Former National Service pals meet again after 50-years (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Former National Service pals meet again after 50-years

4:49pm Tuesday 27th April 2010 in News

A FORMER soldier has tracked down a old Green Howards colleague 50-years after they parted after their National Service.

Malcolm Campbell, 72, of Sowerby, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, was called up in 1958 for a two year tour of duty in the Army.

He trained with the Green Howards, at Richmond, North Yorkshire, where he met Edward Buck, from the Skipton area.

They became friends and were dispatched to Hong Kong in 1958 for several months before they came back to England.

The remainder of their National Service saw the pair sent to Eisenheim, West Germany, and in 1960 Mr Campbell, of St Oswald’s Close, left the Army.

Mr Buck stayed on in the Army for three more years but the pair split and Mr Campbell, a former agricultural worker, could not track him down.

Mr Campbell, 72, said: "After I left the Army I went looking for him. It seems he came looking for me too but at that time I was working away.

"He left the area and I never found him. At reunions I asked some of the other Green Howards if they knew where he was, but no-one did.

"I put a request for information onto the Green Howards website and he saw it and got in touch.

He’d moved to Benidorm, Spain, about 14-years ago and he said I was the last person he thought would get in touch as it had been so long.

"I was very surprised to track him down as I had spent so long trying to find him."

Mr Buck, 72, travelled to North Yorkshire earlier this month for a short visit to meet Mr Campbell.

The pair visited The Green Howards Museum, Richmond, for a short tour.

Lynda Powell, museum curator and director, said: "People have used our guest book to contact old friends and rekindle friendships."