We regret to announce the death of Bill Foxton who died 10.02.09. Bill, having served 5 years with the Foreign Legion joined 1RGJ in 1969 and rose to the rank of Serjeant before leaving in 1975 to pursue a career in the private security industries serving initally in Oman and more recently in Afghanistan with many other locations in between. He was an outstanding soldier and a very good friend. My thoughts are with his family at this sad time. I have heard that his funeral is provisionally set for the 27 March in Southampton but that will be confirmed later with other details.

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From Ken Ambrose

Web Site team

Funeral Arrangements

William Foxton OBE

A Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Bill Foxton will be held at:

2pm on Friday 3rd April

Highfield Church, Highfield Lane, Southampton SO17 1RL

A private cremation will take place immediately afterwards, during which mourners are invited to a fuddle  nearby.

Directions on how to reach the church can be found at:

http://www.highfield.org.uk/Include/pdfs/mapsheet.pdf. 

Those intending to be present are requested to be seated by 1.45pm

There is very limited parking at the church although surrounding residential streets are unrestricted, but congested. In order to assess the potential need for the assistance of the Hampshire Police, would those attending who will need to park cars, please advise the Undertaker at the following address:




No flowers please, a donation can be made instead to the British Limbless Ex Servicemens  Association (BLESMA).

The link for online donations is:

http://www.blesma.org/donations.html

or by  post via the Undertaker:

J Lawrence and Sons (Undertakers) Ltd
17 St Denys Road, Portswood
Southampton, Hampshire, SO17




When I read the BBC News about Hampshire yesterday, I had a dread that the death I read about was actually going to be Bill. Now it's confirmed.
I'm sure someone will be able to give more details of Bill's life more eloquently than I, specially since I never had contact after he left to go to the Oman.
He was the man who deserved a book to be written about his life in the Military and, from what I hear later.
How many times has an RGJ Band played the March of the French Foreign legion ? The occasion I remember was when Bill passed out top of his JNCO's cadre, I remember it very well.
Farewell Bill, so sad it had to end like this.
Deeply felt condolences to family and friends.
Barry



Bill Foxton OBE 1943 - 2009




Bill joined the French Foreign Legion as soon as he thought they might accept him and served in Algeria and France. He worked briefly in Doha before joining the British Army in 1969 and after recruit training, was posted to the 1st Battalion, Royal Green Jackets serving in Germany and the UK, including a tour in Belfast in late 1973.  He was Mentioned in Despatches for his service as a Company Intelligence Sergeant during that tour. By 1974, Bill was Provost Sergeant of 1RGJ. Sporting a waxed ginger moustache and always immaculately dressed, very few Riflemen were prepared to confront his awesome presence. Bill was brakeman to Capt Jamie Daniel in the 1RGJ Bob Sleigh team at the European Championships at St Moritz in 1972.  Introduced to Lady Brabazon at a high society reception as Corporal Bill Foxton, she replied What an unusual triple barrelled name Bill didnt even twitch! On return from Belfast, Bill recruited Mike Smith (FF 1976-77) to form 1RGJs totally inexperienced Luge team, only to find themselves in the selection squad for the UKs 1973 World Championship team. Their achievements are not recorded although the German language Bill picked up in the Legion was useful in chatting up the amazons of the East German womens Luge team! 

Perhaps aspiring to a professionally more adventurous and certainly better paid life, Bill enlisted in the Sultans Armed Forces, was commissioned and posted to the Frontier Force in January 1975. At the time, FF was manning the Hornbeam Line. Bills first job was to take over as leave relief from Harry Hardy as FFs Quartermaster. Bill promptly issued all the wrist watches and other goodies which like all QMs, Harry preferred to keep secure in his stores!  Bill was second in Command of C Company both on the Hornbeam Line and then during the Post Monsoon operations in the Western Area. During the return of B and C Companies from Manston to Raysut by air, Bill sat in the seat usually occupied by a co-pilot. After about twenty minutes flying, he found himself in control of the Skyvan aircraft when the pilot had a sudden epileptic fit. This event is a well known epic SAF story with many subsequent late night embellishments, but Bill and Clive Ward were both awarded the Sultans Commendation medal for their actions which undoubtedly saved the lives of all the troops aboard.

Bill returned to the UK after completing his contract, but soon re-enlisted.  Promoted to Major, he took over from Raye Barker-Schofield as Officer Commanding the Baluch Training Centre at Heiron. Whilst there Bill lost his left hand when destroying a blind 60mm mortar round after a training exercise.  He was wearing an Omega watch at the time and it didnt survive the blast. Some time later, Bill sent the remains to Omega in Switzerland explaining the watch did not live up to their claim that it was shockproof. Omega sent him a new watch!  After BTC, Bill joined Richard John as Deputy Force Welfare Officer and was subsequently made an MBE for services to disabled Omani soldiers. His final posting in Oman and probably his happiest, was as OC the SAF Beach Club. He lived with Bobby, whom he had married in 1981, in a converted PortaCabin on the beach next to the club house, and presided over the best beach resort in the Gulf.

On retirement from SAF in 1989, Bill and Bobby made their home in Southampton. He was secretary of the Homeopathic Trust in London until the war in Bosnia erupted in 1992. Like many ex SAF officers, Bill joined the European Commission Monitoring Mission in Bosnia Herzegovina and spent almost two years in Bihac, often isolated by surrounding Serb forces. After the cessation of hostilities in 1995, Bill moved to Sarajevo as the ECMMs Training Officer. It was during this time that a letter from a Serb family was received at the ECMM HQ. The letter described the role played by a stocky, ginger haired British Monitor in saving the life of their child in a mined area in the Vrbas Valley. Bill had made no mention of his selfless act.

In May 1998, Bill joined the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and moved to Albania where the situation in the then adjacent Serbian province of Kosovo was deteriorating significantly. The upsurge in violence was threatening the region as a whole.Bill was chosen to head the main field office, based in Bajram Curri. Through him all reports from this remote and lawless northern region were channelled back to the OSCE mission HQ in Tirana. This was a sensitive operation, for the region was used as a base by the Kosovo Liberation Army from which to launch operations into Kosovo, and an area where random violence was a way of life. Bill had to gain the trust of the local inhabitants, as well as the numerous clans and factions, in order to ensure that his teams were accepted as impartial observers. In this he fully succeeded, assisted no doubt by his extraordinary ability to pick up languages surprisingly quickly

The Serb offensive into western Kosovo the summer of 1998 saw some 30,000 Kosovo Albanians head southwards for sanctuary in Albania. Under Bills guidance, clear and accurate reporting emerged from which world leaders could be briefed, and humanitarian assistance directed to the areas most in need. The good auspices of these OSCE field officers were put to use in many ways, for no other organisation was present in such numbers, or had such knowledge of the region and its inhabitants, and Bills robust and brave qualities continued to be tested to the full.

The KLA continued to grow in strength, incursions by both sides across the border increased, as did shelling and incidents of mining. Albania was a ready source of weapons, and as the KLA became bolder so the situation grew worse. This situation culminated in the NATO bombing campaign in April 1999, and some 500,000 Kosovo Albanians sought sanctuary in Albania. This was a chaotic period but the OSCE monitors, working in extremely dangerous conditions and directed and led by Bill continued to play a large part in sending clear reports and assisting where they could with the humanitarian effort.

In June 1999, Bill  was made an OBE for  rescuing the child two years earlier in Bosnia  and for his outstanding efforts in running OSCEs northern field offices in Albania during a most challenging and dangerous period

At the conclusion of hostilities in Kosovo, Bill moved there and for the next seven years worked in Prizren for the German NGO Arbeiter Samariter Bund, building thousands of prefabricated houses for refugees. In 2007, Bill joined the NGO Caritas and went to Babiyan Province in Afghanistan to manage humanitarian aid projects. Following death threats, Caritas decided that Bill should leave Afghanistan, and he returned home in September 2008.   

Bill is survived by his wife Bobby and his two children Sarah and Willard from his first marriage

Picture: Maj Bill Foxton in the uniform of the Sultans Armed Forces

Stewart Wilson 11 February 2009