BERTRAM Guy Chalk, 'one of life’s true gentlemen', has passed away peacefully at the age of 86.

The old soldier, who was affectionately known as ‘Chalky,’ was born in the Moordown area of Bournemouth on January 27, 1927.

On leaving school, Chalky worked for local soft furnishing retailers Butlers. At 18, he was called up for service and joined the Hampshire Regiment, quickly becoming a crack marksman.

In 1946 Chalky volunteered and got accepted into the Second Battalion of the Parachute Regiment before being drafted into the elite Pathfinders.

Chalky was demobbed in 1949 and went back to the Hampshires as a corporal. He had the option of joining Aldershot Town as a professional footballer but chose instead to come home and marry his sweetheart Barbara.

Chalky became a leading store man at Marshalls & Hartwells. Later he was a fitter and machinist at BAC at Hurn, working at Hamworthy Engineering until ill health forced early retirement. He nursed Barbara until her sad passing.

The final chapter of Chalky’s life was spent at White Lodge and St Helen’s House care home in Boscombe Spa Road where he died on June 22, after a short illness.

His son John said: “Dad received wonderful care in his final years; he was treated with dignity, love and respect.”

Representatives from the Wessex Parachute Regiment Association attended Chalky’s funeral service at Bournemouth Crematorium on Monday which was conducted by Canon Andrew Hawthorne.