Raymond Stephen Werner - Kenya Regiment 1342

Telegraph - 15 Apr 2000 - Colonel Ray Nightingale, who has died aged 79, was an outstanding leader in the Mau Mau operations in the 1950s. He served in the Kenya Regiment, The King's African Rifles, the Greenjackets (60th Rifles), and the SAS, whose high standards of physical fitness he was able to meet at the age of 45.

In the SAS his wide experience of counter-terrorist warfare earned him selection as Senior Intelligence Officer, and then Operations Officer. By introducing original and unorthodox ideas, he transformed procedures and training for SAS operations and special missions.

Raymond Clephn Werner Nightingale was born on March 2 1921 at Livingstone in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). His father had left Australia for Africa to fight in the Boer War and had then settled there. Ray was sent to Plumtree School, and always remembered the fear he felt going on the train over the bridge at Victoria Falls. Cecil Rhodes had decreed that the train should pause on the bridge so that passengers could enjoy the view, but Ray, who always thought the bridge was on the point of collapse, would breathe a sigh of relief when it reached the other side.

Having been orphaned when he was only 4 and brought up by his grandparents, at 16 he felt he should earn his own keep and left school to take up an apprenticeship as an electrician. On the outbreak of war in 1939 he joined the Northern Rhodesian Volunteer Defence Force, but, wanting a more active part in the war, then drove 1500 miles to Kenya, where he joined the Kenya Regiment. He was seconded to the KAR and served in Abyssinia and the Somaliland campaign in 1941. By the end of the war, he was serving as a lieutenant when ill-health forced his discharge.

He became a marine engineer in Mombasa, but was recalled to the Kenya Regiment at the start of the Emergency in 1953. He would earn an MBE and 2 mentions in despatches. He had an uncanny instinct for locating and eliminating Mau Mau gangs concealed in the forests, and he persuaded many of the terrorists to "turn" and assist the security forces.Though prepared to take any risk himself, he was extremely careful with the lives of his men, losing only 2 (one of them in a motor accident) in 23 months of operations. ………. [more]  

After retiring from the Army, Nightingale built up a library of Africana. He was also an accomplished artist and a skilled carpenter. His first wife Moyra, whom he married in 1946, predeceased him. They had 2 sons. He is survived by his second wife Pamela

Sundown - In charge of 'O' Company, Kenya Regiment in Mau Mau

Special Forces Roll of Honour born 2.3.1921 Livingstone,Northern Rhodesia, educated Plumtree School, Northern Rhodesian Volunteer Defence Force 1939, Kenya Regiment, King's African Rifles
Lieutenant by end of war, marine engineer,Mombasa, Kenya Regiment 1953, 2 Bn Royal Greenjackets 1965, 22 SAS 1969 (Senior I.O. + Ops Officer), attached Sultan of Oman's Army 1970s, retired as Colonel
accomplished artist and skilled carpenter, married Moyra 1946 (died) (2 sons), married Pamela