Thirty years ago, a Ministry of Defence report recommended cost savings by abolishing the rank of Field Marshal in the British Army. As a result, General Sir Charles Guthrie was not promoted when he became Chief of the Defence Staff in 1997 and it was only when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II wished to appoint the Prince of Wales to that rank fifteen years later that the moritorium was lifted and Guthrie became the first honourary Field Marshal in the new era.
I first worked for this distinguished soldier in 1983 when I was Close Reconnaissance Troop Leader in 4th Armoured Brigade in the British Army of the Rhine. After completing a couple of military tasks for him, I received a generous letter that I retain to this day. Twelve years later, when he was Chief of the General Staff, he visited me on the front line in Bosnia and was equally complimentary with his words. The photograph of me with him wearing a UN beret below is quite amusing because he was not a fan of peacekeeping operations and was often quoted as saying that they undermined the British Army’s warfighting ethos.
I find it very strange that there has been so little coverage of his death in the Media. Yes, he served in the Special Forces, but there is a huge amount of other important work that he did for the country, which should be revealed to the public. Considering the number of words the BBC has given to people like Ozzy Osbourne, it is totally disrespectful to relegate this eminent soldier’s legacy to the back pages.
Chief of the General Staff Visiting Maglaj School in 1995
Rupert Wieloch 