Peter, Mike's son, wrote to let us know the sad news of Mike's death in December 2023...

Major (Retired) James Michael Riches, known as Mike, who served with the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) and the Royal Corps of Transport (RCT), died aged 92, on Monday 18 December 2023 in Frimley Park Hospital after a short illness. 

After schooling at St John's College, Portsmouth and Churcher's College, where he gained a Cambridge School Certificate and passed the Civil Service Commissoner's Examonation in 1949, he started a two year Commissioning Course at the Royal Military School Sandhurst (RMAS). In 1951 after gaining a commission from Sandhurst with the RASC, he served with the 16th Independent Parachute Brigade Group in 63 Coy (Para) RASC, responsible with the RAOC for logistics, primarily transport for the Brigade. He transferred to the RCT in 1965, when it was formed as a separate corps, responsible for transport and movements by land, sea and air. He later served with the Army Air Corps (ACC) gaining his wings, flying both fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, but remained in the RCT. His flying skills qualified him to be a Liveryman of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots and Air Navigators.Throughout his career he had a passion for Rifle Target Shooting and after retirement in 1980 he worked for Fabrique Nationale (FN) Herstal and became a Liveryman, as the Clerk to the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, staying with Company until well into his 80s.

Mike was married to Anne, who pre-deceased him in 2021, and is survived by two sons, Peter and David Riches, and his daughter, Anne Marie Burrows.