Tom was born in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, on 11 May 1926. He was a lorry driver prior to enlisting in the Army on 4 April 1946 and joined the 90 PTC and then went to the 62nd Training Regiment RAC where he qualified as a Dvr/Mech 11.

Cpl T Hammond
Cpl T Hammond

He was promoted to lance corporal in January 1947 and joined the 8th King’s Royal Hussars at Lingen BAOR in November 1947. He was with the Regiment when they left Germany in February/March 1948 to return to the UK and was stationed at Leicester.

Tom was promoted to corporal in August 1948.

In 1948 the Malayan Emergency was declared when Communist elements of the Chinese population were intent on taking over the country.

The 4th Queen’s Own Hussars were put on alert to prepare for service in Malaya and regular soldiers from other RAC Regiments were asked to volunteer to join the 4th Hussars to bring them up to strength.

Tom was one of those volunteers and sailed with the Regiment to Malaya in August 1948. He served in ‘C’ Squadron in Malaya and Hong Kong until he returned to the UK to attend a D and M Instructors Course at Bovington in 1950.

On completion of the Course, Tom married Patricia the girl he went to school with and then returned to the Regiment in the Far East. The Regiment returned to the UK in December 1951 and Tom was discharged to the Reserve in May 1953.

Tom was employed by the Bridlington Town Council for 34 years until his retirement. He was a very keen fisherman, both sea and coarse fishing.

He died on 13 June 2007 aged 81.

Related topics

  1. A short history of The 8th Hussars