Captain GV Raynor Royal Anglian Regiment

Obituary for Captain GV Raynor

Capt Granville Vincent (Ray) Raynor, aged 86, following a long illness, peacefully at home in Little Eaton, Derbyshire, on 12 Dec 2012. He was the last RSM of 1 R Norfolk and the first RSM of 1 East Anglian. Ray also served in The Gren Gds, The Essex and Northamptonshire Regts, The Royal Signals & 4 R Norfolk. At his Service of Thanksgiving in Markeaton, Derbyshire, conducted by Fr Ken Reeve, a number of British Korea Veterans formed a Guard of Honour, parading with their standards, as did the local RBL. Ray’s coffin was draped with the Royal Norfolk flag. Processional Music was ‘Rule Britannia’. The Regiment was represented by Col Paul Denny RVM and Maj John Denny, with their wives, and Maj David Clarke, wearing Britannia cap badges. Hymns sung were ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ and ‘Abide With Me.’

The eulogy was given by his eldest son, Ross: ‘He was given the Christian names – Granville Vincent, names he detested! To this day only 2 of his favourite nieces could ever call him Granville, the rest of us never dared. Born into a Roman Catholic family, he was sent to a convent. He did not take kindly to the red velvet trousers he was made to wear so he climbed an apple tree, happily munched apples and demanded to be sent to another school. The efforts of the nuns to talk him down were a spectacular failure. One nun tried to climb the tree to get him down so Ray ‘peed’ all over the nun. He was sent to another school.

His mother tragically died of cancer when he was young. After leaving school he was apprenticed as a pattern maker and made Spitfire fuel tanks, but his ambition was to join the army, something his father, who had been gassed in WW1, did not want him to do. So Ray lied, put up his age and joined the Grenadier Guards. Ray was now in his element and excelled during 6 months recruit training at the Guards Depot. After a short period with the Bn he was sent back to the Guards Depot as an instructor and quickly rose to the rank of Sgt. He was demobbed at the end of WW2 and became a gambling man.

He followed the gee-gees and bet on the nags; I don’t know how good a gambler he was but 3 months later he was back in the Army. Now with the Essex Regiment, he was training recruits at Colchester, when he saw a young lady, a LCpl in the ATS (later called the Women’s Royal Army Corps). That lady was Audrey Ward, who was later to become his wife and our mother. Whilst Ray went to fight in Palestine, Audrey Ward was posted to the transit camp at Sweet Water Canal in Egypt. Upon their return to Lincolnshire they married, but their honeymoon was cut short when Ray was sent with the Royal Norfolks to fight in Korea. At a Korean Veterans’ function, a man who knew Ray in Korea said that he should have got a medal for what he did. I was puzzled and I later asked my father about that comment. He said: ‘It was just an old soldier talking. It was nothing; we were only doing our job.’ I later found out that a signaller who was with Ray at the time was killed in the shelling. I will never know the truth but what it does illustrate is that Ray did not brag nor boast about his exploits.

After the Korean War, Ray was reunited with Audrey in Hong Kong. Ray became an RSM at the age of 32. I believe he was one of the youngest Infantry RSMs in the peacetime British Army. He was the RSM of the Royal Norfolks for 2 tours, 6 years in all. We had a great childhood, travelling around the world. I was born in Hong Kong, Ken (my middle brother) was born in Germany and Keith (the youngest) was born in Kenya and is still called Toto, which is Swahili for ‘the very small one’. Recently, we all went to see Keith sitting as the Recorder in Lincoln Assizes in the castle. Dad had me laughing when he said: ‘Fancy having to bow to your own son.’ There was always laughter in the house, as well as a lot of cheating at cards. My recollection was that dad was the worst offender, but may be wrong. Dad spent many hours teaching us boys. He was a good trainer and made learning a game which was fun. Thanks to his efforts we had a great start in life and we all went on to get degrees and professional qualifications. After leaving the E Anglian Regt, Ray served as the Garrison Sgt Major in Kenya before being commissioned to train Malay troops in Singapore. He was back doing what he did best, training and leading men, a role in which he excelled. Ray left the Infantry with the rank of Captain to join the Royal Signals, in which he served for his last years in the army. After leaving the army Ray had a number of managerial jobs before retiring. In retirement he continued to travel.

Ray Raynor: A first class soldier; a leader of men; a great husband and a fantastic father. For everyone, he was ‘A damn good bloke.’

The conclusion of the service, before the playing of Recessional Music ‘The British Grenadiers’, was marked with an order: ‘Officer on Parade, to the pub, dismiss!’

Beloved husband of Audrey, beloved father of Ross, Ken and Keith and a much loved Grandpa, he will be sadly missed by all his family, friends and comrades.