street. John was confined to a wheelchair in his latter years. Sadly missed
STRAUGHIER, Keith. Died Monday 3 March 2012. Keith joined 1DLI in 1963 and was posted to Hong Kong and served in Borneo. He married Jenny in 1967 in Colchester and in 1969 he joined 2LI. He with Richard Softley was founder and instrumental to raising the original funds for The DLI Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in 2012.
TOWNSEND, Sir Cyril David. Cyril Townsend, son of Lt Col C M Townsend late The Durham Light Infantry was born on 21 December 1937. He was educated at Bradfield College. He was commissioned from The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst into his father’s regiment – the DLI. He joined the 1st Bn on operations against EOKA
in Cyprus in 1958. He then served in Honiton
as Intelligence Officers and in 1962/63 as Signal Officer in Berlin. When the Battalion moved to Hong Kong he became the Governor Sir David Townsend’s ADC. In late 1965 he rejoined the Battalion as Adjutant on operations in Borneo against the Indonesians. On the return to the UK he retired in 1968.
He was an inspiring leader with outstanding high standards. Most respected and enjoyed working with and for him. He was a first class middle distance and cross country runner and keen tennis player.
On leaving the Army he became Personal Assistant to Mr Edward Heath until 1970 when he became Political Secretry to
the GLC Leader Sir Bernard (later Lord ) Plummer. In 1974 he was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Bexleyheath. He proved himself to be an independently minded Tory back bencher. He was open and liberal minded on many subjects. He was a great believer in local government notably immigration. His concern over child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children most deep. He introduced the Private Member: Protection
of Children Bill and saw it become law as the Protector of Children Act 1978. He was a director on the council for the Advancement of Arab/ British understanding, he was convinced that there could not be peace in the Middle East
without the creation of a Palestinian State.
On his retirement in 1997 he was knighted. In retirement he
lived in Devon, continued to play tennis and sang in the local choir. He wrote regularly for the Western Gazette. He died on 20 November 2013 and is survived by wife, Anita and two sons.
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