Private Edward Beach

Eddie served in A Company 4 PARA (V) in Liverpool. He was killed in the Kiel Canal incident during Exercise Bold Guard in Germany September 1974, in which four soldiers from 15 PARA (V) and an officer cadet from Heriot Watt University OTC also died.

Pte Beach was one of those who drowned in the Canal. His body was discovered at 14.15hrs on 13 September 1974.

He is now buried in Yewtree Catholic Cemetery West Derby Liverpool.

An Obituary in Pegasus Journal No1 January 1975:

Exercise ‘BOLD GUARD’

11th September 1974

On the night of 11th September 1974, a parachuting accident during the course of NATO exercise ‘BOLD GUARD’ in Germany resulted in the tragic deaths of

Capt Gerald Muir - A Coy, 15 PARA

Officer Cadet James Cooper - C Coy, 15 PARA

Sgt Richard Tomkins - B Coy, 15 PARA

Sgt Elliot Leask - Sp Coy, 15 PARA

LCpl Brian Bett - Sp Coy, 15 PARA

Pte Edward Beech [Beach] - A Coy, 4 PARA

All of us who were with them that night, and all past and present members of Airborne Forces, share with their relatives part of the burden of their loss. Our deepest sympathy and sincere condolences go to their wives, children and parents.

Teacher, student, engineer, postman, mechanic, and bricklayer – all were Volunteers in every sense of the word. They willingly and cheerfully accepted the rigours of military training and the challenge of parachuting. They were not dissuaded by the risks involved. Whilst we mourn their passing, we remember them with gratitude for what they were – fine young men from different backgrounds united by a spirit of adventure and the common bond of loyalty to both Regiment and country, in whose service they died.

Between them they totalled nearly thirty years of part-time soldiering in defence of peace and to the benefit to us all. We give thanks for the privilege of their comradeship, the pleasure of their company and the fine example they set us by their service.

Headstone photograph courtesy of www.palacebarracksmemorialgarden.org