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Captain D T Ashworth
Late Grenadier Guards
by Major J P W Gatehouse
formerly Grenadier Guards
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Don Ashworth was Sergeant Major of the 1st Battalion from 1976-78, when the Battalion was based in Pirbright; although this also included a busy 4-month emergency tour to the rural areas of North Armagh from October 1976, when Battalion Headquarters was based in Armagh City (the Commanding Officer was David Gordon Lennox and the 1st Battalion was on its fifth tour). It is said that by this point in his career, Don had already had 15 moves of station and lived in 19 married quarters – perhaps a record! In early 1977 the Battalion returned to Pirbright and an intensive period of Public Duties followed, including the Silver Jubilee celebrations, as well as firefighting and Heathrow security drills, which some will remember as Operation TRUSTEE.
In January 1978 the 1st Battalion deployed on exercise to the Sudan for five weeks in the Red Sea Hills, a barren wilderness some 70 miles south of Port Sudan, which was ideally suited to field firing in almost any direction, before returning to Pirbright for more Public Duties in London over the Spring and early Summer. He was Sergeant Major on the occasion of the Presentation of New Colours to the 1st Battalion on 3rd May 1978 and, on 29th August that year, he handed over to Peter Richardson.
Born in 1935 in Rochdale and one of four brothers, his father worked in a local mill. It was a hard life, particularly during the war and all the boys moved away as quickly as their ages allowed. Don joined the Regiment on 7th December 1953. After completing his recruit training at the Guards Depot, then still at Caterham, followed by the Guards Training Battalion at Pirbright, he joined the 3rd Battalion at Chelsea. During his first year he boxed for the Battalion and he attended the first available corporals’ course. Shortly after passing that he was posted back to the Guards Depot as a Corporal Squad Instructor. He was promoted Lance Sergeant in 1955 and he married his first wife, Lila, in April 1956. This was the time of National Service and Don was demobbed that December, after the Suez Canal emergency fizzled out. Having left the Army, he joined the Surrey Police for two years, but the lure was too strong and he returned to the fold in 1958, joining the 1st Battalion in Chelsea Barracks.
Thereafter, Don’s military career continued to progress steadily, with further postings in both battalions, to the Guards Depot and there were two tours at Sandhurst. He was also our Special Recruiter in Lincoln. His final appointment with The Models was as Drill Sergeant at Caterham, where the 2nd Battalion was inevitably on Public Duties, although there was also an unaccompanied 7-month tour in British Honduras, where he was based in Airport Camp.
After commissioning in August 1978, he was appointed as Families Officer of the 1st Battalion, always a busy job for a newly promoted Late Entry officer and later Buzzard, when the Battalion returned to Armagh on yet another emergency tour, this time to the ‘bandit country’ of South Armagh, from November 1978 to March 1979. This was an altogether busier time with frequent incidents, including the tragic murder of three Guardsmen in Crossmaglen which deeply affected everyone. Throughout this tour Buzzard and his small team, who controlled all helicopter movement throughout the Battalion’s Area of Responsibility, were exceptionally busy and the clatter of helicopters around Bessbrook Mill was incessant. Subsequently, Don became the Technical Quartermaster for the 1st Battalion and later worked at Headquarters 2nd Infantry Brigade in York. His final job was as Camp Quartermaster for the North Camp of the Multinational Force in the Sinai; six months which he thoroughly enjoyed.
By this time married to Carol, Don decided to leave the Army and went on to devote over ten years to the Royal British Legion and in particular the WRVS, reinvigorating the organization and finding ladies who would be ideally suited to this challenging but important role, providing welfare predominantly for young soldiers. He was very proud of his achievements over this time.
Don had three children by his first marriage, Stephen, Karen, and Gillian, and in the mid-2000s he and Carol moved away from Esher to St Andrews, Fife where she still lives. In retirement they dabbled in antiques and were kept active with two dogs. To all we offer our sincere condolences. Don is remembered as a smart, intensely private man; he was immensely proud to be a Grenadier, a popular and most effective Sergeant Major, setting and demanding the highest standards of all. |
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