
Major General Sir Jeremy Moore (deceased) *Signature Value : £50
| Jeremy Moore was born on July 5th, 1928. His father was Lieutenant Colonel Charles Percival Moore, MC. He went to Brambletye school, East Grinstead, and Cheltenham College. In 1947 Jeremy Moore joined the Royal Marines straight from school. After basic training, and service on the cruiser HMS Sirius, he joined 40 Commando Royal Marines (1950-53) fighting communist insurgents in Malaya. During fierce jungle combat, the marines killed or captured more than 200 guerrillas, and it was for his bravery during one such ambush that Moore was awarded the Military Cross in 1952. Returning to the UK in 1954 he became housemaster at the Royal Marines School of Music (1954) and as an instructor at the Royal Marines NCOs School, before returning to combat duties with 45 Commando (1957-59) in Cyprus. In 1959 Moore became an instructor at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst until 1962, then joined 42 Commando as a company commander and then adjutant, and was sent back to the far east. In 1962 following the creation of the Malaysian federation, locals, backed by Indonesias President Sukarno, staged a revolt in the Sultanate of Brunei. In Sarawak, the secessionists seized the British Resident, Richard Morris, and other westerners. They were held in the police station in the small town of Limbang, the rebel leader Salleh bin Sambas threatened to hang the hostages. Jeremy Moores company of Commandos were given the operation to rescue the hostages. Against a much larger force of 150 rebels, Moores plan was storm the building from the Limbang river. The noise of the boats engines made any chance of surpise impossible. The Marines came under heavy machine-gun fire, but they stormed ashore, clearing rebel positions in the town and rescuing the hostages. For this action, Moore was awarded a bar to his Military Cross. Moore served at the Australian Staff College (1963-64), The staff of the 17th Gurkha Division (1965), and was involved in counterinsurgency fighting in North Borneo. In 1968 he served on HMS Bulwark and in 1971 was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and given command of 42 Commando. In July 1972 Lt Col Moore took part in Operation Motorman in Northern Ireland, when the British army reoccupied areas of Derry which until then had been controlled by the IRA. He became commandant of the Royal Marines School of Music (1973-75), attended the Royal College of Defence Studies (1976), and was brigadier of 3 Commando Brigade (1977-79). In 1979 he was promoted to Major General and in 1982 during the Falklands campaign he was Land Force Commander. After finally leaving the military in 1983, and an unsettled 18 months as director-general of the Food and Drink Federation, he found fulfilment in industrial training and charity work, raising money for research into liver diseases after himself having a liver transplant. He was awarded the OBE in 1973 and knighted in 1982. Sadly Major-General Sir Jeremy Moore died on September 15th, 2007, aged 79 |