Obituary for Warrant Officer Class 2 David Brewin
Dave Brewin was born in Leicester on the 28th February 1939. At 15 years of age Dave joined the Royal Navy as a junior Rating at HMS Ganges and at the end of his junior service he joined HMS Albion an aircraft carrier and saw service in Hong Kong and the Suez Crisis. Fortunately for us, Dave decided that a life on the ocean waves was not for him and he left the Navy.
In August 1958 Dave was called up for National Service and joined the Suffolk Regiment in Bury St Edmunds. After completion of his training he joined the Battalion who at that time were deployed on an operational tour in Cyprus where they were involved in the EOKA campaign and Dave was embarking on active service for the first time.
In 1959 the Suffolk regiment amalgamated with the Royal Norfolk’s to form the 1st East Anglian Regiment. The parade took place in Iserlohn in West Germany and Dave was on parade.
After a short period in Iserlohn, in 1960 the 1st East Anglian Regiment known as the Vikings were posted to Berlin; along with Dave and his wife Barbara.
In 1961 the 1st Bn were posted back to the UK to Harwich, however at the beginning of 1962 the 1st East Anglian Regiment were deployed to British Guiana for an emergency tour. At the end of the tour they returned to the UK and the Battalion moved to Normandy Bks in Felixstowe.
At the beginning of 1964 the Battalion were deployed on yet another operational tour, this time to Aden. The 1st East Anglian Regiment had arrived in Aden as a garrison battalion in early 1964 ; however they soon become involved in early May in what was to be known as the Radfan War. Dave was by now in the Signal Platoon and because of his navy experience in morse code he was used as a rear link for the SAS in the Radfan.
On Formation Day, on 1 September, 1964, and the months that followed The 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, as it had become, could be found carrying out internal security tasks in Aden, plus additional tours in the Radfan before the end of the tour.
In 1965 the 1st Bn The Royal Anglian Regiment returned from Aden to Celle in West Germany as a Mechanised Infantry Battalion and Dave by now a Cpl joined 10 Platoon C Company as a section commander. Members of that platoon remember well the hospitality shown to them by Dave and Barbara in particular at Christmas time. Special mention being made of Dave’s love of the Beatles. The Platoon Sergeant at that time was Bob Lines and the Platoon contained the likes of Ron Mortimer, Reg Marshall and Paddy Lonergan; so socialising was not for the faint of heart.
In 1968 the Battalion moved back to Catterick in Yorkshire . They were roled as a UK based Mechanised Infantry Battalion and would return to BAOR annually to exercise in mechanised warfare. In 1969 Dave was posted to the East Anglian Brigade Depot in Blenheim Camp in Bury St Edmunds for a short period before the Depot moved to Basingborne to become the Queens Division Depot.
During his period at the Depot Dave was promoted to Sergeant before returning to the Vikings and the Mortar Platoon who by now were stationed in Londonderry Northern Ireland on an operational tour again.
In 1972 the Battalion moved to Cyprus and this period saw the Battalion stationed in Salamanca Lines, Episkopi with Support Company along with Dave at Dhekelia. At the later part of the Cyprus tour Dave was promoted to Colour Sergeant and moved with the Vikings to Tidworth in the AML (F) role which involved annual Artic Warfare training in Norway.
The Battalion had an Op Banner tour in 1974 and Dave went with A Company to Armagh.
In the 70’s Dave decided to make a career change and put himself forward for selection with 14 Company also known as ‘The Det’. 120 started the selection course and 12 passed. Dave served several tours with the Det before returning to the Vikings for a very short period as Support Company CSM, however his heart wasn’t really in it and he had found his true vocation elsewhere, so he went back to Hereford to be involved with the training team. In 1978 Dave was mentioned in dispatches for his work with intelligence in Northern Ireland.
During his military career Dave served worldwide in countries as diverse as Cyprus, British Guiana, Aden, Radfan, Germany, Northern Ireland, Cyprus again, Kenya, Norway,and Denmark. These postings included operational tours in Cyprus, South Arabia, Radfan and many tours in Northern Ireland.
In addition to his military qualifications; he had represented the Regiment at Rugby and swimming and was a qualified canoe instructor.
During his military career Dave was an asset to all of the units that he served with and he always maintained the very highest professional standards.
He left the service after a full career and after leaving Dave worked for the Sultan of Oman for a period before working for the Sultan of Brunei as a bodyguard. Dave continued in the security world before forming his own security company along with a good friend of his. Dave also established himself as a successful author under the pen name Jack Leyton and I thoroughly recommend his books; Deliver us from Evil and The Mecca Affair which also give an insight into the great man himself.
Throughout the years Dave maintained his contact with his comrades and friends and attended most of the re union dinners and could usually be found at the Minden Day at Bury St Edmunds along with Barbara and it was always a pleasure to meet up with them.
Dave was a one off, and for those of us that had the pleasure of having him as a comrade and friend, he will be very sadly missed and the world is a better place for having known him.
Each of us will have our own memories of Dave: As a soldier; totally professional at all times…As a Viking: a legend…and as a person; a real gentleman, a lovely man and a total one off.
I can’t think of anyone I would rather have covering my back.
Dave was a real family man; he was devoted to his wife Barbara, and his children Jim, Debbie and Heather and all of the grandchildren and great grandchildren and our thoughts are very much with them.