Terry Bradshaw. Terry passed away quietly at Dunwood Manor Nursing Home, Romsey. His wife Pat had been at his bedside caring for him since the 31st October. In his youth Terry had played semi professional football and had a reputation for hard tackling. I saw his X-ray in Estonia when he broke his ankle. It bore witness to many a hard collision making his shin looked like a Christmas tree.

He had originally joined Para REME and served with 16th Ind. Airborne Brigade.  On demob he joined the merchant navy as a steward and by doing so missed the chance to jump at Suez. His recall papers for the Airborne were sent to him but by this time he was at sea carrying out necessary war work and therefore except from call up.

    In 2001 he joined the ranks of Pathfinder as an enthusiastic member. Just after joining our ranks he made a round canopy jump onto the Merville Gun Battery in Normandy as part of the anniversary celebrations. Along with 27 other former Paratroopers and from a DC3 aircraft he completed a successful jump onto a DZ left untouched by time and with all the hazards that had been in place in WW2.Also in the same year Terry had jumped with a number of Pathfinder and WASF members at the Black Knights Parachute Centre in Preston to raise money for the Gurkha Welfare fund. In 2002 Terry joined myself and eight other members of Pathfinder in the former Czech Republic to jump with their SF Company. Despite the snow and some very suspect spotting Terry completed the course and was awarded his Czech wings.

    In 2002 Terry once again joined me in Estonia where in the first part of the course he fired a number of weapons on the ranges to qualify for their certificated course.The week ended with Terry qualifying for his Estonian Defence Force Wings despite breaking his ankle when he caught a thermal just prior to touch down. Despite this he remained cheerful even thought the hospital was a throw back to the old Soviet Union days. We finally managed to get him back to England in one piece which was an adventure on its own.

    He had been ill for some time but despite that he was still his old cheerful self and when I visited always wanted to be updated on the Pathfinder events and gossip.His biggest only moan was that he knew he would not be able to jump again.

    Terry will be missed by all Pathfinder members that knew and had jumped with him. He was a real gentleman.

In 2001 Terry joined Pathfinder Parachute Group and with other members he jumped from a Dakota DC3 onto Merville Gun Battery to commemorate the anniversary of the Normandy invasion of 1944 ... he has jumped with the Black Knights Parachute Team from a Cessna aircraft onto their DZ in the north west of England. Terry has also jumped in aid of WASF for the Ghurkas Welfare Trust Charity event ... in 2002 Terry was awarded the parachute wings for the Netherlands Dutch 'B' wing, the Chezoslovakia wings and the Estona wings ... He had done a total of 56 round canopy jumps from 4 different types of aircraft, namely the Hastings, Dakota, the Russian AN2 and the Cessna.