Tributes to Vince

Army Number – 24055159 McGarry V G. Vince enlisted into the Royal Signals on 22nd June 1965 at the Age of 22. As with all Signals he did his basic and trade training in Catterick and became a Telemechanic Technician. He completed 22 years service during which time he reached the rank of Staff Sergeant Foreman of Signals. He passed many courses during his service amongst which were:Swimming Instructor, Senior Kayak Instructor for Sea, Parachute Course which meant he could wear the Red Beret and Wings on his arm. He had many and varied postings during his service amongst which were:UK, Malaya, Belize, Falkland Islands, Northern Ireland, Germany, Ascension Islands, Norway and Denmark. .During his service he was awarded 3 medals:The Northern Ireland Clasp, Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (with Gratuity) The most prestigious of which was the British Empire Medal – A medal of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service. A British order of chivalry and an absolutely Amazing achievement. Vince had an exemplary service record and was a credit to the Royal Signals, The British Army and himself..

 

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I knew Vince from 233 Signal Squadron about 80 to 83. I was so sorry to hear that he came to the end of his life all (it appears) alone, for that is the way he seemed to live his life.

I was the Y of S in the Squadron and Vince a quiet but very capable Tech Sgt working under Colin Ramsey the F of S. During this time I managed the province comcen and we had a project to connect the outlying remote unit bases by direct teleprinter. The project was difficult for the cook's etc. at the distant end were to man the links, with little training and a simplex system (one way at a time needing some switching and procedural work). Vince got the job of designing and building a switching system to accommodate about 20 such teleprinter links; this in the days before electronic computerised switching was available to us. He built a magnificent box of tricks, which worked faultlessly. I well remember visiting him in his tech hideout where he was building this system. He looked as if he hadn't emerged from the work for weeks, the floor was covered in cuttings from the multitude of wires this unit incorporated and one just did not feel one could interrupt him in this work. Well the thing he built worked a treat and he was well respected for the end product.

I came across him once more in late 86 or early 87 after we had both left the military, when I worked for Mercury Communications. I was a newly appointed sales manager selling telecomm services and was visiting a client, don't remember who, but something like a bank and in central London. While I waited in the reception area I noticed a side door open and could see a cable frame room. Guess what, there was Vince and a colleague working away just as I remembered him from 233 Signal Squadron in NI, only difference was he was wearing civvies! We exchanged a few words and that was the last I saw of him and to be honest last I thought of him until the note on the DBG site.

When I now reflect on Vince I remember that he as a very quiet but fit chap, very likeable but hard to get to know. I was married at the time and hence spent as little time in camp as possible. Vince lived in t he mess at Lisburn. Thiepval Barracks was were we both worked. I got to eat lunch in the mess occasionally when on Orderly Officer duties and sat with Vince over the meal a few times. I couldn't really draw him into a conversation, not that I was much of a conversationalist, but he was a loner as far as I could see. Great at his job, liked by all as far as I could see and from a sad background I would have guessed at the time. The Army seems to have been the best for him and now judging by the way he passed on and the way his military contemporaries are showing respect, I guess the Army was his true family

 

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Although Vince was not a member of the RSA, His funeral was attended by 12 members of the East London Branch of the RSA with their Standard Bearer.

Around 30 to 40 past and present Work colleagues of Vince were at the Funeral Service, His Eulogy was read by Cliff Parker. Sadly there were no members of Vinces's Family present..

 

The Eulogy For Vince

"Vince was a selfless man who went through his life with all his challenges helping others and committing fully to whatever job he was engaged in. He was chivalrous, with an afflatus attitude and a true gentlemen. He was amazingly kind, caring and a funny guy who was adored. He was a lovely man and we thank him for sharing his life with us"

Vince spent many hours and years in the Telemetry Dept. at Mercury provisioning, testing and maintaining the National Mercury Telemetry Network. Whatever time of the day you wanted to do a site test, be it 6am or 11pm - Vince would always be there to test and be on the end of that phone. My first encounter with Vince was when I first started at Mercury in 1988 and my first telemetry test. He was absolutely fabulous, very helpful and patient with me the new boy! After speaking with Vince over the phone for ages I always envisaged Vince as some type of Billy Connolly character as the Scottish accents were pretty much similar. When I actually met him, he was short and totally the opposite of what I had imagined.

Vince in his later years at C&W worked at CityVoice, Barnards Inn and was an asset to the department, albeit he did have the Vince way of working that was totally against the established rules. But as always he was head down and go, Vince hated paperwork and everything he done was in his head and written nowhere - which frustrated the life out of the Maintenance team and his managers, however he was always there to answer what he had done with a certain customers circuit and where it was now connected to as it wasn't as per the paperwork. He really was a law unto himself at times, his favourite trick was the DSP reset.

Always first in the office and all the years I worked with Vince I only beat him in once and that was just by minutes when we had a big migration project to complete.

Vince worked very long hours, early and late days and it was only on his last month in C&W that after a great deal of badgering from all of us that he put his overtime through the system - as he never claimed for overtime throughout his career in C&W, he put in over 500 Hours overtime for 3 Months that had to be authored by senior management as they failed to believe anyone could do that much.

Vince loved his skiing, this was one of his social outlets apart from work and his friends. He would always ski at the same resort, same hotel for the same 2 weeks with the same friends - unfortunately due to shift patterns he didn't go this year. However at C&W he would always leave from the office with his ski's and bag and went off to the airport and when he returned he would come back directly to the office, put his ski's on top of the cupboard, sit down and start working straight away.

Vince also loved his push bike and rode this everyday from work to home in Hackney and it was his prize possession and was a top of the range model worth thousands. There were many occasions Vince would turn up to work at Barnards Inn after many tangles with Taxi's and Buses on his way in, two incidents stick in my memory of Vince and his bike antics.

The first is when he arrived in the dark at the office one morning and the office had grilles around the building running in different directions, Vince just so happened to be cycling the same way as the grilles were going and his ultra thin tyres disappeared down the grille and Vince was thrown off the bike and slammed to the floor - entering the office his body and ego all bruised and battered to continue his days work. The 2nd was when he had an altercation with a Bus on the way in that he was so severely battered and bruised that he had trouble moving, talking and his face was unrecognisable. Still Vince insisted on getting straight to work, refusing to go to hospital or receive medical treatment and it was only through his frustration at not being able to talk to people ringing him to test that he eventually went home

Vince had a soft spot for the ladies, especially those that visited laden with cakes. Whenever he got a quick cuddle off the ladies, he broke out one of his fabulous smiles and a bright red face to boot. The ladies would always swan off to get Vince his lunch from the chocolate machine as that seemed all he survived on, albeit much of his lunch and dinner could be found in his keyboard II!

One year we managed to find out his birthday was 24th December and clubbed together to buy a bottle of his favourite Whisky, when we presented it to him, he was stunned that we had found out his Birthday as he would never tell anyone his birthday. And for once he was speechless and the only time I have ever seen Vince show emotion and close to tears.

During his time at NTT Vince left his dinner in the microwave, it was typical Vince, nothing fancy, just a plain steak pie. Unfortunately he left it cooking and forgot about it, instead dealing with some work which could have waited. Anyway the pie caught fire and set the alarm off, which meant the emergency services were automatically called, the fire brigade at the time were on strike, so along comes the army in their green goddess, cue one very apologetic & embarrassed Vince.

Vince was also a thoroughly dedicated and professional individual in the Army, serving his Queen and Country and the following is a tribute from a close Army Colleague.

Vince McGarry was a shy, quiet and retiring man who kept himself to himself but once he got to know you he could be quite humorous with a dry sense of humor.

He was born in Glasgow and brought up in a Barnardo's home, the experience of which formed a lot of his character in later life. Vince was determined to better himself in life and that he achieved. He was very hard working, dogged, determined and had a fierce belief in fighting against what he thought was any injustice. He joined the army in 1963 and trained as a Terminal Equipment Technician in the Royal Signals. His determination to take on challenges led him to pass the All Arms parachute course and from there he remained very fit for the rest of his time in the army. His dedication to any job that he was given was such, that he always gave more than 500 % to any task. In Northern Ireland he trained and learned sufficiently to carry out radio technical tasks to a high standard. He dedicated himself to finishing a task and continued to try to solve problems even after everyone else had given up. In fact the techs used to hate going on a job with him because there was no return time. You worked until Vince could find no more modifications to make the comms more efficient. There was report in the WIRE magazine-the journal of the Royal Signals that Vince, when on detachment to the Falklands went to repair a fault on a hilltop site on the day he was due to fly home. The fault was quite difficult and Vince even tried to cancel his flight until the Officer Commanding sent four hefty signallers to the site to escort Vince and his suitcase direct to the airport and to make sure that he got on the aircraft!!. That was Vince.

He continually fought against any form of injustice and was forever representing the junior N.C.O or signalman who rights or entitlements were being infringed.

He was well liked and respected by all who knew him. He was a man who was dealt a poor hand in the beginning of the game of life but never wallowed in self-pity. He picked himself up, stood tall and through hard work and determination carved out a successful career in life. The army was his family and he repaid the chances they gave him a thousand times over. The world is a poorer place without Vince and it is a testament to the high regard in which he was held that his friends from near and afar were determined that his death should not go unnoticed

Rest in Peace Vince.

I have received numerous great quotes from friends and colleagues that knew Vince throughout his life and career. Some of them being:
'A really nice bloke',
'Worked damn hard',
'Stood by me and helped me in my role',
'A True Gentleman and a lovely man',
' Always there to help, whenever you needed him',
'A very funny guy, when you got to know him',
' Worked his socks off in anything he did',
' The hardest working individual I have ever come across in 20 years in Comms and an absolute Diamond'.
'Well respected', 'A very quiet but fit bloke in the Army, liked by all and great at his job'.

"Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep"


Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glints on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.




I had an Angel here beside me
Sent to earth to help and guide me
An Angel always there for me
Sent to love and care for me.

She did the things that Angels should
She taught me what was bad and good
She gave me hope when no one cared
She held my hand when I was scared.

She cheered me up when I was down
She could make a smile from a frown
She doctored me when I was sick
And many another Angel trick.

Today my Angel earned her wings
Her Halo, Harp and other things
But today I am lost and all alone
For today God called my Angel home.

"I believe that if Vince was standing here today in his ripped shirt etc. , his warm smile would be evident, and he would want to reassure all of us that the world will go on as usual, that his funeral is nothing out of the ordinary, and that, in fact, all is well"

"He was a Great Man, A crazy, wonderful genius"
Vince,
God rest your soul, a decent nights sleep at last, my friend Enjoy ...As I hear the skiing and cycling is pretty good up there as this I'm sure you know this is not the end.

Thank-You.!!