A VETERAN who fought in the Malayan Emergency has died aged 85.

Roy “Red” Redman had pneumonia and died on August 22.

He was born in Brighton on April 9, 1933, and when he turned 20, he joined the 11th Hussars, known as the Royal Hussars after it amalgamated with the 10th Hussars in 1969.

Roy was described as a modest man who wassvery popular in the Army.

His military career lasted nearly 20 years. He was stationed in countries including Germany, Kuwait and Malaysia during the Malayan Emergency (1948 to 1960), when the Malayan Communist Party tried to overthrow the British colonial administration.

Commonwealth troops were sent to Malaysia to suppress the guerilla force.

Roy was a tank driver in the Mountain Troop and was quickly promoted to lance corporal.

In 1954, Roy was on a jungle patrol with his regiment when they encountered guerilla soldiers lying in ambush.

Before the confrontation, the squad had discovered fresh footprints on the ground. They followed the footprints and heard voices in front of them.

Brave Roy, along with with a captain and sergeant, fired at the enemy

Roy killed the commander of the group. Three others were killed and four escaped.

It was later discovered the leader was carrying important military documents.

The insurgency ended in British and Commonwealth victory.

The 11th Hussars were posted to Carlisle in 1957. There Roy met his wife Cathy Hall who was a manager at the NAAFI shop, the soldiers’ canteen store.

Roy’s daughter, Sharon, said: “A lot of the single lads in the Army fell in love with mum but she only had eyes for dad.

“Dad was shy at first but he plucked up the courage to ask her out.

“They got married in September 1958. I was born in 1959, and then my younger brother, Graeme, was born in South Ireland.

“Because dad was in the Army, we moved around a bit. I lived in Germany very briefly.

“He didn’t talk much about his time in the military, and understandably so. I learnt a bit more about his military career from his friend.”

When Roy was stationed in Northern Ireland he responded to incidents during the Border Campaign (1956-1962).

From 1961, the regiment took part in Operation Vantage, which was a British military operation to defend the newly independent state of Kuwait from territorial claims by Iraq.

While British forces did not fight the Iraqi army, they provided protection to Kuwaiti forces.

British troops withdrew by October 1961 as the Arab League took over to defend Kuwait.

From 1963 onward, the 11th Hussars were part of the Nato forces stationed in Hohne, West Germany.

Roy was sent to Lulworth and passed his tank gunnery course.

In 1965, Roy and his regiment were selected to represent the British Army in Nato’s annual tank firing competition, the Canada Cup, to see which regiment had the best tank squad.

The 11th Hussars won the competition.

In 1967, the 11th Hussars received battle tank upgrades from Centurions to Chieftains.

Because Roy had passed his tank gunnery course, he trained the regimental gunners to handle the Chieftains.

For his endeavours, he was promoted to sergeant.

When he was not on the training wing, he would help each soldier build up their military skills and combat in case of a Russian invasion.

Roy left the Army in 1969 and he returned to Brighton with his family.

Sharon said: “After life in the Army he worked as a security guard for Securicor in Horsham for 15 years until he retired.

“Dad enjoyed the simple things in life.

“He liked travelling and Sunday lunches at the pub.

“He loved food shopping.

“Everyone liked dad and he was always so humble.

“In his later life he started to have hearing problems. Whenever he watched TV he needed to turn it on loud.

“He lost all hearing in his left ear, and you have to speak to his right ear.

“We suspect the cause of his hearing problems was when he was in the Army. He worked with a lot with tanks.

“He was diagnosed with dementia seven years ago. He lived in a care home. He passed away in Brighton.”

Even though Roy had copious achievements during his military career, he had never boasted about them.

He was a well-loved father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend.