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Regimental Sergeant Major Jack Chaffer – obituary – Telegraph

Regimental Sergeant-Major Jack Chaffer, who has died aged 91, devoted his life to the Army from the day he was born a “barrack rat” in quarters at Kingston-­upon-Thames on March 6 1924 to his final retirement as a yeoman warder at the Tower of London.The son of a regular soldier, Henry Chaffer – known as…

Regimental Sergeant-Major Jack Chaffer, who has died aged 91, devoted his life to the Army from the day he was born a “barrack rat” in quarters at Kingston-­upon-Thames on March 6 1924 to his final retirement as a yeoman warder at the Tower of London.The son of a regular soldier, Henry Chaffer – known as Jack – falsified his age to join the Grenadier Guards at 16, and suffered his first setback on sentry duty at Windsor Castle, when he was presenting arms as King George VI walked past with his dogs. As it was a hot day, and he was wearing a steel helmet and respirator on his chest, the King suggested that he might be more comfortable if he stepped back into the shade of a buttress.

Chaffer’s commanding officer was unimpressed by his account, however, and the young man spent three days in the guard room until an equerry confirmed his story. He received a week’s leave in compensation.

Source: Regimental Sergeant Major Jack Chaffer – obituary – Telegraph

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Responses to “Regimental Sergeant Major Jack Chaffer – obituary – Telegraph”

  1. Stormy

    “Owing to “an administrative error”, however, he was signed on for a full 22-­year engagement.” Yeah, dang it. Same thing happened to me.

    I am in awe the man’s moustache. That thing should be preserved at Madame Tussauds.

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  2. RichK

    I like the way he woke up the subalterns. The best wakeup I saw was at Grafenwoehr in 1981. i was a 1LT working in the Bn. TOC. We moved every morning so you got up, packed your stuff, and got to work. We had a French Army Captain along as an observer and he was still sacked out when one of the NCOs told SP4 Murphy (his real name) to get the damned tent down. Murphy told the NCO that the French Captain was still sacked out. The sergeant told Murphy to wake him up. Murphy opened up the tent flap and hollered, “WELL, IS JACQUE COUSTEAU GOING TO GET UP THIS MORNING?”

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  3. Georgiana

    My Great Grandad 🙂 aha he was a lovely guy. His mostouche was as awesome as himself loved and missed the only Great Grandad I got to meet and that was for over 18 years 🙂

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