Lieutenant Michael Banks served on HMS Malaya in 1942 and HMS Valiant in 1943/44 before joining 3 Commando Brigade and 42RM Commando in Burma [1][2a].

Took part in the Battle for Hill 170 signing a captured Japanese flag afterwards [view....] [2a][2b].

Remained in service post war later serving as Captain in different postings including the Commando Cliff Assault Wing (CAW) and 42 Commando RM [2][2a][2b].

"Recently returned to London with one black toenail, the result of frostbite, is Capt. Mike Banks, R.M. (42 Cdo.). He led the British-Pakistani Forces Himalayan expedition, and climbed, without oxygen, the 25,550 foot Mount Rakaposhi."

Lieut. (later Major) Mike Banks, MBE. (42 RM Cdo), the well known polar explorer, Himalayan mountaineer and author, recently carried out a memorable 6 week recce of some of the remote mountain areas of China just opened to access. He was the first westerner allowed into the huge Tibetan cultured Province of Qinghai and also the first climber since the revolution to enter the Tien Shan or Celestial Mountains. He also visited the Pamirs, beyond Kashgar, assessing all these areas for their trekking possibilities.

In the summer of 1989, Mike Banks (42 RM Cdo), led a " Pensioners Himalayan Expedition " to attempt the unclimbed and unknown east face of a mountain called Jaonli (21,760 feet) in the Indian Himalayas. With two friends, he established a camp at 19,500 feet with 3 days of food and a good chance of making the summit. They were then hit by a 3-day storm and were forced to retreat in dangerous avalanche conditions. The expedition had been sponsored by Saga, the holiday company for the over-60's. Mike is planning to return this year to finish the job off. He will then be 68 which, he suspects, might be something of a record for this standard of Himalayan climbing ! He learnt to climb and was later an instructor at the Commando Cliff Assault Unit in St. Ives.

"Mike Banks (42 RM Cdo) got into the record books last summer when at 7l he became the oldest man to climb the Old Man of Hoy, the 450ft fang of rock in the Orkney lslands. He climbed in a thunderstorm which made the climb a lot harder. Mike was taught to climb in the Commando Cliff Assault Centre at St. lves. One of his tutors was the legendary wartime Commando climber, Joe Barry of 12 Cdo."