Major Angus Leacroft Drew RMP – By the Regimental Secretary
Major Angus Drew,who died of cancer on the 19th October aged 77, was from a generation of RMPOfficers who enjoyed very varied careersin an Army that still served around the globe in outposts of Empire and on active service,and will be remembered for his quiet and dignified manner that earnedhim the sobriquet of ‘Posh Jock’ from his RMP NCOs, albeit he was Norfolk born and bred!
After some soldier-service with the Royal Norfolk Regiment, training at Britannia Barracks, Norwich in 1955, he went up to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in January 1956, passing-out in December 1957, after successful completion of the then two-year long Commissions course. Gazetted in the Corps of Royal Military Police and after Military Police Officer training, he was posted on active service to Cyprus in July 1958, during the EOKA Emergency. He would later recall that he had felt his most dangerous moment was teaching the British civilians to fire pistols for their own protection! He then undertook anattachment with the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry in 1959, which was reportedly one of the happiest parts of his Service career. As often happened at the end of RMP Officer Attachments to the Infantry, the Battalion wanted him to stay, but Angus was at heart a Military Policeman and returned to the Corps commencing a tour of duty in the Far East; in Malaya and Hong Kong with the Ghurkha Military Police (GMP) from October 1959 to April 1961.On returning to the UK, he had various postings culminating with a spell at 5 Brigade, based at Tidworth. It was during this posting that he met his future wife Mary whom he married in 1968. Posted to West Berlin in 1970, he was reassigned to Helmstedt later that year on promotion to Major, to assume command of 246 Provost Company, the Autobahn Control Detachment responsible, along with the UK’s US and French allies, for access control to the only sanctioned road corridor running through communist East Germany to West Berlin. As the ranking officer, Angus was the de facto Allied Commandant at ‘Checkpoint Alpha’ liaising with the American, French and Russians and also with West German border guards (Bündesgrenschutz) and the BritishFrontierService. From 1973-1975, he was Deputy Assistant Provost Marshal Eastern District, based in Colchester, before an eventful tour on Active Service commanding 175 Provost Company, RMP in Belfast and Aldergrove. Command of 160 Provost Company at Aldershot followed where he learnt to ride with the Mounted Troop on the principle that he never asked his soldiers to do anything that he couldn’t do himself! He then left the Army quite suddenly in 1979, and being the intensely private man he was, literally dropped-off the ‘regimental radar’ as he clearly felt that his time in the Army was past and that a new life beckoned. He worked for National Car Parks in management roles for a good few years and in his final retirement manned, as a volunteer, the local police station and a great supporter of his parish church.