Lenny enlisted into the Army on 22 August 1966 as a boy soldier.

He was posted to the Junior Leaders Regiment at Bovington to do his basic training before joining ‘C’ Squadron Queen’s Own Hussars in Hong Kong in October 1968.

He spent his early days with 5th and 6th Troops before moving to SHQ having gained his first promotion to Lance Corporal. ‘C’ Squadron rejoined the Regiment in Hohne in 1970.

In 1972 Lenny was transferred to Command Squadron as a Corporal in the Guided Weapons Troop. In 1974 he returned to ‘C’ Squadron as a member of the Mobile Display Team, which operated out of Bovington during the Regiments’ time as RAC Centre Regiment.

In 1976 Lenny was promoted to Sgt and returned to the Junior Leaders Regiment, from where he had become a soldier 10 years earlier! Once again on his return to the Regiment, he was posted back to ‘C’ Squadron to be their SHQ Troop Sergeant. In 1981 he was promoted to SSgt and appointed SQMS of ‘HQ’ Squadron.

After a short period as SQMS of ‘D’ Sqn in Berlin, he returned to the Regiment, now in Catterick, on promotion to WOII and became SSM of ‘HQ’ Squadron. When the Regiment returned to Hohne in 1985, Lenny was appointed RQMS and became the right-hand man to the Regimental Quartermaster.

In 1987 he left the Regiment and returned to Bovington to the Juniors Leaders Regiment as a WOII. In January 1988 he was promoted to WOI and posted to the Army Personnel Selection Centre in Sutton Coldfield. Whilst on this posting, Lenny applied for the Long Service List and was successful in extending his service for a further four years with the APSC in the paid rank of WOII.

Throughout his service, Lenny was an all-around soldier with a desire to extend his knowledge, in all things military. He attended a total of ten long and short courses obtaining ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades in those that required a ‘grading’ result, and good ‘PASS’ results in the others.

As an NCO he was very popular with young soldiers under his command who he nurtured and taught through the various aspects of their Army life. He treated everyone with the respect they deserved, and was always on hand to help anyone in trouble.

Lenny finally left the Army in May 1994 and went to work for Land Rover in the Midlands before moving to Dorset in the late 1990s. As a soldier, his loyalty to the Regiment had been second to none and very much the same could be said of him as an Old Comrade in supporting Troop Reunions. At one reunion he was heard to say ”They are all good mates and I love them all”.

Very sadly Lenny died suddenly on 18 November 2009 whilst on holiday in Devon.

Related topics

  1. A short history of The Queen’s Own Hussars