9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2001 - Page 0092
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2001 |
| Transcription |
92 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) 9/12L Charitable Association for many years as a Case Officer investigating applications for grants when some of his less for- tunate soldiers needed help. We all send his wife Babs and his daughter Verena our deepest sympathies. Desmond Maloney MM esmond Maloney was born in Harrow in 1917 and enlisted into the 9th Queens Royal Lancers. He was one of the Last soldiers to pass out of the riding school before the Regiment was mechanised and equipped with tanks at the outbreak of World War 11. His first trade was that of farrier and upon mechanisation he was with logic only found in the Ministry of Defence retrained as a fitter. It was felt that all farriers would have the mechanical aptitude for such a conversion. He was with the 9th both in the Expeditionary Force in 1939 and 1940 and also when the Regiment deployed to North Africa. By this time he had been promoted to Sergeant. In 1942 in the Knightsbridge Area it was his determination and endurance that even under heavy enemy fire when he would repair damaged tanks on the battlefield, that won him his Military Medal. He was eventually wounded and evacuatedback to England. He was lucky nor to have lost his hand when a piece of shrapnel all but severed his wrist. In England he was posted to Sandhurst as an instructor but this was not to his liking and with the luck of the Irish he managed to get a passage to Naples as by that time the Regiment had already deployed to Italy. After the War Maloney was posted to Kenya where he served in an Armoured Car Regiment. At one point he had to escortJomo Kenyatta 7 later to be come his country’s President 7 to and from court where he was being tried for insurrection. He returned to the 9th to be promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major until 1956. On retirement Maloney returned to East Africa where he trained as a farm manager. He moved to Rhodesia when Kenya became independent, as he did not wish to take on Kenyan nationality as Kenyatta had decreed for all eX-patriots. He then worked for the Rhodesian Ministry of Agriculture and later for the Anglo- American Corporation as a Personnel Manager. ‘Des’ Maloney as he was know to many of his friends took an active part in the Regimental Old Comrades Association. He served the Committee as a member and as Secretary. For this he will always be remembered as a knowledgeable and faithful sup- porter who’s advice was always worth listening to. Not long before his death he still demonstrated to a military re-enactment society the correct lance drill which he of course knew only too well. Although he never married his family was the Regiment and he will be sorely missed. Major Patrick Waller MBE hose, who knew Major Pat Waller will remember him as a very able and likeable Officer and they will be very much saddened by his death in October 2001. Pat Waller joined the 12th Royal Lancers late in 1943 when the Regiment was still in North Africa. On deployment to Italy in the Spring of 1944 he commanded 5 Troop until the end of the war. It was he who first entered the fortified town of Palmanova in the Friuli Region and called on the German Garrison Commander to surrender. This demand was very foolishly refused and, although the town was by then surrounded, the Germans attempted to break out that night. Heavy losses were inflicted on the enemy troops and those who thought that they may have got away ran into the arms of 6 Armoured Division who were waiting for them in Udine just 15 miles to the North. After the war he served with the Regiment at Barnard Castle and then attended the Staff College. This meant that he served only towards the end ofthe Malaya tour with the regiment. However, after a tour in Germany he returned to Malaya and joined the Special Military Intelligence Staff . He spent a month in the jungle on an operation, which secured the surrender of Hor Lung, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Malayan Communist Party. For his work in Malaya he was awarded a richly deserved MBE. He then commanded C Squadron when the regiment served in Cyprus and remained with the Regiment until amalgamation. His last appointment in the new Regiment was A Squadron Leader and he retired in 1966. After retirement Pat settled down in Monmouthshire and together with his wife Joyce and took on the running of his estate at Hadnock. He very quickly took on many responsibili- ties in his county and was appointed a JP and Deputy Lieutenant for Monmouthshire. He became a governor of the Haberdashers’ School, Monmouth and served on many local committees for the benefit of the community. As a man, who abhorred modern ‘political correctness’ but who at the same time was punctilious in his manners, he will always be remem- bered for his kindness and his great sense of humour. Herbert George Huxford MBE DCM r Hquord was the oldest 9th 7... , Lancer when he died at the age 5’; of 94. He joined the Army in 1924 ‘ . , V“ and retired in 1953. Afterhis Service 4 in the Regiment he worked for London Transport. He and his wife then retired to the Isle of Wight. When he was B Squadron Sergeant Major in Italy he was made MBE having served with the Regiment throughout the war. His citation reads thus: “W0 11 Hquord is SSM of B Squadron 9th Queens Royal Lancers, and by his initiative and enterprise has contributed |
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