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Northern Ireland (Operation Banner)
A brief honeymoon as peace keepers between two warring communities locked in civil unrest descended into a virtual civil war ...
Guardsman Walter F Massey began his military career with the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards in 1965, and served for a year as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR).He transferred to become part of No 1 Guards Parachute Company in 1966. He served three years with the Coy, deployed to Northern Ireland at the start of the Troubles, and earning the GSM.
He returned to his parent Guards unit in 1970, and was deployed to Sharja in the Gulf (now part of the United Arab Emirates), before detachment to the 2nd Scots Guards in 1971. He rejoined the Guards Parachute Coy, before deployment to British Honduras in the West Indies a year later.
In 1973, he was attached to 4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (4 PARA) where he travelled to the Far East. Here he spent a further two years with the Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery (RNZA), before returning to his parent regiment once more. He was deployed to Hong Kong in 1975 for a year.
Finally returning to the UK, he joined the Army Cadet Force, with whom he spent 30 years, in Greater Manchester. He was an active member of the veteran community, as part of the Guards Parachute Association.
Walter Massey died on 18 October 2012 in Hyde Cheshire.
Service History
- 1965 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards (Guardsman)
- 1966 No 1 (Guards) Independent Parachute Company (Guardsman)
- 1970 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards (Guardsman)
- 1971 2nd Scot Guards
- 1971 No 1 (Guards) Independent Parachute Company (Guardsman)
- 1972 Grenadier Guards (Guardsman)
- 1973 The 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment (4 PARA) (Guardsman)
- 1974 Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery (RNZA) (Not known)
- 1975 Grenadier Guards (Guardsman)
- 1977 Army Cadet Force (Not known)
