Andrew

I have been spending some time this month online looking for old friends who served with me in the military. This all started when I got a daily notice on FB for who's birthday it was. It was my first platoon leader, Sonny, from Vietnam in 1969. I happened to remember him posting a couple of years ago about having cancer from Agent Orange. So I went to his post to see what his status was.

The first post I saw was "Happy Birthday in Heaven". I didn't have to read more. I knew he had passed away. I read a few more and then decided to look at his friends' list. I found my second platoon leader, and through him, one of my medics. I have found five so far from Vietnam. I decided to look for more.

I had gone to a British Army school in England in 1971 for 13 months. It only had 30 army officers in my class: 24 British, 3 Australian, 2 US, and 1 Canadian. One of my friends I always remembered well was an officer in the Household Cavalry. This is one of the mounted units that protected the Queen. Andrew was a captain and belonged to the Life Guards. This unit wore bright red tunics (the Blues and Royals, the other mounted unit wore dark blue).

When I googled his name, it was a hyphenated name, I found him quickly. He had evidently died in 1985. Searching a little more I found that he was murdered in a botched robbery attempt in his house where he lived in Zimbabwe. He discovered the burglar, shot at him but missed. During the ensuing fight, the burglar wrestled the pistol from Andrew and shot him twice. A trial two years later found the man guilty and he was hanged for Andrew's murder. 

I plan on writing more about Andrew in the future, but for now here are a couple of photos that show him in our class. Not the best but the only ones I have. He is in the upper right corner.

As you can see, the Household Cavalry soldiers were selected for their height as well as other attributes. A lot like our own Old Guard who guard the Tomb of the Unknowns.

More later.