Col Wallace Pryke RIP

Kyt · Jan 11, 2008

Col Wallace Pryke - Telegraph

Colonel Wallace Pryke , who has died aged 92, had an adventurous Army career which took him to the North-West Frontier, the jungles of Burma and behind enemy lines in wartime Italy.

In 1936, as a subaltern in 2nd Battalion the Green Howards (2GH), Pryke was posted to India and took part in two campaigns on the North-West Frontier against the wily Fakir of Ipi and his Pathan tribesmen. The marksmanship of the Pathans meant that soldiers in the open had to keep on the move to avoid being hit.

On one occasion the CO paraded the whole battalion in full view of the tribesmen concealed among the surrounding hills. When they came under fire, to the consternation of the men, their adjutant developed a stutter. After what must have seemed an eternity of waiting for the command to dismiss, the order was finally given and the soldiers wasted no time in falling out.

Wallace Pryke was born in Cairo on October 3 1915 and educated at Reading School, where he was captain of the school as well as of rowing and shooting. He was commissioned into the Essex Regiment before leaving and was granted a regular commission after transferring to the Green Howards.

He worked for Shell as a trainee and, after the outbreak of the Second World War, served with the King's African Rifles (KAR) in East Africa, seeing action in Italian Somaliland, Eritrea and Ethiopia. He was then seconded to Italy for operations behind German lines before joining 1GH at Anzio.

In 1944 Pryke returned to the KAR in Burma and took part in fierce fighting in the Kabaw Valley against the Japanese. He and his men had to rely on air-drops for their supplies and existed for some time on very little food; they also had to carry their own wounded.

They were assisted by Lt-Col JH Williams, who was famous as "Elephant Bill", who was dropped by parachute with two Harley Street surgeons. They organised the rounding up of stray elephants and used them to transport substantial quantities of medical personnel and equipment.

After the end of the war, Pryke returned to England. He had a number of staff appointments at the War Office but was then injured in an accident at 2,000ft over Salisbury Plain when his transport aircraft collided with a fighter.

After recovering he was promoted lieutenant-colonel on his appointment as British delegate to the Nato tactical nuclear weapons group. Between 1958 and 1960 he commanded 1st Green Howards and two battalions of the King's African Rifles. Postings to Northern Army Group and then US Army and Tactical Air Headquarters in Virginia were followed by a move to HQ Singapore during the Confrontation with the Indonesians in Borneo.

In 1968 Pryke went to Harvard Business School before retiring from the Army. After passing the Civil Service exams, he went first to the Board of Trade and then to the Department of Industry.

A transfer to the Department of Energy was followed by promotion to assistant secretary with responsibility for managing the national energy conservation campaign; this started in the winter of 1973 and the Three-Day Week.

Pryke retired in 1980 and spent two years as a consultant to the World Bank and a further six advising private clients.

His recreations included skiing and sailing, bridge and golf. Aged 90 he could often be seen speeding around the fairways of Royal Wimbledon Golf Club on a motorised golf bike. He was for several years president of the Italy Star Association.

Wallace Pryke died on November 21. He married first, in 1948, Doreen Murphy, and secondly, in 1985, Aziza Jansenns. Both unions were dissolved and he is survived by an adopted daughter of his first marriage.
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spidge · Jan 11, 2008

An interesting life!

Adrian Roberts · Jan 11, 2008

I wonder how he pronounced his name? Or how his subordiantes pronounced it? oster_oops:

spidge · Jan 12, 2008

That is what I actually call someone when I don't actually want to call them a P***k.

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