Born in Hamburg Germany in June 1939 to German Parents and an Irish Grandmother, Hasso went to live with his Grandmother a fair time after the War ended travelling from Hamburg to Northern Ireland via Hull when Hasso was about 9 years old, this is where Hasso began his life as a very loyal Nationalized Irishman.

Sgt HL Eesemann
Sgt HL Eesemann

Educated in Northern Ireland, his first ambition on leaving school was to become a Radio Operator in the Merchant Navy, which he did, only to discover that he was tone deaf and had to leave the service.

His second ambition that he had, was to join the British Army, he joined The Queens Royal Irish Hussars in February 1960 in Belfast, and after his basic training at Catterick, he joined the Regiment and became one of the most dedicated and loyal members of the Regiment, his hard work in passing his trades and serving with the Psywar Unit he was soon to join the Promotion Ladder in 1961.

With his “Hands on Approach” and his leadership, he gained the respect of all who he came into contact with, he served with the Regiment in Aden and travelled with them to Ipoh Malaya were he was promoted in 1962, during the period in Malaya he continued to gain his qualifications and on his return to Germany with the Regiment, he attended a Signal Course at the R.A.C Centre Bovington he also passed a German Colloquial Language Course and was promoted Sergeant in 1966.

He was posted to the R.A.C.Gunnery School in 1968 as part of the pre-advance Party for the Regiment to become a range Sergeant, it was during this period that Hasso met Joyce who was staying with The Dunns, he was asked to escort Joyce to one of the Sergeants Mess Balls, Joyce was a Nursing Sister at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham at the time and was visiting Lulworth.

Hasso retired from the Regiment in January 1969 to join the Reserves, after nine years of dedicated service, he Married Joyce on the 21 June 1969 in Bristol. Having been employed as a Security Alarm Fitter and Television Engineer in Birmingham he moved to Bristol in 1970.

Attending College to study as an Avionics Engineer he did well and once qualified he was employed at British Aerospace in Bristol and soon gained promotion and became an Aircraft Electrics Inspector, being responsible for Quality control in the manufacture of Complex Electronic Components and the final certification to the exact design engineering drawing before they were fitted to the aircraft.

He worked on the Vickers Valiant Nuclear V Bombers, the Canberra Mk7 to Mk15 low-level strike aircraft, which was able to fly low under enemy Radars.

He also worked on the Concorde Mach 2 Supersonic aircraft being involved with the Prototype/Preproduction development and the Production series of which fourteen flew in service with British Airways and Air France. He was also involved with the A320 and visited Toulouse, Paris and Hamburg, finally retiring in 1995.

He was a very loyal member of York Troop and also visited other Troops giving them his support.

An interesting little story is that Hasso, Joyce; Margaret & Mik visited the town where he went to school, which was less than ten yards from the house he lived in. It was here that he was taken under the wing of three boys of his own age when he went to live in N.Ireland, as he could speak no English.

Related topics

  1. A short history of The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars
  2. Malaya and Borneo 1962-64