Colonel Thomas Frederick HUGHES, D.S.O.. (58523)

Commanded the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment from November 1956 to May 1959.

Thomas Frederick Hughes was born on the 15th march 1914. Son of Captain Thomas Hector Hughes who served with the 3rd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment in the First World War - killed in action on the 15th October 1914 at the battle of La Bassée.

From 1919 he spent a happy family childhood with his mother Gertrude Mary Hughes in Jersey. In 1925 he went to the Oratory, Reading.

Colonel Thomas Frederick Hughes known as "Freddie", joined the Supplementary Reserve of The Worcestershire Regiment in 1933. In 1935 he was granted a Regular Commission in the Indian Army and was posted to the Royal Norfolk Regiment at Jhansi for a year's attachment on the Unattached List of the Indian Army. In 1936 he applied for transfer to the British Army and was granted a regular commission in The Worcestershire Regiment (11th March 1936), joining the 2nd Battalion on its arrival at Sialkot, India, from Tientsin at the end of 1936.

He served with the 2nd Battalion from 1936 to 1939, including a short tour on the North West Frontier and the appointment of Station Staff Officer, Solon. He was on leave in U.K. at the outbreak of war and transferred with other officers, including then Lieut. J. D. Ricketts, to the Home Establishment and was posted to the Regimental Depot. Shortly after the outbreak of war he was appointed Instructor at 164 Officer Cadet Training Unit, of which he subsequently became Adjutant.

In 1939 he married Evelyn and they would have 4 children.

In 1941 he was posted to the 11th Battalion of the Regiment, in 9th Armoured Division, until being appointed G.S.O. III (Air) at H.Q. 1 Corps, and later as G.S.O. II to an Army/Air Support Control Unit.

He graduated at the Staff College in 1943, following which course he was appointed Brigade Major of 143 Infantry Brigade, 48 Division. The following year he was appointed Commandant, 48 Divisional Battle school and on the 17th November 1944 he joined the 1st Battalion as a Company Commander ('A' Company) in North West Europe.

Lieut.-Colonel T. F. Hughes, DSO
(Known as "Freddie")

"Watermanship Training" - Hamelin, B.O.A.R., summer 1956
Left to right: Sapper Officer, Major T. F. Hughes and Major C. G. Leigh

He was wounded on almost the last day of Operation "VERITABLE " on the Rhine on the 8th March 1945, for his part in this action he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

In January, 1946, he was appointed G.S.O. II (Ops.) H.Q. 30 British Corps at Niemburg and subsequently at Luneburg. In the autumn of 1946 he was appointed the first and, as it turned out to be, the last British Army Instructor after the war at the South African Military College, Roberts Heights, Pretoria, a memorable appointment which lasted until the end of 1948. In 1949 he rejoined the 1st Battalion, then in Berlin, where he was a Company Commander during the Berlin Air Lift, and later at Gottingen. At the end of 1949 he was appointed to the staff of H.Q. Rhine Army at Bad Oeynhausen.

In 1950-51 he qualified on a further staff course at the United States Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth. From 1951-53 he was D.A.A.G. and D.A.Q.M.G. at the War Office. In 1953 he was appointed A.A. & Q.M.G. 44th (Home Counties) Division (T.A.) at Shorncliffe, Kent.

He rejoined the 1st Battalion, then at Iserlohn, B.A.O.R., in early 1956, first as a Company Commander, then as Second in Command, and he assumed command of the 1st Battalion in succession to Lieut.-Colonel C. P. Vaughan, D.S.O., in November, 1956.

He commanded the 1st Battalion for almost the whole of its tour in the Caribbean from 1957 to 1959 and again took over from Lieut.- Colonel C. P. Vaughan, this time as A.A.G. Western Command, Chester, in July, 1959.

He was promoted Colonel in 1960 on assuming the appointment of Colonel A/Q. H.Q. 1 British Corps in Germany, which appointment he held for the next three years. In 1963 he was posted to the Malaysian Armed Forces at the Malaysian Ministry of Defence, Kuala Lumpur, an appointment which in fact turned out to be that of the first Quartermaster General (Colonel) to the Malaysian Armed Forces as Chief of the "Logistics" Staff, in which appointment he became a member of the Malaysian Armed Forces Council.

In the Malaysian Birthday Honours List in June, 1966, of His Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong he was awarded the Honorary Kesatria Mangku Negara in the Most Distinguished Order of the Pangkuan Negara (K.M.N.).

He retired from the Army on 8th June 1966 (London Gazette 5th August 1966), after 31 years service, and on 8th April he again flew out to Singapore to assume the appointment of R.O. III (Quartering) G. H.Q. FARELF.

Colonel T. F. (Freddie) Hughes, DSO died on the 1st November 1985, age 71. His funeral took place at the Garrison Church of St. Michael and St. George, Aldershot on the 5th November 1985. Colonel T. J. Bowen, MC gave the address at the funeral.

 

Colonel Hughes (1966)

Colonel Hughes (1985)

Notes on abreviations used:

A.A. & O.M.G.

Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General

A.A.G.

Assistant Adjutant General

A/Q.

Adjutant & Quartermaster General

B.A.O.R.

British Army On the Rhine

D.A.A.G.

Deputy Assistant Adjutant General

D.A.Q.M.G.

Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General

FARELF

Far Eastern Land Forces

G.H.Q.

General Headquaters

G.S.O.

General Staff Officer

K.M.N.

Kesatria Mangku Negara (4th rank of Order of the Pangkuan Negara)

Ops. 

Operations

R.O.

Retired Officer

T.A.

Territorial Army


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