Arthur Watchus
Arthur Herbert Watchus was a British Army officer.
Watchus may have served with 3 Battalion, the Parachute Regiment in Bahrain in the 1960s.[1]
Watchus was promoted from Warrant Officer Class 2 on 1 March 1967, receiving a short service commission as a lieutenant in the Parachute Regiment.[2]
Watchus received a Special Regimental Commission, with same rank of Lieutenant on 23 July 1968, with seniority from 1 March 1965.[3]
Watchus was promoted to Captain on 1 March 1969.[4]
Watchus was awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in 1970.[5]
According to writer John McGuffin, Watchus served at Palace Barracks, Holywood in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s, when 1st Battalion, the Parachute Regiment was based there:
- Also based there were members of the shadowy 22nd Special Air Service Regiment. Major [sic] A. H. Watchus, who had been associated with the Joint Services Intelligence Centre at Ashford in Kent, was their CO.[6]
According to French author Roger Faligot, Watchus led an SAS squad at the Barracks which was linked to the Military Reaction Force, and which was involved in interrogating internees at Holyrood.[7]
Watchus was promoted to Major on 31 December 1974.[8]
Watchus retired from the Army on 1 July 1976.[9]
External Resources
- MRF Leader Exposed , McGurks's Bar Massacre Campaign, 9 January 2011.
Notes
- ↑ 3 Para Group WO's and Sgt's Mess members Bahrein, 3 Para Reunion Club Forum, accessed 10 January 2011.
- ↑ London Gazette, Supplement 44281, p.3688, 4 April 1967.
- ↑ London Gazette, Supplement 44681, p.10268, 24 September 1968.
- ↑ London Gazette, Supplement 44800, p.2341, 4 March 1969.
- ↑ London Gazette, Supplement 45240, p.13114, 27 November 1970.
- ↑ Chapter 10: The Civil Resistance Movement, Extracts from 'Internment' by John McGuffin (1973), Conflict Archive on the Internet, accessed 10 January 2010.
- ↑ Roger Faligot, Britain's Military Strategy in Ireland, Zed Books, 1983, p.173.
- ↑ London Gazette, Supplement 46469, p.865, 21 January 1975.
- ↑ Supplement 46953, p.9287, 6 July 1976.
