Chris Keeble

Chris Keeble
Born	(1941-11-14) 14 November 1941 (age 80) Quetta, British India
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1963–1987
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Unit	Royal Leicestershire Regiment Royal Anglian Regiment Parachute Regiment
Commands held	2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment
Battles/wars	Falklands War Battle of Goose Green Battle of Wireless Ridge
Awards	Distinguished Service Order

Christopher Patrick Benedict Keeble, DSO, MSc, FCMI (born 14 November 1941) is a former British Army soldier, who fought in the Falklands War.

Early life[]

Keeble was born in Quetta, British India, and received his early formal education at the Benedictine Douai School (for both prep school at Ditcham Park and the senior school),^[1] and at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Military career[]

In February 1964 he received a commission into the British Army's Royal Leicestershire Regiment, which was amalgamated into The Royal Anglian Regiment seven months later.^[2][3] He joined the Parachute Regiment in 1972,^[4] and was promoted to major serving with 10 Para in 1975.^[5][6]

On 28–29 May 1982, at the Battle of Goose Green during the Falklands War, Keeble assumed command of the 2nd Battalion of The Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) after its Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel H. Jones, had been killed in action. A devout Christian, Keeble, then a Major, took over the leadership of the battalion at a point when its attack upon the Argentine Army position had broken down, having lost 16% of its strength as casualties; it was short of ammunition, had been without sleep for 40 hours, and was in a debilitated condition to face the unknown potential of a counter-attack from the Argentine forces present in the vicinity.^[7] After kneeling alone in prayer amongst the burning gorse seeking guidance as to what to do, Keeble conceived the idea of refraining from more attacks to try a psychological ploy, subsequently releasing several captured Argentine prisoners of war in the direction of their Goose Green garrison, carrying messages into it requiring its surrender or threatening it with a fictitious large-scale assault by the British forces, supported by artillery. The Argentine commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ítalo Piaggi, subsequently surrendered the garrison to the Parachute Regiment without further fighting.^[8]

After the battle, despite popular sentiment among the soldiers of 2 PARA for him to remain in command, but he was replaced by Lt. Col. David Chaundler,^[9] who was flown in from the United Kingdom to take command of the battalion. At the end of the conflict Keeble was decorated with the Distinguished Service Order.^[10]

He then commanded 15 PARA, a Territorial Army Battalion based in Scotland, with its HQ in Glasgow. Keeble finished his military career with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 27 September 1987,^[11] his final appointment having been a Staff Officer Grade 1 at Allied Forces Central Europe in the Netherlands.

Post-military life[]

After retiring from the British Army he set up a management consultancy, providing instruction on balancing the "Ethic of business transformation with the Ethic of peoples' flourishing". He is currently^[when?] a supernumerary fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford University.^[12]

References[]

• Oak Square Press (2006). 2 Para's Battle for Darwin Hill and Goose Green. Oak Square Press. ISBN 978-0-9660717-1-9.
• Spencer Fitz-Gibbon (April 2006). Not mentioned in despatches: the history and mythology of the Battle of Goose Green. James Clarke & Co. ISBN 978-0-7188-3016-8.