John
was born in Westminster, London, on 14th December 1926.
He enlisted
as a volunteer in the London Irish Rifles on 14th June 1944. He
then volunteered to become a parachutist and went through his
training at Hardwick and Ringway, where he was in the middle of
his Para training when the War ended.
His first
Airborne posting was to the 4th Parachute Battalion, then
returning from Italy and Greece. The Brigade was then sent to
Palestine, to the unpleasant and unrewarding task of
peace-keeping. Whilst there John transferred to Signals and joined
the Signals of the 3rd Parachute Brigade. This
ended his full-time Service and he was demobilised at the end of
1947. however he at once joined the T.A. unit, Artists Rifles, SAS
in London.
When the
Korean War began, volunteers were sought for an SAS unit to
operate in Korea and John joined this. however, in spite of
lengthy training, the unit was not used in Korea, but instead was
sent to Malaya, where the Emergency had been absorbing much
of Britain's military effort for years. Here he served with Deep
Penetration Infantry and then carried out a parachute descent and
subsequent operation lasting for six weeks, in isolation. He
again reverted to Civilian life in 1952.
He migrated
to Australia in 1965 and in 1968 enlisted in the Royal Australian
Air Force, where he served for six years. During this time he was
trained as a Vietnamese interpreter and worked in that capacity in
Vietnam.
