Captain BJM Gunton

Obituary for Captain BJM Gunton

Captain Brian Gunton was born on 6 July 1934. He was commissioned into the Royal Norfolk Regiment in February 1955, joining the 1st Battalion in Colchester where he served alongside his brother Major MJD (Mike) Gunton.

He was a platoon commander in the Battalion when they deployed at forty-eight hours notice to Cyprus, as part of military reinforcement to the Island to combat the EOKA guerrilla campaign, arriving in Nicosia on 18 October 1955.

After a12-month tour on counter insurgency operations, he continued to serve with the battalion when they were posted to Iserlohn Germany and was serving with them when the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Regiments amalgamated to become 1st Battalion The East Anglian Regiment in August 1959. He was promoted to Captain in February 1961. He also served at the Regimental Depot.

Sadly, Brian contracted Polio and was medically discharged from the Army on 30 March 1962. Subsequently he worked for Vestey Brothers as their representative in Paris.

He died in January 2023.