Page 245 - The Bugle 2018

John Mollo died, aged 86, on 25 October 2017. Born in London in 1931, he was the eldest of three sons of Eugene Simonovitch Mollo, a Russian emigré.
John was educated at Chaterhouse and was later commissioned in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. He then served as a National Service officer with 1st Battalion the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry in Hong Kong between 1949 and 1951.
He went on to become a specialist in military uniforms and an Oscar-winning costume designer, inter alia, iconic costumes for the Star Wars series of films. He was also a military author of note. His better known books include ‘Waterloo Uniforms’ (1973), ‘Into the Valley of Death’ (1991) and ‘From Corunna to Waterloo’ (2013).
One of John’s younger brothers, Boris, was Curator of the Shrop- shire Regimental Museum at the Castle in Shrewsbury for some years. Major Johnnie Ogden, who was a near neighbour of John Mollo while living in Faringdon, recalls him as a most charming and kind man of exceptional intellect and talent.
We offer our sincere condolences to John’s widow, Louise, and to their son, Tom.
Roy Tonge died, aged 75, in Shrewsbury on 6 August 2018. Roy started his working life in a brickyard and later as a signalman with British Rail in Yorkshire. He then decided to join the Army, and actually went on foot from Doncaster to Pontefract to enlist in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in November 1960. After passing out of the KOYLI Training Depot in April 1961 he served with 1KOYLI in Sennelager and Hilden (BAOR) until August of that year. Following another short posting to the Training Depot he rejoined 1KOYLI as part of Far East Land Forces based in Singapore and Malaysia. He went on to see active service with the Battalion during the so-called ’Confrontation’ with the Indonesian army in Borneo. By this time he had proved to be a competitive Regimental rugby and cricket player.
After two years at Headquarters Southern Command in Wilton he was posted to 1st Battalion the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry stationed at that time in Plymouth, and with company detachments in British Honduras. By August 1966 he was back with 1KOYLI based in Tidworth. He remained with the Battalion, during its next tour of duty in Berlin, from 1967 to 1968. After a spell at the Light Division Depot from 1968 to 1971 he served with 2LI in Colchester, Lemgo (BAOR) and Ballykinler successively between 1971 and 1979, including no less than six 4-month operational tours in Northern Ireland. His final five years in the Army took him to the Royal Artillery Depot in Woolwich, as Weapon Training Warrant Officer, and then to the Regimental Information Team in Shrewsbury. By the time he retired from the Regular Army, in the rank of WO2, in 1983 he had well and truly earned his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.
Roy finally settled in Shropshire where he worked for some years with Johnson Controls Automotive (UK) Ltd in Telford. Over seven years he devoted much of his spare time to the Shropshire Army Cadet Force, in the rank of Lieutenant, where he made his name as a first-rate Detachment Commander at Ellesmere and Harlescott respectively. At six foot four he was an unmistakeable and most welcome guest at Regimental reunions in Shrewsbury where he was regarded very much as an honorary ‘Shropshire Lad’; notwith- standing his reputation as a
straight-talking Yorkshireman, most of whose soldiering had been with his parent County Regiment. We offer our sincere condolences and kind thoughts to Roy’s widow, Jean, and to their three sons, Simon, Jonathan (who also served in 2LI) and Russell. We do hope that they will continue to feel very much part of the Regimental family for many years to come.
Major Terence Michael (Tim) Tyler died, after a long period of ill health bravely borne, on 15 January 2018.
Having held a TA commission since 1959 Tim Tyler came into the Regular Army from Oxbridge under the University Direct Entry Scheme. He joined The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry while the 1st Battalion was stationed in Münster (BAOR) in the early 1960s, serving as a Platoon Commander. The Battalion then moved to Plymouth, and he was appointed Regimental Signals Officer. When 1KSLI deployed to the Far East as part of 28 Commonwealth Brigade he worked initially as PSO to Chief of Staff HQ FARELF (Singapore) and then re-joined the Battalion in Terendak (Malaysia) where he served as OC Command Company with a variety of Regimental responsi- bilities including running the PRI.
From 1971 to 1973 he served as Assistant Defence Attaché at the British Embassy in Rome. His next posting was back to 3LI in Minden (BAOR) as OC HQ Company. As PMC of the Officers’ Mess there he quickly gained a reputation for organising various mess activities with consummate flair and panache. He carried his social and catering skills on to Headquarters
1 (BR) Corps in Bielefeld (BAOR) where, while serving on the staff as GSO2 SD (2), he is reported to have masterminded a number of social extravaganzas in the Corps Officers’ Mess.
On his retirement from the Army Tim maintained very few, and rare, contacts with his old Regiment. However, he made a name for himself as an antiques dealer, chairman of the War Pensions Committee for Wiltshire and two terms of office as Mayor of Malmesbury. He will long be remembered for giving a mayoral press conference when the famous ‘Tamworth Two’ narrowly saved their bacon after swimming across a river to freedom from the local abattoir!
Those who served with Tim Tyler remember him as a somewhat unorthodox character who nevertheless achieved very high standards of training and administration through an exceptional eye for detail. We extend our condolences to Tim’s family and friends who must surely miss, inter alia, his colourful personality and inimi- table sense of style.
Lieutenant Colonel HC Watson TD died on Saturday 16th June 2018, aged 80 years old. Henry Watson, who was always known as Chris or Christopher joined 6 LI in 1971. Previously he served in The Queen’s Bays where, having been commissioned in April 1957, he soldiered in Libya as a Troop Leader. Then, and beginning in 1958, he enjoyed nine years with the North Somerset and Bristol Yeomanry. In 1967, following further change with The Queen’s Own Dorset and West Somerset Yeomanry and The Somerset Light Infantry, he served within The Somerset Yeomanry and Light Infantry.
In 1971 a further amalgamation took place that saw Chris Watson becoming Officer Commanding B Company (Yeovil) within 6th (Somerset and Cornwall) Battalion The Light Infantry (Volunteers). Later he became Battalion Second in Command. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Christopher Watson commanded 6 LI from April 1979 until June 1981. He commanded the parade at the Royal Crescent, Bath when the Queen Mother presented the Battalion with their Colours. As a civilian, he worked as a Land Agent.
Reg Steventon Having received the Legion d’Honneur from the French government a few months before, Reg Steventon sadly passed away on 21 September 2017, aged 98.
Reg served with the Herefordshire
Regiment and then with 2nd Battalion
King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, with which
he landed in Normandy on D Day, 6th
June 1944. He fought the long campaign
of 1944/5 through France, Holland and
Germany, where the battalion fought its
final action near Bremen in late April 1945. He returned to England in 1946 and after demobilisation worked for many years for GKN Sankey in Telford. He was an active member of the local Armed Forces Veterans’ Breakfast Club right up until his death, and the presentation of his Legion d’Honneur at a club meeting was covered by local radio and television.
We offer our sincere condolences to his partner Nancy, family and friends.
THE RIFLES
REGIMENTAL ASSOCIATIONS 251