Soldier and author
EDGAR O’BALLANCE, a military specialist writer and a former British army PRO, has died at age of 90. He covered more than 20 wars and wrote extensively on international relations, defence and strategic problems.
Born in Dublin, he moved with his family to Nottinghamshire and lived in the East Midlands for most of his life, between spells of globetrotting and adventure.
He joined the army and saw war service in France, West Africa, Burma and India, reaching the rank of colonel. On leaving the army in 1948 he joined a US correspondents’ team as a journalist, reporting from Korea, China and Indo-China. Returning home he ran a pub for a year and wrote up the farming gossip for the local paper.
In 1953 he was commissioned in the Territorial Army and travelled to Israel and Egypt; he even spent a month with the French Foreign Legion while doing research.
In the 1960s he joined the Ministry of Defence as a writer and became an Army PRO, initially in Colchester, but ending as the Army PRO in Nottingham. He retired in 1978.
Edgar O’Ballance wrote 37 books on international military affairs.
Di Peasey