Captain Jack Gerald Alpe, MC, was born on June 25, 1920. He died on July 10, 2008, aged 88

Jack Alpe was one of only 16 offiers who served with the Royal Army Service Corps in the Second World War to be awarded an immediate Military Cross. A young prewar Territorial Army soldier, he was mobilised in 1939 and commissioned in March 1940. He served with artillery ammunition transport supply companies in the Western Desert, latterly with the 7th Armoured Division — the “Desert Rats” — at the Battle of Alamein and, after defeat of the Axis forces in North Africa, in the assault landings at Salerno on the southwest coast of Italy in September 1943.

Recalled to England with the 7th Armoured Division to prepare for the invasion of northwest Europe, he landed in Normandy with 507 Company RASC, with responsibility for ammunition supply to the divisional artillery and the Desert Rats’ lorried infantry brigade.

On July 25 and 26, 1944, he commanded the advance ammunition point delivering shells to the artillery and anti-tank guns engaged in the intense fighting east of Caen. The 20 vehicles of his company were targeted by the enemy, in particular by the formidable, flat-trajectory 88mm guns. Despite losing trucks and drivers to enemy fire, he led forward the supplies of shells until injured in the head by a shell splinter. However, he managed to rejoin his company in time for the advance on and surrender of Hamburg in May.

In the 1960s his business, Jack Alpe & Sons in Marylebone High Street, became well-known suppliers of Rolls- Royce and Bentley cars.

Colonel Patrick J. C. Robinson, OBE, TD, was born on August 14, 1941. He died on June 11, 2008, aged 66

As a young officer with 1st Battalion The Northumberland Fusiliers in Aden, Yemen in 1966-1967, Robinson was assigned the unusual military role of Special Branch Officer when the last street level members of the Aden Police Special Branch were murdered.Many were of Somali origin and had been targeted by the terrorist National Liberation Front (NLF). Each infantry battalion in Aden Brigade had a section working with the police Special branch but after the murders they were on their own.

Although they were armed, mingling with the local Arab population was dangerous work. Robinson led his Special branch section’s operations in the narrow streets of Crater, to which there were only two exits through the extinct volcano walls, from September 1966 until the fateful mutiny of the Aden Armed Police in Crater on June 20, 1967. The intelligence his section had gathered on the NLF made a useful contribution to the later recovery of Crater by 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

He continued his career as a regular officer until 1973, including command of a company in Northern Ireland. He then joined Webster & Horsfall Ltd, steel manufacturer, becoming a director in 1974. He also joined the 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers of the Territorial Army and commanded it from 1981 to 1983. Subsequently he was Territorial Army Colonel for Western District, an ADC to the Queen and a Deputy Lieutenant for Warwickshire. He was appointed OBE for services to the Reserve Forces in 2002.

Hazel Warp, stunt rider, was born on November 11, 1914. She died on August 26, 2008, aged 93

Hazel Warp played one of cinema’s most memorable characters — Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). Vivien Leigh is the actress whose name appears on the credits of course, but Warp could claim a small slice of cinema immortality, having served as Scarlett in the scenes where she appears on horseback. Born in Montana, she soon proved herself to be a skilled horsewoman. She grew up on a farm, rode a horse to the one-room local schoolhouse and pursued a career training horses. Working at her sister’s stables in California led to involvement in the movie business. She made uncredited appearances in many films including Wuthering Heights (1939) and National Velvet (1944) and also instructed actors on horsemanship.