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John Dixie Churchill

1932-2008

By courtesy of The Castle, the journal of the Royal Anglian Regiment.

John left Framlingham in 1951 and after Sandhurst he was commissioned into the Suffolk Regiment (and its successors) in which he served for 21 years. This service included time in Trieste, Wuppertal, Cyprus during the EOKA uprising and in the Gulf States, including Oman where he was awarded his Military Cross. The Citation for his M.C. in The London Gazette of 22nd May 1959 was:

During the last two months of 1958, whilst training a half company of the Armed Forces of the Sultan of Oman, Captain Churchill, by his courage and personal leadership of many patrols, imbued the troops with a confidence which enabled them to operate at will in the mountain refuge of the Omani rebels.

On one occasion he went forward alone to within a short distance of the enemy thereby causing them to reveal their position and enabling decisive action to be taken against them.

On another occasion he established a patrol within 50 yards of a rebel post and held his ground until the enemy withdrew under heavy covering fire from other posts. Although slightly wounded, Captain Churchill then successfully extricated the patrol.

After 6 weeks leave in June 1959, he returned to assume the adjutancy of the Muscat Regiment. In October 1960, he was appointed to the Apprentice School at Aborfield as 2nd in command of the Senior Coys. Here he remained until September 1962, when he rejoined his former regiment now the 1st East Anglian Regiment at Felixstowe. While at Felixstowe he married Valerie, a marriage which lasted for 46 years until she died in 2006.

In January 1964 he proceeded with his regiment to Aden and was involved in operations in Radfan between Aden and Dhala at a height of 3000ft. In December 1964 his Company was sent to the Yemen border to thwart the Yemenese in their attack on a radar station. His next move was back to Suffolk where he became Training Major for the Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Regiment TA which included training 3 CCFs including Woodbridge School and the College.

After John’s retirement the TA established the Home Service Force and John returned to the Army who were pleased to use the experience of an outstanding soldier in a training role. He was appointed O.C. E Company 6 Royal Anglian Regiment and filled this role of continuous training of the TA Home Service Force until his final retirement in 1989.

Sadly the last few years of John’s life were not of the best quality as he was beset by dementia and Parkinson’s disease. At his funeral on 4th September 2008 ex-members of the Home Service Force formed a Guard of Honour.

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