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24 Facts About Bala Bredin

1.

Bala Bredin was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

2.

Bala Bredin deployed with the regiment to Palestine where he was quartered in a village called Bala.

3.

Bala Bredin killed every 15th man, three in total, in one village that failed to produce rifles.

4.

Bala Bredin took part in counter-insurgency with Major Orde Wingate's Special Night Squads.

5.

Bala Bredin was awarded the Military Cross in a clash at a notorious ambush point on the Tulkarm-Nablus road, in April 1938, and a Bar to the award a month later in a similar action.

6.

Bala Bredin was mentioned in dispatches for his services in Palestine.

7.

Bala Bredin participated in the Battle of France in 1940, serving with the Royal Ulster Rifles.

8.

In 1944, Bala Bredin was commanding the 6th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Italy.

9.

Bala Bredin was tasked with breaching the Gustav Line, the German defensive position, leading the 78th Division in the engagement.

10.

Bala Bredin was injured while on the start line for the attack but carried on with the engagement until loss of blood led to his fainting and he was evacuated.

11.

Bala Bredin then served as with the Sudan Defence Force between 1949 and 1953.

12.

Bala Bredin went on to command the 2nd Parachute Regiment at Suez and on Cyprus.

13.

Bala Bredin's men captured large quantities of weapons and broke up four groups.

14.

Bala Bredin was then posted home for two years before being sent to Malaya and Borneo where he commanded 99 Gurkha Brigade Group.

15.

In 1962, Bala Bredin was sent to Germany as Chief of the British Commander-in-Chief's Mission to Soviet Forces in Germany.

16.

Bala Bredin went on to be General Officer Commanding North West District in 1967.

17.

The end of the decade saw Bala Bredin appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1969.

18.

Between 1968 and 1971 Bala Bredin served as Director of Volunteers, Territorials and Cadets, Ministry of Defence.

19.

Bala Bredin was Colonel of the Royal Irish Rangers from 1979 to 1984.

20.

In retirement Bala Bredin was the Cancer Research campaign Essex and Suffolk appeals secretary.

21.

Bala Bredin was a regular correspondent in the Daily Telegraph.

22.

Bala Bredin said that field marshals never retire; "they had to defeat the Queen's enemies in the murky future and to harass the politicians accordingly".

23.

Bala Bredin said of warfare that, "I've seen too much of war to like it".

24.

Bala Bredin had one daughter from his first marriage and two daughters from his second.