Who was George Thomas Gilroy Simpson

George Thomas Gilroy Simpson

Recently the people of Kellington buried one of its own favourite adopted sons, William (Bill-a-Bong) Douglas. He had been the landlord of the Red Lion public house.
Bill was a native of Newcastle and proud of it. The black and white of Newcastle United ran in his blood.
A few weeks after the funeral one of the regulars at the Lion was talking about a wreath he had seen, some time ago, with the flying wings of the SAS on it. It was on one of the commemorative plaques in the cremation side of the Churchyard. Unfortunately he could not remember which one, but knew roughly where it was. This intrigued me. Who was this man, why did he have an SAS wreath on his stone and why did none of us know anything about him or his history?
I have a booklet, which was published by a local family history society, of all the legible citations of the grave stones on the Churchyard . We found two stones quite quickly one was a George Thomas Gilroy Simpson. The other a George Gilroy Simpson.

The inscription on George Thomas Gilroy Simpsons reads:-


The Insignia of the paratroop regiment (Ufrinque Pratus )
The insignia of the SAS (Who dares Wins)
Treasured memories of
A Beloved Husband, Dad & Grandad
George Thomas
Gilroy Simpson
Born 22nd Oct 1932
Died 11th Apr 1992



 

The another memorial stone of George Gilroy Simpson reads:-

Loving Memory of

George Gilroy

Simpson

Born 24th October 1904

Died 12th September 1988

And Ruth Beloved

Wife,Mam and Nanna


Born 18th December 1902

Died 18th September 1996