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New Year's honour for intelligence ace

Tom Rowley
9/ 1/2008

STALYBRIDGE-born military intelligence expert Karl Goddard was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List.

He is currently serving in Washington, attached to the British Embassy for six months, and is due back in Tameside from North America sometime in February or March.

Karl, pictured right, is a warrant officer second class and gained the honour for military service.

He joined the Royal Engineers in Chepstow almost 20 years ago as an air surveyor, drawing up maps.

His family believe that it is this expertise which he demonstrated while serving in Afghanistan which was decisive in winning Karl his medal.

Dad Tony, of Stalybridge, said: “We are not 100 per cent sure of why he has been honoured because of the position he holds, but we think it is because of the work he did while in Afghanistan. Now he gives talks to brigadiers.”

He added: “The whole family is very pleased about it and are very proud of him. We are all very much a military family; I did 15 years in the army and my brothers have done 22 years.

“His brothers Stewart, 36 and David, 32, have done military service too — David served in the Royal Artillery and Stewart was in the Cheshires.”

Aged 38 and single, Karl has lived most of his life in Stalybridge, apart from when the family moved around Europe because of Tony’s military career.

He attended Wild Bank Primary School and Copley High School in Stalybridge before joining the Army.

Since joining up he has gained a degree in geology from the Open University and speaks German and Italian.

Tony added: “He has two more years to do and after he leaves he will probably set up his own business, although I don’t know in what field.”