John P West

John was born in Southampton on 8 April 1940. He enlisted at Bournemouth on 26 June 1962 into the Household Cavalry and badged to The Life Guards.

Having passed the parachute course in June 1963 he was then posted to join the Parachute Guards Company and served with them as part of the Far East Land Force in Malaysia from 1964 to 1965.

He later voluntarily transferred to the Royal Army Medical Corps on 3 February 1967 and subsequently qualified as a male nurse and completed a short tour in Cyprus with the Middle East Land Force between September 1970 and November 1970.

He was later posted to join 23 (Parachute) Field Ambulance RAMC in March 1972 before being discharged on 25 June 1974 having served for twelve years and promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.

Following his Army service in 1974 he went on to work for the brewery Carlsberg in Northampton for the next thirty years until 2004 when he retired. John joined the Royal Hospital on 26 March 2018 was posted to Long Ward 23 as part of Number 3 Company. John died in Jones Ward on 19 January 2024 aged 83.