George died on 12 February 1995.

He joined the 7th Queen’s Own Hussars when they were stationed in Cairo, from the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.

As with all the old 7th Hussars, he had an arduous period of service, firstly overcoming the heat and sand as well as the battles of the desert campaign, and then the traumatic battles of the Burma Retreat from Rangoon in February 1942.

After destroying all their equipment and armour, along with other members of the Regiment near Kalewa on the river Chindwin, he made his escape into India.

The remnants of the 7th Hussars were assembled at Dhond near Poona for a short period of rest and recuperation and then to be brought up to strength as a fighting force once again.

The Regiment was re-equipped with American Grant tanks, and after a brief spell of training, they were subsequently moved to the Bagdhad area in Iraq for further training in the new equipment.

There was more training in the Aleppo and Baalbeck areas before the Regiment returned to Egypt prior to its move to Italy in 1943.

George served in northwest Europe and took his discharge from the Army in April 1946.

He re-enlisted a year later and spent some time at the RAC Depot and a period of two years with the Worcestershire Hussars as a WO2 before finally returning to the 7th Hussars in 1953. He accompanied them to Hong Kong in August 1954 as SQMS of ‘B’ Squadron.

The Regiment returned home to Tidworth in October 1957 prior to the amalgamation of the 7th Hussars with the 3rd Hussars in November 1958.

He served just one month as a Queen’s Own Hussar before taking his discharge in December 1958. George was an efficient, reliable and meticulous SQMS, not noted for his sense of humour, but very sound in his judgement of all things military.

George will always be remembered for his party piece in the Warrant Officers’ and Sergeants’ Mess; on infrequent occasions, it was his rendering of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Road to Mandalay’.

He would climb onto a convenient table and sing the famous ballad with gusto, and when he came to the chorus with the words ‘where the flying fishes play, he would launch himself from the table into the arms of some of his pals who would thus catch him to roars of laughter.

However, on several occasions, he came to grief when the catchers were not too steady on their feet and George would end up on the floor fortunately without harm. George was quite a character and will be remembered by all that knew him.

Related topics

  1. A short history of The 7th Hussars
  2. Timeline: Middle East (Egypt and Libya)
  3. Timeline: Burma 1942
  4. Timeline: Italy 1943-5