307942 (2723791) Lieutenant Hubert John GOUGH, Irish Guards

Personal Number: 307942
Army Number: 2723791
Rank: Lieutenant
Name: Hubert John GOUGH
Unit: Irish Guards

London Gazette : 11 April 1944
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36461/supplement/1659/data.pdf
The undermentioned Cadets to be 2nd Lts. : —
28th Jan. 1944: —
I. G'ds.
307942 (2723791) Hubert John GOUGH

 

See also:

• Person Page
• Family Tree - The Cobbold Family History Trust

 

Campaign Stars & Medals :

• 1939-45 Star
• France & Germany Star
• War Medal 1939-45

Address given at time of application (1948):
Nichols Nymet, N. Tawton, Devon

 

Hope I've got the correct officer for adding my father's reminiscences.
He described Gough as a "real Guardsman", "one of us" who marched with the proper amount of swagger.
Postwar, in Armagh Barracks, Gough discovered that a fellow officer, who hadn't qualified for any WW2 campaign medals, had been giving anyone in the ranks wearing ribbon bars on their uniforms, as per standing orders, a really hard time. Lots of punishment duties for minor or imaginary infractions. Guardsmen had taken to removing any evidence of their service in order to avoid his pettiness, thereby also attracting Gough's attention. According to the gossip at the time Gough stormed into the Officers Mess, grabbed the offending officer by the neck, pushed him up against a wall and threatened to knock him out if he didn't stop harassing "real soldiers, something you'll never be."

One of the guardsmen in Armagh at the time:

• 2717553 Guardsman John BYRNE, Irish Guards: 06/04/1948

Dad was also friendly with ex-Army major who lived in the same village decades later.

• 100508 Major Stanley Kenneth LOCKHART, 3 King's Own Hussars, RAC

Lockhart confirmed that he knew those officers and also confirmed my Dad's opinion of both. The offender had apparently let a door slam in the Major's face one evening when the officers were exiting a building after a meal. When called out about this his reply was "Oh, I thought you were a waiter."

 

Seems fair!
Andy.