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FADED AWAY...

.....as old soldiers do. Hardly a week goes by these days when there is not a report of an old comrade, an old friend passing away.  One of the inevitabilities of getting older, I suppose. and there was  sad news for me yesterday when I heard that the gentleman in the photo above had left us the day after his 101st birthday.  I had the privilege of serving with him during my National Service days in the 10th Royal Hussars, based in what was then West Germany in the early 1960s.  He was Major Dougie Covill, DCM, MBE and he had a very long and distinguished military career and a full and rewarding life in his later years.

He was born in Croydon and joined the Army in 1937 whilst being a bit under age.  The 10th Hussars (`The Shiny Tenth`) were part of the 1st. Armoured Division sent to Normandy in May 1940.  In late 1941 the regiment was in North Africa and Dougie was by then a tank troop sergeant and in this front line role he fought in all the 8th Army battles in the Western Desert, Libya, Tunisia and Italy until the end of the war in May 1945.   He was wounded twice and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for acts of conspicuous bravery.

After the war the regiment moved to Austria and then to Lubeck on the Baltic coast, where Dougie met and married Inge in 1947.   After many years of moving through the ranks of Army life, in 1959 he was commissioned as Quartermaster for the 10th Hussars and it was in that capacity that I grew to know and respect him and he finally retired from the Army in 1970 with the rank of Major.

He then played a number of active roles with equal distinction, among them as Chairman of the Distinguished Conduct Medallist`s Association and Hampshire County President of the Royal British Legion, which resulted in his award of the MBE.   He represented Alresford on Winchester City Council and became Lord Mayor in 1987. 

In one of my former lives I was once despatched to Winchester to attend some meeting or other - possibly one of those tedious seminars - which was held in Winchester and  the delegates were welcomed by Dougie who opened proceedings in his mayoral capacity, so it was an opportunity to meet up with him again and recall our time together with the Shiny Tenth in Paderborn back in the 1960s.  The grandeur of his office had not affected Dougie - same smile, same easy going nature, always time for people - and he is missed by us former 10th Hussars who knew and admired a true gentleman.  It was a privilege to have known him and it is sad to learn that he has faded away like old soldiers do.   Rest in peace, Dougie - you`ve earned it.