Major Angus Leacroft Drew RMP – By the Regimental Secretary
Major Angus Drew, who died of cancer on the 19th
October aged 77, was from a generation of RMP
Officers who enjoyed very varied careers in an Army
that still served around the globe in outposts of
Empire and on active service, and will be
remembered for his quiet and dignified manner that
earned him the sobriquet of ‘Posh Jock’ from his
RMP NCOs, albeit he was Norfolk born and bred!
Major Drew on patrol at the Inner-German
Border between East and West Germany
After some soldier-service with the Royal Norfolk Regiment, training at Britannia
Barracks, Norwich in 1955, he went up to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in
January 1956, passing-out in December 1957, after successful completion of the
then two-year long Commissions course. Gazetted in the Corps of Royal Military
Police and after Military Police Officer training, he was posted on active service to
Cyprus in July 1958, during the EOKA Emergency. He would later recall that he had
felt his most dangerous moment was teaching the British civilians to fire pistols for
their own protection! He then undertook an attachment with the Somerset and
Cornwall Light Infantry in 1959, which was reportedly one of the happiest parts of his
Service career. As often happened at the end of RMP Officer Attachments to the
Infantry, the Battalion wanted him to stay, but Angus was at heart a Military
Policeman and returned to the Corps commencing a tour of duty in the Far East; in
Malaya and Hong Kong with the Ghurkha Military Police (GMP) from October 1959
to April 1961. On returning to the UK, he had various postings culminating with a
spell at 5 Brigade, based at Tidworth. It was during this posting that he met his
future wife Mary whom he married in 1968. Posted to West Berlin in 1970, he was
reassigned to Helmstedt later that year on promotion to Major, to assume command
of 246 Provost Company, the Autobahn Control Detachment responsible, along with
the UK’s US and French allies, for access control to the only sanctioned road
corridor running through communist East Germany to West Berlin. As the ranking
officer, Angus was the de facto Allied Commandant at ‘Checkpoint Alpha’ liaising
with the American, French and Russians and also with West German border guards
(Bündesgrenschutz) and the British Frontier Service. From 1973-1975, he was
Deputy Assistant Provost Marshal Eastern District, based in Colchester, before an
eventful tour on Active Service commanding 175 Provost Company, RMP in Belfast
and Aldergrove. Command of 160 Provost Company at Aldershot followed where he
learnt to ride with the Mounted Troop on the principle that he never asked his
soldiers to do anything that he couldn’t do himself! He then left the Army quite
suddenly in 1979, and being the intensely private man he was, literally dropped-off
the ‘regimental radar’ as he clearly felt that his time in the Army was past and that a
new life beckoned. He worked for National Car Parks in management roles for a
good few years and in his final retirement manned, as a volunteer, the local police
station and a great supporter of his parish church.