My name is Tony Disberry I was in the junior Para's from May 1972 to spring 1973 but the transferred out. When I left I lost touch with someone called Angus Beaton (or Beeton) from the Norfolk area. I have often wondered what happened to him. People new me as Walter, long story!! If anybody has any details of him or any of the others there at that time please could you or they contact me [email protected]

Best Wishes Tony

ANYONE WHO HAS SERVED IN THE ARMED FORCES FROM 31 MARCH 1975 FOR LESS THAN A FULL PENSIONABLE CAREER BUT FOR FIVE YEARS OR MORE, QUALIFIES FOR A PRESERVED PENSION. THIS ALSO EXTENDS TO THOSE WHO SERVED FOR FIVE YEARS OR MORE IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO 31 MARCH 1975. TO QUALIFY ONE MUST HAVE BEEN AGED 26 YEARS OR OVER AFTER THE QUALIFYING PERIOD. IF AWARDED, THE PRESERVED PENSION WILL BE PAYABLE AT THE 60 YEARS OF AGE POINT. IT CAN BE PAID AT AN EARLIER DATE SHOULD A PERSON WHO QUALIFIES BECOME PERMANENTLY INCAPABLE OF WORK THROUGH PHYSICAL OR MENTAL INFIRMITY. IT IS UP TO PERSONS WISHING TO CLAIM TO CONTACT THE MOD AT THE AGE OF 60 AS THEY WILL NOT NECESSARILY KNOW YOUR CURRENT ADDRESS.

CAN YOU HELP

From: "Alan Frost" <[email protected]>
Subject: Jim Laker
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 18:01:02 +0100
I'm trying to locate friends of Francis James Laker who died two years ago.He was a 

GPMG gunner with D-company 2 para during the Falklands war.His wife was Anne Laker 

and I am his son Reece. His death has left us all with allot of unanswered 

questions and I desperately need to understand more about my father as he was 

exceptionally reluctant to discuss his previous experiences with Para reg. 

He was suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder and chose to take his own 

life, I need to know more about the things which were eating away at him and 

if anyone here can offer any insight into this I would be eternally grateful.

Kind regards.

Reece Laker.

You can contact me at my friends e-mail address: =
[email protected]

From Jimmy Davis (ex 3 PARA, 22 SAS)

Hello Mitch I hope you are well. At the moment Liam and I are working in
the Cayman Islands, we have had a good laugh at some of the stories. It
a great way of keeping in touch with the lads as we all still seem to be
traveling the world and don't make it to Blandy's reunion. My address is
[email protected] I would appreciate it if you could enter it on to your
" Para Site" and hopefully I will here from some old friends. All the
best, keep low and move fast. Jimmy.

To contact Jimmy: mailto:[email protected] 

Subject: Mad Mitch's Para Page.
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 08:57:43 +0300

Hi Mitch,

Well done on establishing your Para Page, I can't get up most of your =
pages, story of my life, however, your brief history of Cyprus on the =
deployment page left out a significant part of 1 Para history, our =
deployment there in 1958/9. We were airlifted in a rush from Blackbush =
in an armada of all sorts of aircraft that included Coastal Command =
Shackleton Bombers, bloody near froze to death, arrived 24 hours later =
after a short stop in Malta. Initially based at Whittingdon Camp Ayios =
Demetios near Nicosia, patrols commenced immediately in the Kyrenia =
mountains. We had a number of incidents that included the loss of a =
couple of HQ guys driving over a mine, one guy I recall as L/cpl Kelly =
lost a leg in that incident, we shared a ward in BMH Nicosia.
Another major incident that didn't go down too well followed the shooting of two Brit RAF wives in Ledra Street, (Murder Mile) Nicosia, I =
recall that one was a Mrs. Cunliffe. All troops were confined to camp, =
however a blind eye was turned when a mass"over the wall "exercise was =
carried out that resulted in a large number of the local population =
being hospitalized and the Battalion were banished to the Troodos =
mountains.
Every ones" friend" dear old "Nobby" was Provo Sgnt. I must have been =
his favorite, I seemed to spend most of my time in his jail or doing =
petrol escort duty to Limmosol, an all day trip through bandit country, =
I'm convinced there was a message from him in there somewhere.
I could go on for ever, maybe I too should start a Para Page. any way =
mate, once again, congratulations and may it prove to be a success, I =
look forward to keeping in touch.

Best regards
Jim "Pidge" Pidgeon ex 1 Para Support Coy. Anti Tanks/Company Boot =
Mender or was it cobblers.
1956/61
  I've been living and working in the Middle East since 61 and hope to =
retire back to Blighty in the middle of this year. I am currently trying =
to set up a web site for my business, I procure and sell military =
clothing, camo fabrics and equipment to various military and civil =
authorities around the Gulf,
perhaps you may consider exchanging links on our respective web pages =
once I'm up and running.

From: Michal Price <[email protected]>
Date: 10 February 2000 06:41

Hi Mitch, I was in 2Para 54/57 31 training Pl Maida Bks, H.Q. & B coy, 

was in Cyprus/Suez although clasp on gsm is near east. You have a very 

good web page.  I am in the process of putting a page together for the 

2 PARA CYPRUS/SUEZ 1956 GROUP we had our first reunion in NOV 1996 for 

the 40th anniversary, we are now in the process of organizing for Nov 

2001, we have around 120 addresses/members. Once again, good page,

excellent job.  God Bless. Michael Price. Vancouver Island, Canada. 
email [email protected] 
 

From: Simon Harrison <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Date: 17 February 2000 11:40

Dear Mitch,

I have been hunting around various sites and came across a link to 

yours. I hope you may be able to help me. My father was an airbourne 

engineeer during WWII serving in Italy, Greece and S France I believe. 

Sadly he passed away 5 years ago and all I have of his military history 

are his medals. like many old soldiers he prefered not to talk about 

his experiences, however i am extremely proud of whatever he and many 

others did. I have 2 sons myself and would like to be able to pass 

some of this family history on to them.

My question is how could I find out about his career in the army? 

You may be able to point me in the right direction or indeed may have 

some history yourself. He was invalided out of the army in the early 

50's at the rank of WO1. His name was Joseph Harrison and originally 

came from Salford. His final years were spent here on the Isle of Man, 

and I was very proud to receive on his behalf a medal from the Greek 

government for the contribution made by the Airbourne forces during 

that campaign.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards

Simon Harrison
______________________________________________________

From: moira.taynton <[email protected]>
To: Simon Harrison <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: 
Date: 18 February 2000 16:03

Hi Simon,

Your father would have served with 1 (Parachute) Squadron, RE as part of 2nd
2(Independent) Para Brigade who were in Italy, Southern France and 

Greece.You will find details of those three campaigns in "Men of the 

Red Beret" by Max Arthur (Hutchinson, London, 1990), your local library 

should have it.Following are some addresses that may be helpful, you 

should quote your father's army number in any correspondence:

Airborne Forces Museum, Browning Barracks, Aldershot, GU11 2BU
(01252-349619)
Royal Engineers Museum, Brompton Barracks, Chatham (01634-406397)

Your father's military records will be at the Public Records Office, Kew,
but I don't know what the time limit is for accessing them, I know First
World War records are now released.

9 (Para) Sqn, RE have a web-site, I don't know the URL but you can 

access it via a link on Ex Red Devils Worldwide
http://www.members.tripod.com/~audgen/index.html.

Wally Gee, [email protected] joined the RE in 1955 and became Para 

RE in 1956.  He may, just, have known your father but the odds are slim, however
he may be able to put you in touch with somebody else.  Sitting here
thinking, that is about all I can do.  Good luck and don't hesitate to
contact me again if need be.

Regards

Mitch
>
From: moira.taynton  To: Simon Harrison  Subject: Re: Date: 19 February 

2000 09:52 

Hi Simon, Further to my e-mail yesterday, I have found out that army 

records of service can be obtained from: MoD, Army Records Centre, 

Bourne Ave, Hayes, UB3 1RF 

Regards 

M

itch > 

From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: HEY DROP ME A LINE
Date: 20 February 2000 01:18

Hey Mate
If you remember Tich Whitehead then you remember me. Same guy. Just got 

in 
contact with Blue and found your web, great page take care.
Tich