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Captain J S Greenwood
Late Grenadier Guards
by Major J P W Gatehouse
formerly Grenadier Guards
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Sadly, for his many friends, Simon Greenwood, died suddenly on 12th December 2022 after a very short illness, aged just 67. After Eton, he had followed his father into the Regiment and after six months at Sandhurst he was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion in June 1974. He joined the Battalion then in Windsor but shortly afterwards, in January 1975, it was to move to Hong Kong for two years, where its duties were three-fold: internal security, border surveillance, and assistance to the civil powers in natural disasters.
‘Hong Kong will be the tour of a lifetime’ was the Commanding Officer, David Fanshawe’s promise, to the 2nd Battalion before leaving Victoria Barracks. The Battalion moved into Stanley Fort and first impressions were distinctly favourable. The barracks were on the most southern peninsula of Hong Kong Island; they had been built well before the war on high ground overlooking the distant, sparkling sea and around several playing fields and a barrack square. Spacious white buildings with wide verandas contained the company lines; the tour promised to be exciting and unique, seemingly unlimited opportunities for training, exercises, sport, travel, sightseeing and fun. Simon served as a platoon commander in the Inkerman Company throughout this tour, the highlights being the periods when his company was deployed in isolated, mountainous terrain along the border, tasked with observing and reporting on the activities of the Chinese Army and intercepting illegal Chinese immigrants. The tactics employed evolved. Ambushing paths proved unsuccessful so night viewing devices were used to discover where crossings were taking place, and then patrols were silently directed to capture the illegals before they could disperse into the villages or the wilderness of the New Territories. It was a game of cat and mouse but these poor unfortunates would be arrested, handed over to the Hong Kong Police and rapidly returned from whence they came. For young officers, it was a busy and exciting time.
Over twenty of them attended a gruelling six-week Jungle Warfare Instructors Course in Singapore; the Commanding Officer focused great attention on physical fitness and the impact was dramatic: the Battalion won the Land Forces Athletics Meeting and six major titles at the Hong Kong National Championships; Simon, a keen athlete, was in the Battalion team. It also dominated at sport. There was adventure training, traditional Chinese dragon boat races, some officers shared a stately junk upon which they generously entertained their friends; the Inkerman Company spent six weeks jungle training in Brunei where Gdsm Kendal, who had decided to search for fruit but took no compass, got lost for three days! Many agreed that it was, indeed, the tour of a lifetime and for a young platoon commander, it could not have been a better experience.
After returning to Chelsea Barracks in December 1976, the Battalion spent most of 1977 employed on the merry-go-round of Public Duties and the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations. By the Autumn it was preparing for an Emergency Tour to Londonderry, where Support Company and the Inkerman were in Bridge Camp, by Craigavon Bridge on the Foyle. There they oversaw Brandywell, with a large commitment for manning the numerous vehicle and pedestrian checkpoints which enclosed the whole area of the walled city and city centre. There were a number of incidents, including incendiary devices, the stoning of a mobile patrol, claymore mines, numerous armed robberies and several shooting attempts. The Battalion was very busy but, operationally, the tour was comparatively quiet and it returned in February/March 1978 without a casualty. For all involved though, particularly the young officers out on the ground on a daily basis, this was a tense, challenging experience; more so as it followed painfully soon after the abduction by IRA terrorists of Captain Robert Nairac, in May 1977.
It was around this time, after returning to Chelsea and almost four years after commissioning, a timeframe that young officers today will find staggering, that Simon took over the Anti-Tank Platoon. After the Presentation of New Colours by The Queen to both battalions at Buckingham Palace in May 1978, in glorious weather before 3,550 spectators, the 2nd Battalion trooped its Colour on the Queen’s Birthday Parade, so all were on duty in London that Summer. Next the Battalion was preparing to go on exercise to Kenya in November and December, a testing time for Support Company and one newly-qualified platoon commander in particular, just back from Netheravon and keen to prove himself.
In April 1979 the Battalion then moved to Munster in BAOR, as a Mechanised Infantry Battalion. Initially, Simon commanded the Anti-Tanks as they sought to gain mastery of armoured personnel carriers and the Support Company vehicles. He was moved across to be Operations Officer in the Headquarters when the Battalion embarked on another Emergency tour to Ulster, this time to the wild, beautiful and relative calm of South Fermanagh. They were there from March to July 1980, returning to Munster after one of the quietest tours on record. Simon then spent his remaining time in Germany back with the Inkerman Company as Second in Command. The 2nd Battalion returned to Chelsea Barracks in early 1982 and Simon became Regimental Signals Officer, his final job before retirement in 1984. To his brother officers, Simon is best remembered as a cheerful, competent officer with a ready smile. He could also run like greased lightening!
After the Army he went to Cirencester for a year, before returning home to West Sussex to run the family estate at Balcombe, near Haywards Heath. He remained fit and active. He was a parish councillor, a member of the Royal Forestry Society, the Timber Growers Association and the Country Landowners Association; he was also a very dedicated supporter of orienteering and was President of the Saxons Orienteering Club. He was a keen countryman, a good shot and an accomplished rider. He was passionate about hunting, shooting, fishing and heli-skiing. Amongst many of his interests, he had a very remarkable stamp collection which took him all over the world to exhibit and give talks, especially on his British Guiana Collection, rivalled only by the collection of Queen Elizabeth. For many years he was President of the Sussex Branch of the Regimental Association before that closed in 2019.
At his Memorial Service at Balcombe in March, the church was packed, a fitting tribute to a popular and well-known man in West Sussex. A smart, young Grenadier Musician played the Last Post most beautifully, but of all the things that made that sad day so memorable, it was when unprompted, he saluted Simon’s mother as she left the church, accompanied by other members of the family. |
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