A SOLDIER from the North-East who was one of the first anti-terrorism specialists and was awarded the British Empire Medal for Gallantry has died on Remembrance Sunday.

Colour Sergeant Robert 'Bobby' Bogan, from Howden-le-Wear, County Durham, survived three assassination attempts while serving in Aden.

He died at the age of 81 after contracting prostate cancer.

C/Sgt Bogan was one of the first men to use modern intelligence methods to tack and arrest insurgents during the 1966 Aden Emergency and was awarded the BEM for his actions by the Queen a year later.

His widow Carole said: “He loved the Army. He was a remarkable man, who was loved by everybody.”

Born and bred in Hartlepool, he joined the Durham Light Infantry as a teenager in 1952 to allow him to support his brothers and sisters after the death of their mother.

When the first and second battalions of the DLI were re-amagamated, he was moved to serve with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, later the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry (SCLI).

The Northern Echo: A JAK cartoon featuring C/Sgt Robert "Bobby" Bogan, which was published in the London Evening Standard in 1967

In March 1966 he was sent to Radfan Camp in Aden, a British-controlled territory in South Arabia now part of modern-day Yemen, to lead the 1st Battalion SCLI's Recce Platoon – dubbed 'Bogan's Heroes' – a 12-man team designated Special Branch Squad (SBS) whose task was to hunt out and arrest terrorists targeting the British Army.

Militaria specialist Fred Wyrley-Birch, of Anderson & Garland, said: “Bobby Bogan was one of the first modern day anti-terrorism specialists who looked at anti-terrorism in a different light to the way others did previously.

“He worked closely with the local security and residence, living, eating and working with them, treating all as equals. He learned Arabic so he could communicate directly rather than using a translator and he was able to get very close to everybody in the area.

“He dressed like an Arab, even darkening his complexion with boot polish, so he was able to get close and arrest suspects.

"Three times he was singled out for assassination by the terrorists during the seven months he was there, as they were so afraid of how effective his work was. He caught someone trying to stab him in the back. He was a marked man."

C/Sgt Bogan's role was recognised nationally and his exploits were widely reported in the Press. He was the subject of a cartoon by JAK in the London Evening Standard and he geatured in a comic strip, The Hornet.

He withdrew from Aden because of the assassination attempts and later became a key anti-terrorism advisor to the Army in Northern Ireland.

The family moved to Howden-le-Wear while he was serving in the Army recruiting office in Bishop Auckland. He retired in 1989 at the age of 55, after almost 37 years’ service.

Mr Wyrley-Birch said: “He was very much a hero of a time that was a difficult time for Britain during the last vestiges of the Empire. He did a job very, very few people could do – then or now – and put a new spin on how to do it.

A collection of his medals - inlcluding his BEM - along with letters, including one from the Queen, photos, maps, books and the original JAK cartoon were due to be auctioned by Anderson & Garland in Newcastle on December 2.

However, since C/Sgt Bogan's death, his family have now decided to withdraw them from the sale.

Daughter Claire Eddy said: "We now want to keep them in the family to remind us of him, his bravery and all that he achieved."

C/Sgt Bogan also leaves children: Amanda Underwood; Claire Eddy; Daniel Bogan (who served with the Royal Signals); Bobby Bogan (who served with REME); Karen Winsper and Dawn Bogan alonmg with 24 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

  • His funeral will be held at Howden-le-Wear Methodist Church on Friday, November 20, at 12.30pm. All are welcome.