Christopher Francis Hailwood 

Christopher, from Farnborough in Hampshire, was born on 5th August 1959.

He died on 8th June 1982 when Sir Galahad was bombed in Fitzroy Sound.

Personal information courtesy of www.roll-of-honour.com

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I served with Chris on RFA Stromness when a Deck Cadet. Discharge book shows 11.8.78 to 15.12.78. I joined in San Diego.

Chris a lovely man with a wonderful personality and smile. He lit the room up with his genial behaviour.

If my memory serves me right his wife was onboard. At the time I had empire builder shorts and very skinny legs. The Cadet Training Officer Richard Sutton received an observation that the wives could see straight up my shorts when sitting on a reclined chair. I think it was Chris’s Wife that may have been the source of the observation. I promptly swapped shorts with my cabin mate who was a keep fit fanatic. He had budgie snuggler shorts to exaggerate the size of his thighs. They fitted me fine with room to spare. I think it was Chris’s Wife that turned me into a tart at a Vicars & Tarts party in San Diego. She was assisted by another Wife. I looked very glamorous when they finished

Chris’s younger brother briefly shared a cabin with me aboard RFA Tidespring. He was an Engineer Cadet at the time. I was 3rd Officer during the Falklands campaign. He hitched a lift to collect Chris’s belongings from the Falklands boarding at the Ascension Islands after we dropped off prisoners from South Georgia.

On a rough wet day he and I foolishly ran across the upper deck to the mess room for lunch. He lost his footing and slipped on the deck. He ended up with a vent cover cleat buried in his right bicep. I had to arrange emergency first aid.

I am so sad that Chris never came back. Terrible loss to his family.

Jim Thornborough

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Family and friends are encouraged to contribute.

We will add information to this memorial as we receive it.

If you have a photo, an anecdote, or simply to say you remember him, we will be very pleased to hear from you, so please contact the sama office at [email protected]