Captain Michael D Irwin

Captain Mike 'Joe' Irwin, from Harrow, enlisted into 10 PARA, a Territorial Army unit, in the 1970s and was commissioned on 5 April 1981.

In November 1996, while serving as the Battalion's Operations Officer, he led a six man team during a training exercise in the Brecon Beacons, South Wales. Blizzard conditions set in resulting in one soldier developing hypothermia.

Captain Irwin set off to raise the alarm but fell victim to the freezing and inhospitable conditions and died. It was his 39th birthday.

Profile photo courtesy of Bob Sturtivant.