Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant Barry Hirst

Barry Hirst began military service as a Boy Soldier with the Royal Armoured Corps(RAC), based at Bovington.

He joined the 4th Hussars in 1955 and saw service as part of the BAOR in Hohne, Germany. He 1958 he began his Airborne service with 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) and took part in the deployments to Cyprus, Kuwait, Bahrain and Libya, before rejoining the Hussars with the Queens Royal Irish (QRIH) in 1962, where he served in Singapore, Borneo and the Ipoh region of Malaysia.  

In 1964 he began four years service with Parachute Squadron RAC, including deployments to Aden, Radfan and the Gulf States. After a short spell back with the QRIH, in 1969 he became a Staff Instructor at the Guided Weapons Wing, Gunnery School RAC based at Lulworth, then later Paderborn, Germany.

In 1971 he rejoined the QRIH and took part in the UN mission to Cyprus, and attained the rank of SQMS during this period.

Leaving the military for several years following 22 years regular service, Danny re-entered service as a Volunteer to 10 PARA in 1983, forming part of 5 Coy of the Home Service Force (HSF), a Territorial/Volunteer force established as Home Defence unit against sabotage in 1980s.

He is still active in the Airborne community and PRA, and now volunteers regularly at the Airborne Assault Museum, Duxford.