Year: 2008
One of the oldest living Grenadiers
Guardsman Charles William Fairey was born in August 1907. He served with the Regiment for 3 years from 1927-1930 and then did a period with the Reserves. When the war broke out in 1939, he was declared to be in a reserved occupation (bootmaking) and was not allowed to join up again. He did still try, getting as far as the Northampton recruiting office, but was pursued by his employer and sent back. The wartime years were therefore not easy for him, as a relatively young man in a country village who was known to have already spent three years as a soldier. He bore the disappointment stoically. He remained fit and healthy almost to the very end of his life and was something of a walking encyclopaedia of Bedfordshire rural life. He was also immensely proud of the Regiment and of the time he spent with it. He died just before Christmas in 2008 at the very senior and grand age of 101.