End of Army Career
In 1956, while driving a car in Singapore, Coombes ran into a pedestrian who was killed. Coombes was found guilty of grossly negligent driving and was sentenced by a Court of Appeal in 1957 to six months imprisonment in Changi jail, the same place where he had been held as a prisoner of war. The incident ended his army career as he immediately resigned his commission following his conviction. He was about to be further promoted and privately he mused whether, with such high military rank, he might have been in line for the office of Lieutenant-Governor, the British Monarch's representative, in his home State of Guernsey. Instead, this incident cost him dearly and changed the course of his subsequent life.
Read more about this topic: J. H. H. Coombes
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