Veteran honour for William who ‘did his shift in secret’

Wednesday 22nd June 2011, 2:29PM BST.

William Horstead, right, is presented with an Armed Forces Veterans badge by Lt Colonel Colin Vaudin of the British Army. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 1149524)

GUERNSEY’S oldest recipient of an Armed Forces Veterans badge was nearly overlooked because his work was so secretive.

St Peter Port resident William Horstead, 96, worked as a mechanical and electrical engineer in the Secret Service during the Second World War and so did not have a uniform or service number.

However, when the Guernsey Armed Forces Day Committee submitted his application, the Ministry of Defence noted he had officer status, something Mr Horstead himself did not even know.

He was the only qualifying Guernsey veteran who had not been in the Army, Navy or Air Force, which the committee had thought was a requirement.