Brigadier J Sykes-Wright DSO OBE
Commanded 2/6th Bn The Queen's Royal Regiment from December 1945 to March 1946 when the Battalion was disbanded. He also commanded the 1st Battalion from January 1950 to November 1952
James Sykes-Wright, known as Jimmy, was born on 4th December 1908 and educated at Uppingham and the RMC Sandhurst where he was a junior under-officer. He was commissioned in The Queen's Royal Regiment in January 1929 and joined the 1st Battalion in Malta and went to India with the Battalion. He was in Quetta during the earthquake in .1935. In 1939 he was an instructor at Sandhurst. In 1942 he was Brigade Major of 131st (Queen's) Brigade and then served with the 1/7th Battalion as second-in-command in North Africa and Italy. In November 1943 he was appointed to command 9th Bn The Royal Fusiliers in 56th Division. In February 1944 he was appointed GSO I and held staff appointments in that rank until the 2/6th Battalion until it was disbanded to the Staff and from 1948 to January 1950 December 1945 when he commanded in March 1946. He then returned was GSO I HQ Southern Command.
He commanded the 1st Battalion from January 1950 to November 1952 in BAOR and was appointed Colonel A/Q in Korea from 1952 to 1953. From 1953 to 1955 he was Brigade Colonel Home Counties Brigade and from 1955 to 1958 Brigade Commander of 162nd Infantry Brigade (TA) and from 1958 to 1960 Senior British Liaison Officer, Canada.
He retired from the Army on 23rd April 1960. In March 1944 he was awarded the DSO for his leadership in Italy and in the New Years Honours in 1953 made an OBE. After he had left the Army he became Secretary of the Hertfordshire Territorial Army and Auxiliary Forces Association.
He died on 29th August 1976.
For obituary see The Queen's Royal Surrey Regimental Association Newsletter No.20 November 1976 page 15. The obituary also appears in the Journal of The Queen's Regiment Vol.10 No.2 page 71.
See also J M A Tamplin's The Lambeth and Southwark Volunteers page 366.
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