Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:57 pm Post subject: Howard Monty Montague
I have just received this shocking news...
Sadly, my brother-in-law, Howard ‘Monty’ Montague who was one of the 100 entry RAF Locking apprentices in 1962 and has an entry on your site died of a heart attack at his home near Johannesburg on 27 July 2009. He was 65. I know that he communicated regularly with his ex-RAF mates and I would ask you please to put a notice of his death into his entry and to carry out your admin procedure when a member dies. There will be a memorial service in the next week or so probably at Meyerton, Johannesburg.
Very sad news indeed. The guy lived life to the full and I'm sure he had no regrets at the end. Will be sadly missed by us all
GG _________________ All the best
Geoff
Do it while you can and grow old disgracefully!
Verithingeoff Website Verithin Forum
I think the last time we met was 1965 but I can see your smiling face as I type. I can see you counting out the shrapnel after a night out and piling the coins neatlly on your bedside locker, also you 'watering' the centre of the room.
Bugger, He certainly played hard and working in the S.A. mining industry would have had to work hard. He seemed to have got over his problems and was starting back to work and then this happens.
Wherever you are Monty, have fun. Im sure you will.
Monty and I were good mates at Locking but our paths didn't really cross again until we met up briefly at RAF Coningsby around 1974. We were both demobbed from there (him in '74, me in '75) and then lost touch again until 2006 when I was starting to set up the 100th web site. I found Monty on the ServicePals web site (along with a few other 100th) and we started corresponding. Monty had problems with his arteries and underwent some serious surgery involving stents (wire metal mesh tubes used to prop open an artery during angioplasty). He never complained and often joked about his problems even when he had to have a toe amputated. And I think that sums Monty up. He was always outspoken, which sometimes got him into trouble, but he was a true friend and I will certainly miss his banter and correspondence.
I have de-activated Monty's forum account (Green Satin) so that emails will no longer be sent out automatically. I don't want to remove his acccount altogether because then all his posts would disappear and I think we should preserve them in his memory (including his controversial avatar). Monty's "Get Well Soon" topic ( http://100thentrylocking.myfreeforum.org/about23.html ) has been locked, but I will leave it as a bit of background on Monty's illness.
Jill and I were good friends with Monty in the early part of our careers and he came to our wedding in 1967. Jill's mother thought he was such a nice boy. We lost touch after Coningsby and we tried several times to contact him to no avail. In fact I sent him an Email only last week to say that we were coming out to South Africa. He was a larger than life character who wil be greatly missed. _________________ TONY LINDON - click here for 100th Entry web site member's page
Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 9:00 am Post subject: Monty
Howard Michael Montague lost his battle with ill health on Monday the 27th July 2009. After enduring a series of long and painful operations, he seemed to have recovered and had even returned to work. Sadly, it was not to be, and his heart gave out just one week after his 65th birthday.
Monty was such a likeable character, one of the most popular in the 100th Entry. Totally irreverent and full of fun and mischief, he was always up to something; when he was around you were guaranteed a laugh. Going by his many posts on this site, he hadn't changed a bit over the last 45 years. Not a big fellow, nonetheless he was tough and fearless. In the apprentice days, he could drink anyone under the table; he rarely got a hangover either. There was another side to Monty though. He was well educated and, in his refined voice, could speak knowledgably on a wide range of subjects.
He basked in service life, especially the camaraderie, but he had a problem with some of the petty rules, particularly if they impinged on his social arrangements or contravened his idea of fair play. At Locking, this put him on a collision course with his nemesis, Corporal Melville; some of us had the same problem. Following demob, many ex apprentices from Locking joined one of the big electronics companies: not Monty. In January 1976, he became a diver in the hostile waters of the North Sea and Orkney Islands. Three years later, as avionics engineer to the Sultanate of Oman, he got embroiled in the conflict with South Yemen. In 1982 he emigrated to South Africa. There, he contracted to the South African Air Force for a couple of years. Again, he was in the firing line: this time in the border war with Angola. Finally, he chose the 'safer' area of industrial instrumentation where he thrived. But at 60, weakened legs made scrambling around power stations, gold mines, and petro-chemical plants increasingly difficult; so he decided to retire.
On retirement, Monty bought a run-down house at Daleside near Johannesburg. He lived there with his two large boerboel dogs, Lara and Jason, and his treasured Mercedes Benz 260E. When not refurbishing the house, he enjoyed sitting in front of his computer 'piloting' aircraft around the world in Microsoft Flight Simulator - he loved aircraft. He also enjoyed the banter on forces internet forums - 'ServicePals' was a favourite - where he was famous for his lively comments. After the operations, his maid, Maria, moved in to care for him.
I last saw Monty at Locking camp when we shook hands and wished each other all the best for the future before going on Xmas leave and then on to our first postings. Taken in the autumn of 1964 by a holiday photographer in the Queens, the lower picture shows him in an uncharacteristically reflective mood. He was still good company though. It is sad to know that we will no longer see any more of his cheerful 'Green Satin' posts on this site. I will miss Monty, as will his many other friends.
Last edited by chuck shenton on Fri Aug 21, 2009 8:36 am; edited 15 times in total
The riddle of Monty's middle name is solved. He was called Howard Michael Montague. A friend of his in SA is going to let me know about his memorial and I will post details here when I get them. _________________ TONY LINDON - click here for 100th Entry web site member's page
From the ExMilitaryMates web site admin...
Hi Tony, Sorry for delay but thank you for informing us of the sad news with the passing of Hmmm who was also a well respected member of our site. We have now informed all of our members of his passing and he was remembered by many members by a post on our site.
A memorial service is being held at Henley-on-Klip on the 28th of August 2009 at 3pm SA time; I have the location details if anyone is in the area. I have sent a eulogy from the 100th Entry to be read at the service, based on the one from Chuck. The final resting place for Monty's ashes has not yet been decided and will depend on the wishes of his family who live in the UK. _________________ TONY LINDON - click here for 100th Entry web site member's page
I have been informed by Monty's family that "his ashes were scattered close by an airfield at Vereeniging SA (the name loosely means 'we are united'). His love of planes never left him in his 65 years and this was deemed by the family as the most appropriate resting place for his ashes". Personally, I think that is exactly what he would have wanted. _________________ TONY LINDON - click here for 100th Entry web site member's page
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