John Barrington Powell was called up for National Service in November 1956 and after initially training at the Welsh Depot he volunteered for service in the Parachute Regiment and was transferred to Depot Para where he completed P Company and his basic parachute jump training on course 439 at RAF Abingdon. This course ran between 25 February and 23 March 1957. It consisted of 2 initial jumps from balloon, followed by 6 jumps from Hastings and Valetta aircraft. John's instructor noted this about his performance:
"Very good. Nervous but controlled. Good"
On completion of his training he was posted to C Coy 2 PARA.
After a period of build up training in Aldershot and on Bodmin Moor 2 PARA deployed to Cyprus in 1967.
In July 1958 2 Para were then deployed to Jordan from Cyprus after a request from King Hussein of Jordan requested assistance from the UK. John briefly returned to Cyprus and was discharged from the regular army on 14 November 1958 and posted to the reserve with 10 Para (V) till 1961.
On leaving the Army John joined the fire service where he enjoyed a full career.
Created with imagery and information kindly supplied by Kieran S Day.
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