Tom Hughes, paratrooper who served at the Battle of the Bulge – obituary
He helped Belgian villagers to recover the bodies of young men shot in reprisal by the SS and later worked for The Daily Telegraph
Tom Hughes
Tom Hughes, who has died aged 96, saw action with the 9th Parachute Battalion (9 Para) in the Battle of the Bulge and the forced crossing of the Rhine.
On Christmas Eve 1944 Hughes and his comrades in 9 Para were looking forward to their Christmas dinner the following day. Instead, he found himself sleeping on the deck of an old Isle of Man ferry bound for Calais and then travelling by lorry to Belgium.
Robin Musson – ‘Proof that you don t have to be a bastard to get on’
Rear-Admiral Robin Musson,who has died aged 81, won relief for seagoers from the payment of the poll tax, and later became head of his profession.
As captain of HMS Cochrane, 1988–90, the naval shore establishment at Rosyth, Musson was also flag captain to the Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland, Vice-Admiral Sir Jock Slater. At their first meeting, Slater told Musson to focus on the unwelcome proposal that seagoers based in Scotland were expected to pay a proposed poll tax even when at sea.
Musson decided to invite Fife’s community charge registration officer to lunch. He had been warned that the man was a communist, but for that reason Musson thought he was just the man to sympathise with the sailors’ lot. When Musson explained the issue, the man exclaimed: “It’s my responsibility to decide who pays, not those b s in London!”
Colonel the Reverend Robbie Hall, underwater bomb disposal expert – obituary
He was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for neutralising a German bomb found under 40 feet of water at Beckton Gas Works
Colonel Robbie Hall
Colonel the Reverend Robbie Hall, who has died of cancer aged 63, was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for neutralising a German bomb in particularly hazardous circumstances.
In July 1986, Hall joined 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) as the Training Major. He became the leader of the regimental diving team, specialising in underwater bomb disposal.
On November 21, a civilian maintenance diver located what was thought to be a bomb at Beckton Gas Works, East London. It was under 40 feet of water in a large gasometer and was obstructing the workings of the equipment.