Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1944-1992 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
4 boxes or 0.04m3
Scope and content
Papers relating to the career of Brig John 'Joe' Starling, 1947-1992, including copy of memoir Soldier On! The Testament of a Tom , (Spellmount Ltd., 1992), detailing 45 years of Starling's military career; pamphlets and brochures advertising the Parachute Regiment and the Red Devils display team including The Parachute Regiment: Challenge! , c.1970; Train to be a Parachute Soldier , [1975]; Parachute Regiment and Officer Parachute Regiment , Office of Information, 1985; The Airborne Initiative: The 1990 Airborne Forces Golden Jubilee Appeal , 1989 and recruitment posters; recognition guides including Tips for Tankers: Defeating Soviet Armor , US Army Armor School, c 1955; Recognition Handbook: Foreign Weapons and Equipment (USSR) , MOD, 1964; Notes on the Soviet Ground Forces , MOD, 1972; Intelligence Aide-Memoire , Staff College, Camberley, 1976; Threat Recognition Guide , 1 (BR) Intelligence Training Directive, 1984; RAF: Aircraft, Missiles, Vehicles , Office of Information, 1985; Threat Recognition Guide , 1 (BR) Intelligence Training Directive, 1988; and flipbook showing Soviet weaponry and equipment.
Publications including Field Engineering and Mine Warfare, Pamphlet No. 4: Mines - Individual Mechanisms , War Office, 1961; NATO: Facts and Figures , NATO Information Service, 1971; Ranger Handbook , United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia, May 1972; Northern Ireland: What is it like for soldiers? , HMSO, 1974; Back Pocket Briefs: Royal Navy, Directorate of Naval Staff Duties , MOD, c.1988.
Lecture notes, handouts, pictures, maps and teaching aids on topics including lessons learned at Fibua Tewt, Aden, May-June 1967; battle handling exercises: tank stalk and tank ambush; explosive excavation of trenches; tactical exercises, Joint Services Free Fall Trials Team, May 1971, and the construction of petrol bombs to effectively attack tanks. Photographs including Starling in a rubber estate, evening meal in the jungle, Bukit Prang Base, river crossing, a patrol resting, armoured 3 ton truck, the corpses of Tamil terrorists killed in ambush, captured weapons displayed by an Iban tracker, Malay policemen and Starling, Malaya, 1949; group photographs including Champion and Waterloo Company; Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, July 1947; Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Hare and Hounds; Waterloo Company, July 1948; No 2 Platoon, East Anglian Regiment Training Brigade; Officers, School of Infantry (Platoon Weapons Wing), Hythe, May 1950; School of Infantry Tactical Wing Platoon Commanders Course, August 1950 and the Parachute Regiment Regimental Sergeants Major Convention, March 1973. Also Yemeni flag with National Liberation Front slogan in Arabic, Aden, 1963.
System of arrangement
4 boxes arranged in sections as above.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born 1928; joined Army 1946; attended Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 1947-1948; 2 Lieutenant, Suffolk Regiment, 1948; served in Middle East and Far East, including Malaya, 1950; School of Infantry, Hythe, 1950; Lieutenant, 1950; Captain, 1 East Anglian Regiment (Royal Norfolk and Suffolk), 1954; temporary Major, 1959; transferred to Parachute Regiment as Major, 1961; served in Cyprus, 1966; Aden (Yemen), 1967; and Northern Ireland; Lieutenant Colonel, 1968; Regimental Colonel, 1972; served on Staff of Gen Alexander Haig, Supreme Commander Allied Powers in Europe (SHAPE); Deputy Commander, South West District, 1978-1981; retired 1982; Secretary, Western Wessex Territorial Auxiliary and Volunteer Reserve Association, 1982-1987; died 1996.
Publications: Soldier On! The Testament of a Tom , (Kent: Spellmount Ltd., 1992)
Repository
Custodial history
Presented to the Centre by the family, July 2006
Conditions governing access
Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.
Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, via the Archives.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Uploaded finding aid
Existence and location of originals
Please note: We require 7 days notice to retrieve this collection as part, or all of it, is held off-campus. Read more ›
Note
Decorations: CBE, MC, DL
Alternative identifier(s)
Place access points
People and Organisations
- Starling, John Geoffrey ('Joe'), 1928-1996, Brigadier (Subject)
- Parachute Regiment (Subject)
- SHAPE, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe (Subject)
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.
Script(s)
Archivist's note
Entry compiled by Katharine Higgon.