Born in Birmingham on 26 April 1930 Fred Liney grew up and attended school in the area.
On leaving school he became a maintenance fitter until joining the Army on 12 March 1948. He was allocated to the Royal Armoured Corps and on completion of his Corps Training with 8 RTR, he joined the 4th Hussars in July 1948.
The 4th Hussars at that time were being brought up to strength and trained on light armoured vehicles prior to being posted to Malaya to reinforce the Garrison there, which together with the Malayan Police Force were combating an insurrection by former members of the Malayan Peoples Anti Japanese Army (Communists) who wanted to take over Malaya.
Fred sailed with the Regiment (‘B’ Squadron) for Singapore on board the HMT Dilwara in August 1948.
After a short period in Singapore, the Regiment was split with squadrons posted to various locations throughout Malaya which resulted in members of the Regiment not knowing members of other squadrons.
Fred did have a respite from the rigours of the Malayan campaign when ‘B’ Squadron replaced ‘C’ Squadron in Hong Kong from August 1950 to February 1951.
He came home with the Regiment in November 1951 and served his last ten months at Mons OTC until his discharge to the Reserve in June 1953.
After leaving the Army Fred worked for Duckham Oil Company and then trained and worked as a washing machine service engineer until redundancy in 1988. His final job was with a tool hire company and he retired in 1996 aged 67.
In retirement, Fred said he missed the structure of going to work but found plenty to occupy him. He attended art classes and took up painting, enjoyed taking his grandchildren to the gym to go swimming and was a very keen gardener along with his wife Jean, they had a beautiful garden.
He was a member of the Malayan and Borneo Veterans Association and a keen member of the Royal British Legion and he was also a member of the OCA.
He married Jean in March 1958 (he had known her since she was 12 and he was 16). They had two daughters and two grandchildren, a boy and a girl.
Fred died on Remembrance Sunday, 12 November 2006 aged 76.
He was attending the Remembrance Parade with the Not Forgotten Association when he had a heart attack and died. He went out in style with a guard of honour and standard-bearers of the Legion.
