The funeral took place last week of one of the fresh produce industry's more colourful characters, Kit Chase.

Best known in the trade for his role as group managing director of Lincolnshire-based Walpole Fruit Packers, Chase could also lay claim to having been a personal bodyguard to then Israeli prime minister David Ben Gurion.

Having been posted to Palestine with the British army at the age of 19, Chase was appalled at the situation of refugees that had survived the holocaust and deserted his post to join the Israeli Defence Force. He made many friends in Israel spoke fluent Hebrew and, as part of Israel's independence celebrations in 1985, became the first non-Israeli to be awarded the highest honour by the Israeli Army.

The inscription on his medal read: 'Your fighting spirit and readiness to help us fight for existence was a personal example of moral courage to your fellow soldiers and officers in the Israeli Defence Force. You acted out of ideological principles, and not for personal gain. Although wounded you returned to us and continued your service to Israel. In the many activities you took part in, you revealed yourself as a friend, and commander, whose personal characteristics and spirit remain engraved in the hearts of your friends.' Having been a Dr Barnados boy at the age of two, Chases's life was a story of triumph over adversity. His eulogy found him 'a demanding but fair and considerate employer, who always kept his promises. He could certainly be volatile, and didn't suffer fools gladly, but if you were loyal and hard-working, he would back you to the hilt.' He leaves his wife June, with whom he had just celebrated 40 years of marriage, and two daughters Vanessa and Genevieve. Our condolences go out to his entire family.

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