Obituary for Graham Wright
Graham Wright was born in Leicester on the 3rd of June 1946. As a child he was a bit of a rogue, and was always getting up to mischief. That statement did not surprise me in the slightest. At the age of 15, he went to work as a clicker in the shoe industry. He then moved into engineering.
In 1963, he joined the Army with his great friend Tommy Edwards and they eventually joined the 2nd Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment, otherwise known by their nickname The Poachers. He served in C Company of the Battalion for several years – which is where I got to meet him in 1971 (more about that shortly); gaining promotion to Sergeant in the early 70’s and serving as Platoon Sergeant of 7 Platoon, C Company.
In 1967, he met Sandie and they were married in 1968. They were blessed with 4 wonderful children, Grahame, Guy, Kellie and Dale.
He served 3 tours of Northern Ireland, 1970, 1972 in Belfast, and 1973 in Londonderry, where he received a mention in dispatches for his part in the rescue of an officer after a bomb had exploded in the Company ops room. He just went straight into the ops room without any thought for his own safety, his only concern being that of others in need; such is the measure of the man. On leaving the Battalion on posting as Recruiting Sergeant, he put his vast experience to great use as a recruiting SNCO. Graham loved the Army, but decided to leave it in 1977.
Even though Graham had left the army, he still kept in regular touch with many of his friends and comrades, and loved going to the reunions at Felixstowe and Duxford, where the inevitable war stories would be swapped with others over a few pints.
I first met Graham as a newly trained soldier in September of 1971 when I joined the Poachers. At this point I should mention that in the interests of the younger members of the congregation, I have changed some of the words he used when he used to greet us ‘sprogs’, but I am sure you will get the picture. Upon my arrival at Oxford Barracks in Munster, I was marched up to 7 Platoons lines and into the Platoon Commanders office. Once the Platoon Comd had done his bit, I was introduced to what seemed to me to be a mountain of a man. He came nose to nose to me and bellowed out “name…..?” I replied “Lawson Corporal”, to which he replied that my name is Corporal Wright and I am a right Bar Steward. “What am I”? To which my reply was “a right Bar Steward, Corporal”. “Good, don’t ever forget that” he said. And on every occasion when a new member was paraded in front of the platoon he would always say the same thing. “My name is Cpl Wright and what am I Lawson?” To which I would reply “a right Bar Steward, Corporal”.
Graham had many qualities that set him out as a natural leader, courage, strength, compassion (occasionally), leadership and a great sense of humour always. He was also very protective of his boys, and heaven forbid anyone that tried to mess with us. We knew that we had one of the best looking after us. Whilst on patrol with Graham, we came under fire on quite a few occasions but strangely always felt that he was looking after us by the calm way he handled the situation, and that we would be safe.
I remember an occasion where his ability to see the funny side of things came out. It was during a patrol in the area of Derry that we knew as the range. This was because the streets were about 50 metres apart and each had a large area of open ground that had to be covered quickly if you were not to become a target. We had just begun to get from one side of the open patch to the other by covering each other across, when it was my turn to go. As I was roughly half way across, a burst of automatic fire came our way, momentarily; I could not decide which way to go, back to where I had started, or to carry on to where Graham was on the other side of the opening. I became aware of a huge burst of laughter from him, followed by the words “ Lawson, once you’ve made up your mind what you are doing would you mind joining us”. He didn’t let me forget that for a while.
Another fond memory about Graham is his determination that his boys were not going to live like rats in the early stages of the 72 Belfast tour. The accommodation, for want of a better word, was primitive, and often riddled with lice and other unpleasant guests. We would regularly patrol around a massive complex called Northern Ireland Carriers. This was a hub for all things coming into Northern Ireland from the mainland and would then be sent across the province. There were goodies and riches as far as the eye could see, but what do you think we went for – gold, riches, beer? No, we went for Dettol. Dettol as you may know is a disinfectant and we basically flooded the place with it on a daily basis. To this day I cannot smell Dettol without thinking of that accommodation or Graham’s shopping trips for it.
After leaving the army, Graham went to work on the buses for a short time. He then joined Bellwood foods in Eastwood as a HGV Driver before rising to the position of Transport Manager. Unfortunately he was made redundant after breaking his neck.
Graham loved his computer and would spend hours emailing his army buddies, and keeping up to date with everything that was going on in the Regiment.
Graham also loved his garden and was always pottering about in it, keeping it maintained, especially his garden shed with bitumen paint. He had the only shed in the country held together with bitumen paint. It took days to take it down.
Graham was a fiercely loyal man to his family and the Regiment he proudly served in. When Graham was nearing the end of his time he commissioned his own casket to go out in style – as you can see from the photos below he certainly did that, Once a Poacher always a Poacher.
PL