Page 216 - The Rifles Bugle Autumn 2019

BELL, Michael. Born 11 October 1940 and died on 23 November 2018 aged 79 years. Michael served in the Durham Light Infantry in Cyprus, Berlin, Hong Kong and Borneo. He was also former Secretary of Stockton Branch of the Durham Light Infantry Association.
BENGER, Keith Roland. Died 5 March 2019 at the age of 86. Corporal Keith Roland Benger served in the 1st Battalion DLI from 1950-1953. He died after a genuinely brave battle against the odds and age. He will never be forgotten. He remained “Faithful” to the end.
BOHANAN, Ian. Died on the 9th March 2019.
CAMBY, William Graham (Bill).
Born 11 November 1938 and died 21 January 2019. William Graham Camby (known as Bill) was born in Stanley, County Durham, on 11 November 1938, very proud of his Armistice Day birthday. His father died in service with the DLI in 1953 in Korea. He was very proud of his North East heritage and DLI family, attending many a reunion and golf day. He told many an army story to all his friends and family.
Bill married Jackie Camby in 1972,
they had a daughter Mariana and a son
Simon, plus two grandchildren. He lived
most of his life in Blackpool, working at
After a good retirement with his wife, playing golf, going on holiday and looking after the grandchildren. He died aged 80 of lung cancer in January 2019. He died just a month after his wife and he had a lovely funeral with his old friend Gerry Nichol as a standard bearer and a bugler playing The Last Post.
CASSIDY, Danny. Died 21 August 2018. Danny Cassidy, born in Stoke 1943, eldest of four children. At the age of two the family moved to Seaham County Durham. He left school aged 15 to work for the National Coal Board. Aged 18 he joined The Durham Light Infantry and served in Berlin, Kenya, Hong Kong, Borneo, Cyprus, Colchester and Ballykinler (NI).
It was in Ballykinler with 1LI that he met Catherine who he married in 1971, leaving the Army after 9 years’ service in 1970. He had a variety of jobs, but his passion was helping people so he
joined the RBL where he advanced in time to become a co-ordi- nator. He was also involved with Seaham War Memorials, NMBVA Borneo Veterans, Western Front Association and Neighbourhood Watch. He was also on the Board of Governors at Sunderland City Hospital.
He is sadly missed, including his mischievous smile and leaves behind his wife Catherine, children Helen, Julia and Daniel plus Granddaughter Felicity aged 2.
“People will forget what you said People will forget what you did But People will never forget, How you made them feel.
RIP Danny”
CRAWFORD, Robin. Born in 17 April 1932 and died 16 January 2019 aged 86. He served in the DLI from 1952-1968 and later in the Light Infantry.
As a company commander with
the DLI in the Borneo Confrontation
under commanding Officer, Lt Col
Gil Maughan, the then Major Robin
Crawford commanded B Coy located
at Plaman Mapu, with Major John Arnot
(A Coy) at Gunan Gajak and Major
Michael McBain (C Coy) at Nibong.
President Soekarno of Indonesia had
been fomenting trouble in the states in
the north of Borneo; Sarawak, Sabah and the sultanate of Brunei. Britain responded with the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade, a combination of forces from Australia, New Zealand and the UK of which the DLI was a part. The DLI conducted fighting patrols from their locations into Kalimantan known as Claret operations to ensure the security of the northern states. Borneo was the last operational tour of the DLI and ran from 1965-66.
Robin was promoted to Colonel in the Light Infantry on 30 June 1972. He served in Khartoum, Saudi Arabia, commanded the Cambridge University OTC, was GSO1 at RMA Sandhurst, and held various staff appointments until his retirement in 1986. Always a strong supporter of the DLI he was ever present at the DLI Officers Club Lunch and the DLI Annual Reunion in September each year. He was appointed OBE June 1978.
CHRISTIAN, Derek. Died 5 February 2019. Derek served in the 1st Bn The Durham Light Infantry. He served in C Coy DLI in Berlin 1961-63, Hong Kong 1963-65, Borneo 1965-66, and Colchester 1966-68. During 1968 he left the DLI and joined the ACC.
EAGLES, Charles. Died 19 January
2019. Charles Eagles, from Sunderland
served with the DLI during the Second
World War, he went on to found a
photography shop in Sunderland,
which had a branch in Durham. Origi-
nally from Newcastle-under-Lyme in
Stafford, Charles joined the DLI after
being mistakenly sent to Newcastle-up-
on-Tyne after he was injured falling off a
cliff while training with the Commandos
in Scotland. He became a sergeant
with the 9th Bn DLI, and was aged just
19 when he landed on Gold Beach, in
Normandy on 6 June 1944. In July that
year, while the DLI was making progress across France, he was badly injured when a mine exploded. While recuperating at Dryburn Hospital in Durham, he met his future wife Irene, from Meadowfield, and the couple went on to have two children, Brian and Sandra. Following Irene’s death in 1982 he married his second wife Lyn. In
BNFL as a process worker.
214 RIFLES OFFICES AND ASSOCIATIONS
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