lOth
The Journal of
THE QUEEN'S REGIMENT
UNCONQUERED I SERVE
Vol. 10, No. 2 December, 1976
Battle Honours borne on The Colours
The Regimwtal Colour:
"Tangier, 1662-80," "Namur, 1695," ''Gibraltar, 1704-5,'' "Blenheim,'' "Ramillies," "Malplaquet," "Detingen,"
"Louisburg," "Guadaloupe, 1759," "Quebec, 1759," "Martinique, 1762," "St. Lucia, 1778," "Seringapatam,"
"Maida," "Virniera," "Corunna," "Douro," "Talavera," "Albuhera," "Almaraz," "Badajoz," "Salamanca,"
"Vittoria," "Afighanistan, 1839," "Punniar," "Moodkee," "Sobraon," "lnkerman,u "Sevastopol," "Lucknow,"
"Taku Forts," "New Zealand," "South Africa, 1879," "Nile, 1884-85," "Burma, 1885...87," "Chitral," "Relief
of Ladysmith," "Relief of Kimberley," "South Africa, 1899-1902," "Korea 1950-51."
The Queen's Colour:
"Mons," "Marne, 1914-18," "Aisne, 1914," "Ypres, 1914-15-17-18," " Hill 60," "Festubert, 1915," "Somme,
1916, 18," "Aibert, 1916, 18," "Vimy, 1917," "Cambrai, 1917, 18," "Hindenburg Line," "Italy, 1917-18," "Mace-
donia, 1915-18," "Gallipoli, 1915," "Gaza," "Jerusalem ," "Palestine, 1917-18," "Defence of Kut al Amara,"
"Mesopotamia, 1915-18," "N.W. Frontier India, 1915, 1916-17," "Dunkirk, 1940," "Normandy Landing,"
"North West Europe, 1940, 44-45," "Abyssinia, 1941," "Omars," "Alam el Halfa," "El Alamein," "Longstop
Hill, 1943," "North Africa, 1940-43," "Sicily, 1943," "Sangro," "Salemo," "Anzio," "Cassino," "Italy, 1943-
45," "Malta, 1940-42," "Malaya, 1941-42," "Hong Kong," "Defence of Kohima," "Burma, 1943-45."
Allied Co louels-iu-Ch ief
HER MAJESTY QUEEN JULIANA, Queen of the Netherlands
HER MAJESTY QUEEN MARGRETHE II of Denmark
Co lonel of T he R egim ent : M ajor General F . A. H . LING, CB, CBE, DSO, DL
D epu ty Colonels of Th e R egiment
S urrey: M ajor General R. S. N . MAN S, CBE
Sussex: Bri gadier B. R. C OLEMAN
Middlesex: Colonel J. N . SHIPSTER, CBE, DSO
Co mm andin g O ffice rs
1st Bau alion-Lt.-Col. ] . G . W . DAVIDSON
2nd Bau a/ion-Lt. -Co l. C. G. C H AMP IO N
Jrd Bau alion-Lt.-Co l. ]. W . FRANCIS
Sth (Vo luntee r) B au alioll- Lt.-Col. P . H. COURTENAY
6Th / 7T h ( V olun Tee r) Ba((a/ion-Lt.-Col. F . B . H ERD, TD
AFFILIATED UNITS OF THE CADET FORCE
C.C.F. S chool Conti11genTs
Ardingly C ollege; St. Aloysius C ollege; Brighton C ollege; C ollyers School, (Horsham ); C ranbrook School;
Cranleigh School; Dover C ollege; Dulwich C ollege; Eastbourne C ollege; H aberdas hers' Aske's School (Eistree);
Hampton G rammar School; Highgate School; Hurstpierpoint College; The John Lyon S chool; The Judd School;
The King 's School, C anterbury; Kingston G rammar School; L ancing C ollege; Mill Hill S chool; Ottershaw
School ; Reeds School ; Reigate G rammar School; Roy al Grammar S chool (Guildford ); S ir Roger Manwood's
School (Sandwich ); St. Edmund's School (Canterbury); St. John's School ( L eatherhead ); S t. Lawrence C ollege
(Ramsgate) ; The Skinners School (Tunbridge W ells ); Tonbridge S chool; Whitgift S chool; William Ellis
School; Wilsons Grammar School.
A .C. F. Units/ S ub-Units C adet C oys . N os. 25 and 26.
Greater London: Cadet Coys.
Nos. 194 ( H ounslow), 195 (S tai nes), 20 5 (Willesden ), 2 11 ( E dg-
N.E. London Sector ware), 225 (T ottenham ) , 226 (H ornsey) .
N.W. London Sector Nos. 133, 141, 143, 147, 15 1, 152, 155, 16 1 to 165, 167
1st, 2nd and 5th Cadet Bns., The Queen's R egiment ( Surrey A.C.F . ) .
S .W. London Sector Cadet Coys. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cadet Bns., The Queen's R egiment ( K ent A .C. F .) .
Cadet Bns. No. 6 ( Crawley) and M ayfield College.
Surrey: Cadet Bns. Nos. 2 ( Seaford ), 3 ( H ast ings), 4 ( L ewes) , 7 ( Ch ichester), 8 ( Crow-
Kent: Cadet Coys. borou gh), 10 (Eastbourne), 11 (H orsham), 13 (Shoreham), 14 (Bexhi ll),
Sussez: Cadet Pis. 15 ( Br igh ton ), 17 ( Bognor ) , 18 ( Littlehampton ) and L ewes old GS .
ALLIED REGIMENTS
Th e Canadia11 Armed Forces-
The Q ueen's York R angers (RCAC)
The South A lberta L ight H orse
The Q ueen's Own R ifl es of Canada
The H astings and P rince Edward R egiment
1st Battalion The R oyal N ew Brunswick R egimen t (Carleton & York)
The E ssex an d K en t Scottish
Th e Australian M ilitary Forces-
The Royal N ew Sou th Wales R egi ment
The U niversity of New Sou th W ales R egimen t
The Royal Western Australia R egiment
The N ew Zealand Army-
2nd Battalion (Canterbury, Nelson, M arl borough and W est Coast )
The R oyal New Zealand Infantry Regimen t
5th B attalion (Wellin gton West Coast and T ar anak.i ) The R oyal New
Zea land I nfantry Regiment
T he Pakistan Army-
12th, 14th, 15th and 17th Battalions, The P u nj ab R egi ment
Sierra L eone-
The Royal Sierra L eone M ilitary F orce
H ong K ong-
The Roya l H ong Kon g R egiment (The Volun teers)
AFFILIATED HM SHIPS
HM S Excellent, HMS K ent, HMS C hichester and HMS Brighton
ED I TOR-Ma jor G. U . WEYMOUTH , MBE (Retd.)
REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS
RHQ The Queen's Regiment
Howe Barracks, Canterbury. (T el.: 65281 )
Regimental S ecretary : Maj. G. U. Weymouth, MBE ( Ext. 1)
Regimental Association Secretary: M aj. E . A. McCarthy (Ext. 42)
R egimental Careers Officer: M aj. S. T . W. Anderson, MC ( Ext. 12)
COUNTY OFFICES
Surrey Office: Kent Office: Sussex Office: Middlesex Office:
Roussillon Barracks, T & A VR Centre,
Portsmouth Road, Block 21, C h ic h este r. Deansbrook Road, Edgware.
Kingston upon Thames. H owe Barracks, Canterbur y.
Lt.-Co l. E. G. H a/list. Maj. A. E. F . Waldron, MBE .
S ecretaries: M aj. F. ] . R eed Col. H . R . Grace, OBE, ]P, DL & ( T el.: Chicheste r 863 11 . Ext. 28). ( T el.: Edgware 2625 ) .
( Tel .: Kin gston 6248 ) . M aj. G. T. Faulkner.
(Tel .: Canterbury 65281. Ext. 4 ).
REG-U, LAR UNITS
1st Bn. 2nd Bn. 3rd Bn. QUEENS RIT
Albuhera Barracks, Kiwi Barracks, Somme Lines, Canterbury (HQ ) and
W erl, Bulford, Catterick, Yorks. M aidstone
BFPO 106. Wilts.
T & AYR BATTALIONS
5th (V) Bn. 6th/7th (V) Bn.
Bn. HQ & HQ Coy: Bn. HQ : T & AVR Centre,
Leros T & AVR Centre, Denne Road,
Sturry Road, Horsham, Sussex.
Canterbury.
Col. D . A . H . Sime, OBE, MC, TD .
Honorary Co lonels:
Col . H . H . Prince Georg of Denmark, K CVO.
DIVISIONAL DEPOT-B assingbourn Barracks, Royston, H erts. Senior Regimen tal Representative: Lt.-Col. H . M . du V. Lohan
UJ
4
Have averygoodcrossing
at averygood price!
Home leave? Townsend Thoresen wi ll take you over Dover. If you're visiting Fra n ce on the way, or live in
in style. Their big, comfortable, modern ships have a south-west England, there are also the Le Havre-
warm, fri endly atmosphere and helpful staff. There's Southampton a nd C l~rbourg- Southampton routes,
always a good restaurant and buffet on board , a a nd our new one, Cherbourg- Portsmouth. Townsend
cheerful ba r , comfortable, spacious lounges, Thoresen have frequent sai lings day and night, so you
attractive cabins for ni ght crossings and a well- can pick the one that makes the most of your leave.
stocked duty-free shop for last minute presents.
Townsend Thoresen also have special low cost
There are worthwhile fa re reductions for British a nd schemes for short trips home. You can have a half-
Commonwealth Forces personnel, a nd attached price r eturn trip with your car that gives you 48 hours
civi lia ns, stationed on mainland Europe. Your in the UK, or a 5-day visit at an inclusive price for
immediate famil y stationed with you get the 4 adults - your car is carried free. (Fares for these trips
r eductions too. During winter we a lso reduce the fare are a lready specially reduced, so no extra Forces
for your car, caravan, trailer or motorcycle . concession is available. )
Cross from Zeebrugge if you 're coming straight from Find out all the details- routes, sailing times,
Germany, Belgium or Holland . Zeebrugge is ideal - a prices - from our leafl et 'Travel Bargains for Forces' .
fast run on the E3 or E5 motorway. You can cross to Send in the coupon for your copy or ask your local
Dover, or to Felixstowe - handy for North London, the travel agency.
Midlands a nd the North. Or you can cross Calais-
~
~ ~v=ndTh-;;;;sen ca-;:F'e~;-- TOWNSEN~D{ 4ooo Dusseldorf 1, Oststrasse 80.'W!!-!!I:'In '
·....-
IPlease send me your
I 'Travel Bargams for Forces' lea fl et
I:::::ss THORESEN I
~ ------------ ~~2~ TheEuropean~rr~
~~~~m~~~~~ ~
5
editor : c 0 nt e nt s
Major G. U. Weymouth. P age
M.B.E. (Ret'd. )
A Chri stm as Message from the Colonel of the Reg iment .. 6
Regimental Headquarters,
Howe Barracks, Editorial 8
Canterbury, Kent .
F orecast of Events 9
Cap Badge
T he 1st Battalion 11
Collar Badge
The 2nd Battalion 25
Button
The 3rd Battalion 33
The 5th ( Volunteer ) Battalion 37
The 6th/7th ( Volunteer ) Battalion 45
Depot The Queen's Division 50
The IJLB 52
The Queen's Cadets 53
The Regimental Association 55
Letters 57
Odds and Ends 58
The Regimental Golfi ng Society 60
Alliances and Affiliations 61/62
The London Gazette 63
Births, Marri ages and Deaths 6+
Obituaries 68
County Offi ce Notes 7+
The Regimental Shop 83
Journal Order F orm 85
" D uring the Past T en Years" 87
Printers : COVER PICTURE
(Top left ): Londonderry 1976--l st Bn. (Top right):
Kent County Printers Lt. Dawson and Sgt. Constant inspect lunch-2nd
Cante rbury, Herne Bay and
Bn. in BELIZE, 1976. ( Lower left ): Ceremony of
Deal, Kent the K cys-3rd Bn. in GIBRALTAR, 1975 ( Lower,
right, top ): The Anti-Tank PI. in action-S
QUEENS. (Lower, right, bottom): A key-point
Guard beats off an attack-6!7 QUEENS
~·
I ~ I<!Cbrtstmas message
Terri torial, Voluntee rs and Queen's Cadets, alike.
I have been particularly de lighted to rece ive such glowing reports of both the
1st and 3rd Battali ons following their operations in Northern Ireland ; and from T he
Commander in Belize, who writes- " ! would like you to know that Co l. Chris
Champion and the 2nd Battali on have had a highly successful tour and I am sorry to ~
see them leave. It was a pleasure to have thi s thoroughly professional battalion in my ~· ,
command" .
I In all this, however, let us not forget the wives and families who remain
I staunchly and loyally in the background during long peri ods of separation, now a ~
I~! routine of Army life. " They also serve who only stand and wa it" .
~!
II· In January, the 3rd Battali on will be saying goodbye to Col. John Francis ~
. who hands ove r command to Col. Stuatt Anderson and in July, Col. John Davidson
~ is to be succeeded by M ajor John Holman, whose contribution as the Regiment's ~
representative at Sandhurst has been invaluable. All have served their Regiment with
~ great distinction and we wish them the best of luck, now and in the future, in their ..
~~
i. new appointments. ~· .
i~.· ~'
There is no clea rer measure of the morale and standing of a T.A .V.R. ~
!II~~.!· battali on than that it should increasingly attract volunteers and constantly be raising ~
its numbers. The 5th Battalion-to be a unit in the Army's 6th Field F orce- and the
6th/7th Battalion have increased by about 160, the former being up to full establish- ~~
ment and the latter having achieved 85 % of theirs. ii:.~. .·.
There are now 2,355 Queen's Cadets ( ACF ) in London and the Home · ·'
Counties and, last year, not far short of half of those maturing actuall y joined the
~·.
Regular Army.
~
It was a particular pleasure for me recent ly to present a new Colour to the
1st Cadet Battalion The Quee n's Reg iment ( Surrey ACF ) at the Guard s Barracks at ·
Caterham. They we re splendidly turned out and not the least in awe of t heir ~. ~. ;
surroundings, inspired, perhaps, by the Band and Drums of our 2nd Battalion from
Bulfo rd. Howeve r, still not enough of our Cadets actuall y graduate as seniors into i~
the Reg iment and I would like all concerned to know that a warm welcome awaits
those who wi sh to join a regular or T AVR battalion of The Queen's; they are
amongst the best recruits we can get.
·~
7
.... . ........~r~"~"~~"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~-·~;. ~·~·.
And now a word to members of our fo rmer Regiments from whom we descend
·i~~~....·.. with such pride. It would, perhaps, be only natural if some of you found it in- ~~
creasingly hard to keep in to uch with the affa irs of the Regiment in view of the ~-
many changes which are constantly occurring.
~~
Although the interests of the old Regiments continue to be speciall y looked
afte r by former members of those Reg iments, the Queen's Regiment is in deed honoured ~~-:. ~.'
to rega rd itse lf as hav ing inheri ted thei r trad iti ons; as bei ng of the same fles h and ~
blood. Let there be no mi sunderstanding : the Queen's Regiment is one Regi ment,
all embracing, accepting full responsibili ty for the affa irs of our old Regiments-Old
~~ This brings me to an important step in the development of the Regiment's ~!.
Headquarter organi sation. M y Regimental Committee, with the full support of the
i.·.·~~.~-·. Colonel Comm andant of the Queen's Di vision and serving members of the Regiment, ~~
are convinced that such established staff resources at the va ri ous Regimenta l Head-
~~~·. ·: quarters as we are likely to retain-we are at present under stem MOD examination- ~-~'
should be concentrated, in the main, on serving the present and future Queen's
· ~
~. Reg im ent. ;:
~- ~: .·
~~ We now fee l that we can cover all the facets of our task more effi ciently from ;
~~ provide~d~e; ~:p::~~'f:r g::~ :::i::~ni:~::s :~:·one centralize0d RHQ at Canterbury and the landmark of ten years of existence .·
ef::: other factors: First, t he ~~.-.
~~--~: ;
reducti on in our civili an manpower, concurrently with the recent or impending
~~ ~~~
retirement of three of our County Office Secretaries after many yea rs of splendid
service to their past Regiments. Secondly, the move of the 3rd Battalion to Dover in ~~~
January 1978 with, eventually, a Queen's battali on stati oned at Canterbury in Howe
Barracks itse lf.
I would like to make it abso lutely clea r that in no way do I envisage any
weakening of our connections with the original Regiments from which we were
formed ; nor with Counties, whose links with the TAVR will become, as they should,
increasingly significant. On the contrary, let me re- iterate that it is our desire to
increase the cohesion of the whole Regimental family, while, at the same time,
laying the greatest poss ible emphasis on the present and fu ture, rather than on t he
past. T o underline thi s "one Regiment" concept, my Regimental Commi ttee, which
watches over all Regimental aff airs-past and present-will, I hope, be reinforced, in
due course, by the inclusion of the Chairmen of all our fo rmer Regi ments' Associations.
·~:::::Finally, a very happy Christmas to every member of the Regiment and to all
omf•mil;e. " horn<'"' • h<ood; ood <o ""Y'"'• :::G:;,ho, IO< 1977.
~.: ~.:_:
~: Colonel, The Queen's Regiment. · :_
M ajo r-General,
iI
~~~~~
EDITORIAL
As the cover picture reminds us, the Regiment is now ten yea rs old and, as a
lusty child, it can claim, with complete conviction, that it has full y lived up to the
confidence expressed by the Queen in Her inaugural message of 31st December
1966-i.e. " that the Queen's Reg iment will be worthy of the traditions of all the
Regiments from which it has been formed. "
Naturally enough, there have been difficulties in meeting such a challenge,
but all those who have played their part, loyally, in moulding the Regiment and
then establishing for it such a high reputation, are to be congratulated on achieving
the greatest possible success in this venture.
And now to the future. The Colonel, in his Christmas message, has outlined
his plan to streamline the Headquarters organization whilst, at the same time, ex-
horting us all, whether serving or retired, to join more closely in a bond of true
Regimental esp1it de Corps.
Let us rally to the call· concemrating all our efforts on furthering this noble
ideal and thus enhance, during the next decade, the extremely good name which the
Queen's Regiment has already made for itself.
To all readers, Sub-Editors, our Printers and Advertisers, this writer sends
best wishes for a happy Christmas and all good fortune in the year to come.
Forecast of Events 9
24 Queen's Own Buffs G.S. v. K ent Cou nt y
Constab ul ary, Leeds Castle.
26 The Queen's Own Royal W est K ent Regt.
Offi cers' Cocktai l P arty.
29 R . Sussex Assn. C ricket v. L avi nia Duchess
of No rfolk's X I, Arundel Castle.
1977 June Glorious First of June-1 st Bn. (Cricket
I Match v. HMS Excellent-Date to be con-
January
12 Managing Trustees Meeting, London. 617 firmed later) .
10 Surrey Jubilee Agricultural Show, Guildford.
February 12 Queen's Surreys Officers' C lub Cocktai l
I0 Sobraon Day-1st Bn. 26 P art y, London .
12 Queen's Surreys WO s' and Sgts' Assn. Queen's Surreys Assn . Annual Chu rch
Service (1 1.1 5 a.m.), All Saints P arish
Sobraon D ance, Kingston.
13/ 14 3rd Battalion to BELIZE. Church, Kingston .
19 2nd Battalion Op Banner. Queen's Own Buffs Assn. M aids tone Branch
26 R. Sussex A ssn . London Branch Annua l Service of Remembrance and Reunion.
Dinner, London.
March R . Sussex Officers' C lub Cocktai l Pa rt y, July
4 London. 3 Queen's Own Buff s G .S. v. Liphook G .C.
R. Su ssex Officers' Dinner, Arundel Castle. 4 Regimental Golfing Society Match v. RMAS
18 ( at the AGC A ldershot ).
16 Laying-up of Colours-Canterbury Cathe-
April Cumbcrland Sword Competition (ACF). dral (2nd, 5th(V) and 6/ 7th(V) Bns.)
3 Queen's Own Buff s Assn. AGM and Semi- Queen 's Own Buffs Assn. Service of Remem-
9 Fina l and Final of the Inter-Branch D arts brance and Reunion, Canterbury.
23 Queen 's Own Buff s G .S . v. No rth H ant<
15 Competition, M aidstone. G .C.
16 Colonel Commandants 16th Meeting 26/ 30 R . Sussex Assn. M ain Goodwood R ace
M eet ing.
22 ( Provisional). 27 to 1 QUEENS KAPE Tour.
23 H.M. Queen Margrethe's birthday. 10 Aug.
Queen's Own Buff s G.S. Annua l M eetin g, 3I to Colchester Tattoo.
30 Annual Dmner and AG M at Sandwich. 7 Aug.
R . Sussex Assn. St . George's D ay Service,
A ugu st
C hichester. 2nd Battalion to GIBRALTAR.
2 BUFFS 1939/ 45 An nua l Reunion, the
September
Bowling C lub, Sa ndw ich.
Queen's Surreys WO s' and Sgts' Assn. Ypres 2 Regimental G .S . Annual Meeting, AGE,
D ance, Kingston ( Provisional ).
6/7 QUEENS Officers' Mess Ball, Sutton. Aldershot.
H . M . Queen Juliana's birthday. 3/ 17 6/7 QUEENS Camp, Salisbury Plain.
Q ueen's Own Buff s G.S. v. R ye G.C. 8 Sevastopol Day-2nd Bn.
R . Sussex Assn . AGM and R eunion Dinner, 9 Salerno Day-1 st Bn.
13 Quebec Day-3rd Bn .
L ewes. 20 Regimental G.S. Match v. RRF and R.
May Army G.S. Spring Meeting, The Royal St. Anglian, Gog & Magog.
2/ 6 George's G.C., Sandwich. 20/ 30 3 QUEENS KAPE Tour.
3 96th Dragon Club Dinner ( Buffs) .
4 Middlesex Regt. G .S.-Spring M eeting, October Annual Reunion,
13 North H ants G .C., Fleet. I Queen 's Surreys Assn. Autumn M eeting,
14 Queen's Surreys G.S.-Sp rin g M eeting, Kingston.
and Sgts' Assn .
16 Richmond. 617 Queen 's Surreys G.S . D ance, King ston
17 R . Sussex Assn. Aubers Ridge Service, Richm ond.
17/ 19 Queen's Surreys WO s'
C hichester. L ad ies' Night- Dinner
Queen's Surreys G .S. M atch v. R oyal ( Provis ional ).
M arines, Richmond. November
Queen's S urreys WOs' and Sgts' Assn . AGl\1
and Annual Dinner, Kingston . 13 Queen's Surreys Assn. R emembrance D ay
Middlesex Assn-Remembrance Service, St. Parades, Kingston and Guildford.
P aul 's Cathedral.
Middlesex Assn.-Annual Reunion, P or-
chester H all.
ALBUHERA DAY.
Regimental Committee Meeting, London.
R. Sussex Assn . first Goodwood R ace
M eeting.
10
Mainly About People
It is with the deepest regret that we a nnounce 32-34 Gordon Hou se Road,
the death of Brig. J . S . Fletcher, CBE, on 10 Oct. Londo n NW5 1NE Telephone 01-267 5151
'76, at the age of 48.
Birthday Honours, June '76
We congratulate Lt.-Col. J. R. Stephenson on
being made an OBE. (Colonel John was appointed
GSO I (Ex . Plans ) at UKC ICC on 25 Jun . '76 ) .
Mentions in Despatches
We congratu late the following on their awards
for service in N. Ireland:
Lt.-Col. C. L. Tarver, MBE ( between I Nov.
' 75 to 31 J an. '76 ) and W02 J . Oakley ( 3rd Bn. )
and Cpl. C. J. Roclziewicz ( D epot ) ( between I Feb .
and 30 Apr. '76).
Maj. A. F. S. Ling is to be GS02 ( Ops/ SD/
Trg ) HQ I Div. in J an . ' 77.
Lt.-Cols. M . V. Hayward, OBE, P . D . Johnson
and N . B. Knocker, OBE are to be promoted Colone l
in 1977 .
Belated congratulations to Lt.-Col. B. D. 0 .
Smith on his award of the MVO in M arch 1974. (Col.
Smith is currently D efence Attache M exico).
Brig. M. F . Reynolds, attends the RCDS in
J an uary .
Lt.-Col. R. H. Chappell, OBE was appointed
GSO I HQ UKLF on 9 Sep. '76.
Col. J. N. Shipster, CBE, DSO reti res on retired
pay on 31 Jan. 1977.
Lt.-Col. J . S . B. Pollard, MBE (CO Northern
Frontier Regt., SAF) has been awarded The Sultan
of Oman's Distinguished Service M edal.
Maj . T. Jackson (formerl y HQ SAF now trans-
ferred to AAC ) has been awarded The Su ltan ot
Oman 's Commendation.
Maj . S. T . W. Anderson, MC ass umes Command
of the 3rd Bn. in J an . '77.
Maj . J. C . Holman assumes Command of the 1st
Bn. in Jul y/ Aug. '77.
2/ Lt. P . J. Newman (2nd Bn. ) was awa rded the
RUSI prize for D efence Studies at the RMAS ( RCC
10 ).
Capt. Dafiom (6/7 QUEENS ) came 2nd in
the TAVR Individua l Small Bore Championships
1976. " Top 30."
Lt.-Col. F. B. Herd, TD assumed command of
617 QUEENS on 21 June 1976.
Lt.-Col. A. Colin Cole, TD was elected by the
Liverymen of London to be a Sheriff of the city of
London, and was sworn in on 28 September, 1976.
Majs. B. A. Carte, J. R. G . Putnam and A. G. H.
Stocks have been awa rded the TD. The former has
been appointed a Director of County Bank.
2/ Lt. A. C. N. Marston gained a BSc. (Gov t.
studies ) 2/ 2 Hons. at Brunei University 1976.
The following received 'A' Gradings on Cou rses
as shown: Cpl. T . R. Farrow (Jnr. NCO s SAA No.
22), Pte. I . W. Todd, Pte. P. W. Seale and Pte. P. J.
Gerrard (A ll Arms B3 Clerks Courses).
Lt.-Col. M . V. Hayward, OBE is to be
Commandant, Support Weapons Wing at the School
of Infantry (Colonel ) in March '77 .
Maj. N. J . D. McCully has been awa rded the
Sultan's Commendation by HM Sultan of Oman.
11
The 1st Battalion
E dito ri al raise their ug ly hulks again soon enough; but there
is a spot of block leave and Christmas before then.
L OOKING back at our last notes, recorded
events might well ha ve been a decade The long, wonderful hot summer was interrupted
by our flight to D erry and, on the military side, we
away! We had just about finished settling in set to for yet anot her period of preparation and
to Werl (in every way! ) ; many local friends training for it. It was all too rushed and the facilities
a rather poor second to those at L ydd and H ythe,
had been made, and we had even convinced ou r- i.e. the lack of ranges and the lack of time for
selves (some of us !) that we had successfully
essenti als. Perhaps one memory will remain for most
converted to the mechanised rol e. of us (for "Op. Banner training at Sennelager 1976")
- the drunken uRoman Catholic" Priest harranging
As we write from the backend of our current
O err y tour, we look forward to returning to W erl. the crowd in "Tin ity".
The APCs (convenientl y forgotten these last five Highli ghts of that early summer we re embarkation
months, except by members of the rear party who
have done sterling work on them ), wi ll no doubt leave and the combined Glorious First/ Albuhera D ay
weekend-the subj ect of a separate article.
LONDONDERRY
"Piggery Ridge" or Crcggan Camp (home of Tac HQ, A and C Coys.)
Th e CIJOs gro und their way from Guterloh to eloquence than our P oet Gelteister ) that Tac HQ ,
Alde~·grove. Bl'ief glimps es of smiling faces from I A and C Coys. were si ted up in C reggan Camp,
whilst B Coy., Sp. Coy. and Ech are in Fort George
C hes hire as th ey passed us going rhe o1her way. Th en - both on the W est bank of the Ri ve r Foyle. In
we were in:- · addition, A Coy. keeps a patrol base in the old R UC
"Nah some goes up the Creggan Rosemount and we man three permanent Vehicle
Check Points (VCP s) leading in from the R epublic.
A n ' some sta ys dahm the ' ill
But them up top 'fort the m dahstairs Since we were last in D err y ( 1969 ), "Things"
Wuz disco- in ' of their fill ,
are very, very different and, regrettably, the future
This means ( with greater accuracy b ut less is not b right. F or those who have known the fine
12 ' Bootsie' Carter retired from the scene (s tudying for
Staff College? ) a nd p romptl y disa ppea red to the fl esh
City that it was (slums have now been replaced by
14,000 new suburban houses ) , it now ha s the air of pots of Lisburn and Edinburgh.
a place "dying on its feet " . West of the Foyle, the During August, platoons vied with each other to
feeling of despair among a terronsed communtty
prevails, coupled wi th evidence of outright hatred of see who could sell the most raffle tickets for the
the Army by a ll the younger so-called "Catholics". Stained G lass Window in Werl . Business at the
L etterkenny VCP wa s brisk, the Irish proving to be
The feeling of isola tion in C reggan Camp is easy meat for some of our high-press ure sa lesmen. In
rem iniscent of an imperial outpost of the 19th centu r y. the end Pte. Evan s won £50 and the OC, a portable
Whilst Fort George is a newly-completed barracks
with excellent accommoda tion, the same utter isolation radio.
from the community ex ists; no one emerges from either 3 PI. we lcomes our new Rup ert in fin e tradition .
loca tion except on duty. The Staff at Bdc. HQ visit
only when they h ave to an d the R UC only for the He was met by 'Lt.' M asher Powell at Rosemount
more seri ous civil crimes-normall y heavi ly escorted R UC Station ( after being kitted out by C/ Sgt.
Raw lings ) who was accompanied by a ' Sgt' Gou lden;
by ourselves. the latter dissolved into fit s of laughter wh en Powell
Some Companies h ave a quieter time than others ordered the scru ffy ' Pte' I saacs to make two coffees.
although all h ave had their shootings. The C regga n CSM ] amieson is having an operation. Is he
has its daily stonings; on going to press, 42 minor having 6" removed to bring him more into line wi th
injuries have been sustained from stoning, bottling other members of the Coy?
and assault and 32 L androver windscreens we re
smashed. Four soldie rs have received gunshot wounds F or reasons of health, C / Sgt. R awlings has had
-L/ Cpl. Friend, Pte. Scarff, L / Cp l. Britten an d to return to Werl and we a ll wish him a speedy
CSM Bromfield-though all have now recovered . recovery.
On the bright side, we h ave also h ad considerable Those who knew Rosemount RU C Sta tion of
successes. So fa r, we have foil ed a m orta r attack on yo re would not recognise it now with its wishing
C reggan Camp and h ave captured goodly number of well built by Cpl. Baylis of 25 Fd. Sqn. RE . R en aming
arms, ammunition and explosives. And, most sig- the fort 'Tangier' and fl yi ng our fl ag from the 200ft.
nificantl y, we have put into Police custody some 34 rnas t, ca used con siderable agg ro, espec ia lly in the
terrorists charged with a mixture of murder, attempted QM's department; though the fl ag h ad to be removed,
murder, possession of weapons or merely membership the name h as stuck.
of the PIRA. Sgt. Broad, in W erl, has the onerous ta sk of
orga nising the C hristma s P arty. From past ex perience,
TANGIER/KIRKE'S COY. we might make a loss on the raffle but we' ll certain ly
h ave a really good do.
As we write, an air of "days to do" in D erry
can be felt throughout the Coy. 1. A Coy. "Playmate of the month"-Pte. Hill.
In M ay, we were plunged into the joys of " Ti:1 2. Ptes_ Harrison, O'Brien, Lcwis and Harvey at
C ity" and Sennelager. As we sa t steaming in the Fort Tangier
tents at Woodlands Camp, many began to question
the wisdom of another camping h oliday. ( They would 3. Pte. Todd-"Oh! do it again Sarn't Major!" V
have to enjoy the n ext one, as they wou ld be paying 4. 2/ Lt. Beeston dressed for war
for it! ) Capt. Carter, desperate for money for his
holida y, prophesied doom for the Coy. fund whilst 5. Wishing Well (with gnome?), Fort Tangier
doing a roaring trade with the ' Bratties" in the Coy.
canteen. During this stage, CS M ] am ieson joined us 6. A Coy. Guard of Honour
and M aj. Tony ( F F ) W ard showed everyone what to
expect in the future! 7. Hard at it! Cpls. Potts and Noel with Capt.
Carter
Our la test tour in D erry has been quiet but not
without incident, largely generated by members of
the Compan y rather than by "Paddy", who seems
to have lost interest in the R osemount area.
Sgt. 'Bluey' H edges (with his sidekick, Lt.
C harles Emmett RAOC) and his platoon were the
first to savour the delights of Rosemount RUC
Station. 'Bluey' was insufferable when he realised that
a ll his old RUC friends and loca ls from '69,
remembered him . Wh y did he become so well known?
And who is M a ud!
( D elighted to h ear, as we go to press, of
"B luey's" promotion to C / Sgt. )
At one stage 2 PI. were attach ed to C Coy.
in the C regga n . H ere, " Bluey" and hi s lads we re
instrumental in stopping two gunmen in a car; they
managed to get the car and the Armalite but the gun-
men claimed sanctua ry in the loca l church . ( Surely,
2 PI. are not that fierce are they? P erhaps the fact
that Cpl. Mick Yoa, L / C pl. Dobbin Ca rter, Spike
Eldred and 'Banger' McKatherine had shaved their
heads had something to do with it! )
Lt. Emmett was replaced by 2/ Lt. H oward
Beeston and became assista nt Ops. Offr. Capt.
13
)
14 Government D ep" rtmen ts vied wi tl1 each other. As a
result, exis ting Government records such as those helc'
"A SHORT HISTORY OF THE IRISH WARS"
by Holland Coy. by T axation departments and H ousing Authorities,
incomplete as they we re, denied to the Army. There
Extract 1 (From the Regimental History, 31 st Regt.
of Foot serving in the Americas) were even occasions of frict ion between the Police
(as the civ il arm of the Joint Nationa l Security Force
Fort George-1 776. . . . continuing our journey was then ca lled) and the Army. In the face of such
through the Virgini a woodlands, after burymg Volun-
teers Rockaby (of ye fcu rvy), Wtcket (of fnake btte ) a ppalling odds, it is a wonder that the company
and Captain G rafs-G reener, the apo theca ry, (of ye pox managed to be so successfu l against the psychopaths,
and puftules ) and be ing fallen in with one P ad Locket,
moft ftrangely drefsed, wea ring upon his head the who skilfully exp loited thei r adva ntage. In fact ,
fkin of a fkunk, being an India n scout unfavourable nearly twe nt y were brought to justice through very
to the cause o f ye rebels, we did moft happily reach
the ftockade of F ort George from whence ifsued forth skilful, if ra ther crude, intelligence gathering and
ye remnants of an companie of His M ajefsties Sec<;>nd operational methods. Chief a mongst the successes of
of Foot and with part of ye baggage of ye Ftfty
Seventh ( moft bea utiful ) who had yet hea rd no the tour was a significant (for those days) arms find,
difpatch of the di fafter which h ath befallen M y L ord and amongst the twenty arrested were some important
Cornwalli s at the hands of thefe Irifh co lonifts. senior members of the enem y hiera rchy, as well as
Extract 2 (From the Regimental History of the junior weapons operatives and exp losives experts. Even
Second of Foot serving in Ireland) whilst carryi ng out spectacularl y-oppressive measures,
Fort George-1876. T oday we fini shed the las t such as ma ssed house sea rches, B Coy., by means of
of the wa ter, except a pan nikin retained by Company most creditable restraint at every level, managed to
Sergeant M ajor Bromide for the sick and wo unded
now numbering over twenty. Las t mght we bun ed avo id the mass civil disobedience which was a feature
poor Corporal Cheshire who had so bravely endured of the Irish W ar at the time and which so plagued
the agonies of his dreadful shilclagh wound for so operations in other areas.
many days. The burial service was read as the un-
forgiving sun r aised its scarlet glor y over the sea ( Sub-Editor's Note: W e a polog ise for the
of grass which for so many days had barred our language used in this art icle. Contemporary insistence
progress. The stran ge W elsh missionary who had
fallen in with the column, with book in hand and on calling dogs "Wagtails", policewomen "Ru ckbags"
black garb flapping, appeared through the shimmering
heat haze almost like the Adva nce Gua rd of the ( we presume it was spelt with an R ) and spades
flights of vultures even now circling in the deep azure "S hovels Lightweight", makes it a difficult period of
sky above us. "My God, Sir! u, croaked brave Private history to understand ) .
Lazily through cracked and blackened lips, "If we
don't reach Fort George today we are done for"; but Extract 4 (From the Regimental History of No. 1
already his strong arm was around the shoulders of English Assault Corps. serving away somewhere)
poor, mad, Mathew, our heat-crazed Drummer boy to
give him aid throughout the long march ahead. All Fort George-2076 Capt. Cheng gave the
my resolve now focussed on the need to reach Fort
George, before it rained again ... order to fire and a slight tremor ran through the
Extract 3 (From the Regimental History of the fort. As the D e- Boilers accelerated on their long
Queen's Regt., serving in Ireland-again)
journey to earth, Will Mott kept an anxious eye on
Fort George-1976. . . . the problems facing B
Coy. of the 1st Bn. were rather different to those of the rea r view pl asma screens. H e didn' t rea ll y trust
other companies in the city. To begin with, the whole
northern half of the predomina ntl y Ca tholic W est Mr. Scull-not with those pointed ea rs-but he
Bank of the River Foyle was theirs, whilst the rest
of the battalion a nd a whole regiment of either h ad no rea l reason to report his doubts to the
artillerymen or engineers were needed for the southern
half. They we re also responsible for the daily securit y General ( in any case, she was never easy at this
of a composite group known as the echelon consisting
of cooks, mechanics and laundrymen, and other time of the yea r ). Suddenl y his eye caught a brilliant
machine operators whose jobs had not by then been
taken over by automa tion . Also in F ort G eorge a t fl ash of emerald green far out in space- a L epra-
this time was a second company whose main task was
to run what we re known as Vehicle Check Points and cruiser, coming in at at least Lightening 5. H e grabbed
who were helped in this ta sk by one of the earliest
military computers ( now on display in the National the tilling and forced it through the gate to Emer-
History M emory Bank ). This company was later
declared unnecessa ry. In these early days, the Army gency and, as the alarm system s shrieked,
was still expected to operate aga inst the psychopaths
without the benefit of a propaga nda m achine of its Communicator Briggs fla shed a Ca rderbream warning
own a nd, ludicrous though it sounds today, even
to the other company forts. Capt. C heng, the m adness
of fea r in his eyes, dropped to a C rouch on the fl oor.
So this was the Price of wa r! Will wa tched with
horror as the Lepracruiser fl ashed momentarily with
the brightness of a super nova. The Fish were on their
way and seconds later, almost la zil y, he saw Fort
T angier ( in its usual place at the right of the line)
disintegrate into its component atoms. Now fort
George shook under the repea ted hammer blows of
exploding fi sh and a ragged tear appeared in the
skin of the inner hull. As the life-g iving oxygen rushed
to join the vastness of space, Will rea lised that thei r
sacrifice had not been in va in . The cost was total
but, by now, the D e-Boilers would have found thei r
mark in Erin, and only a genera tion from now, the
Irish W ars would be over-for ever .
1. 1776. Note Stockade of Fort George in back-
ground (see "Extract 1") Q
2. CSM Bromide (see "Extract 2")
3. " . .. a significant arms find" (see "Extract 3")
15
3
4. "The General" (see "Extract 4") 6. " . . . creditable restraint" (see "Extract 3")
5. The only known picture of Will Mott in Cabarer 7. The ultimate weapon which led to the end of
Uniform of the period (sec "Extract 4") the Irish War (see "Extract 4")
SOBRAON COY. Regimental
Towards the end of June, it became appa ren t Tailors and Outfitters to-
that the inmates of the Creggan Holiday Cen tre were QUEEN'S REGIMENT
becoming rest less as th e va rio us ann i vc r~aries of
16 CLIFFORD STREET, SAVILE ROW.
passed disorders approached. D espite numerous LONDON W1X 2HS, TEL.01 734 2248
attempts by the government to reform the Centre, On beh alf of l Q UEENS, Maj. S. T . W. Anderson,
the inmates, in the main, have remained rebellio us; M C thanks M r. Alec Buchanan, President of the
Mill Hill Rotary C lub, for the colour TV set wh ich
and so the SOBRAON department of the 1st he'd presented. (Another set was presented jointly by
QUEENS Securities found themselves responsible for F rimley, F riem , Ba rnet and Whetst one and C ock-
the 'Centre' at the beginning of Ju ly for a period of fosters C lubs with a donation f rom Bamet Rugby
Football C lub )
4t months. T he Mayor of Bamet, C Ur. A ndrew P ares, wh o
Because of the hosti lity of man y of the holida y- sponsored these delightful gestures, is on the right
makers, it is necessa ry for the security men to li ve Picture by courtesy of H endon Times Newspaper
sepa rately from them and thus one finds their home Group
a hilltop fort overlooking the holiday Centre. The
area goes by the charming name of 'Piggery Ridge',
a tit le which not a few have rude ly exploited.
Creggan Holiday Centre is, from the air, a nea tl y
laid out system of chalets. On ground leve l this rosy
picture is rather shattered and one is appa lled by the
ap pa rent lack of interest shown by the holidayma kers
in the clean liness of their streets and dwellings. Thei r
cars are little better (a miracle th at some actually
propel themselves). A small num ber o f holiday makers
take jobs, though most continue to draw the ' brew '.
Through the last seven years, a small but relatively
powerfu l group of ex tremists have taken it upon them-
selves to try and run the Centre as they want it for
the benefit of their pockets and distorted ideals.
Beca use the Centre is government run, this has
naturally caused friction and the local P olice have
been obliged to employ speciall y-trained Secur ity
Companies to tr y and normalise life for the ma jorit y
of th e holida ymakers who just want a bit of peace
and quiet. Thus SOBRAON D epa rtment had quite a
task on their hands fo r their period of duty. The
local thugs attempt to coerce and bully the population
into opposition and this resu lts in a daily subj ection
of bottling and stoning of the D epartment 's patrol-
men, often by chi ldren of five or six yea rs. The
violence does not stop at that. The extremists drink,
plot and plan and wi ll try and use rifles and mortars
and grenades against the patrolmen in an effort to
weaken their will. This the y cannot do though they
have shot on ten occasions. Their attempts at
mortar ing and grenading have been foil ed by the
alertness of the SOBRAON Depa rtment. When they
fail by vio lence, they become a little more cunning
and attempt to infi ltrate the minds of those who
supervi se the D epartment. A vast propaga nda cam -
paign is un leashed and it is on ly the mass ive resolution
of the Department and its immediate superiors which
staves off these extremists' more subtle approaches
and the seeds of doubt are cast away .
In counter to the extremists actions, the D epart-
ment gathers inte ll igence, arrests wanted people and
searches the chalets of those suspected of hidin~
weapons. I n all spheres the y ha ve been very successful
and have captured a notable number of wanted me:1
and illegal weapons and explosives. Man y of the local
holi daymakers are covertly friendl y to the pa trolmen
but are still afraid to display or voice their fee lings
m the open- but the re is a glimmer of hope.
N o offwce is inte11ded by the above, ro L / Cp l.
G eordie Britte11 a11d P te. Dave Scarff, both wou11ded
by snipers; all C Coy.. wish them a speedy recovery.
Nm· to the 48 soldwrs who have received medical
attention fvr injuries received on rour.ine patrols, and
every soldier w ho has put in long and often tedious
hours on a very frustrating and sometimes thankless
task. C Coy . will leave D erry with their heads held
high .
1. C Coy. pop down for a quickie at
Drive)
2. "It's no good just sitting there-the patrol should have
started 5 minutes ago" (8 PI.)
3. "Is this the patrol order for today, Sarg.?" L / Cpl. Hewit-
Ward, Cpl. Hayes, Ptes Davis, Parker, Mumford and _,~
~/
Hossack
4. Some of C Coy's "friends"
5. uThis is how it's done" L/ Cpl. Lecfmous demonstrates to .
7 PI.
6. L / Cpl. Boxell and Pte. Coffee (9 PI.) in the "Little
Jungle"
7. One of C Coy's many finds
18 on their mag nificent work under Lt. H agge rt y, RMP
and Sgt. H all. They are to d isband when we return
QUEBEC COY. to Werl.
Our tour in Derry has been a diffic ult one, M any would-be "leavers" arc now staying on
insofa r a we have been employed mainly as a per- and, for two, we are delighted.
manent VCP Coy. and, du ring this time, have checked
Anti-Tank PI.
some ! million cars, of which abo ut I 0%. we re
We haven 't heard a shot (or negligent discharge! )
searched . The following ode sums up the fee lmg of fired in anger for the las t 3! months and the bombings
men on VCP duty:- in D erry only come faintly to our ears. Whether this
state of a ffairs has been due to the eternal watch-
The dead of night fulness and aggressive mien of our sa nger sentries
and dawn we'll see or total apa th y by the PIRA is a subj ect which will
while doing nights be discussed in many a German bar in the months
at Victor Three. to come. Suffi ce to say that, apart from the occasional
fracas wi th the population who resented being stopped
Sanger du ties come and go and searched ( the pi. have lifted 40 people on
and then we'll work the rad io. assault/s uspicion in 14 weeks), little else rufll ed our
W e'll do our ' P ' checks ca lm ex istence.
th rough the night
and watch out for a All agree that it has been our hardes t tour but
LIFT ON SIGHT. the platoo n will soon be back in W erl when various
changes are to be made.
BIT Girls we have quite a few
and STOP THREE cars Mortar PI.
keep coming through . W e shall have an influx of new members in
We check them out
then let them go J anuary, so have planned a M ortar Cadre on our
and write them down return to G ermany. Sgt. Steve H owick, recently re-
so INT will know turned frim his course, is obviously full of ideas, whilst
Sgt. Adam H amilton is spending his leisure time in
When and where the C( Int" set up making all the necessary aids.
the car came through
it helps them find out W e will be a very immature ( if that 's the right
what they do word ) Mortar Platoon initially, but The Divisional
Mortar Concentration and possible trips to Canada
When morning comes early in the spring and autumn will require a high
we'll go to bed standard .
to sleep and rest
our weary head W e are all looking forward to our return to
German y's LOA, social activ it ies, Bn . Novices box ing
D ay goes by, and, of course leave.
night comes and then
back out we go Recce Pl (" Carter's Cavalry")
to start aga m.
We have been responsible for a 50 square kilo-
The company has the largest area to look after - metre area known as the Enclave.
the Enclave-which is that part, west of the River
Foyle, less the city area. Together with the two main In three Sections, led by Lt. Carter, Sgt. C lay and
permanent Border VCPs on the Buncrana and Muff Sgt. Leach, we operated in stripped-down land-rovers
roads, this has kept us busy. and, soon after we took over, the general situation in
Londonderry worsened. Sgt. Clay's section was shot
L/ Cp l. Friend, shot ea rl y on in the tour, is back, at and L / Cpl. Friend wa s wounded in the hip. A
fit and well ; thankfull y, all the other shots fired at week later the Platoon Commander's section was fired
us have gone wide of the mark. W e were fortun ate at but there were no casualties. We were also intro-
also to discover two separate quantities of explosive, duced to "IEDs., A s we write, we have dealt with
with command wires neatl y hidden beside country two, both reported by local farmers : the first dev ice
roads, awai ting our passage. Both would almost cer- consisted of 60 lbs. of home-made explosives in a
tainly have caused severe casualties. beer-keg; the second was potentially more dangerous
-a 500 metre length of wire leading across the
Towards the middle of our tour we were re- border to a detonator and 17 lbs. of commercial
quired to reinforce C Coy. in the C reggan, thus explosive, wrapped in 20 feet of cordtex buried in
allowing us to send a section each day to operate the bank beside a remote country lane. A nfte,
within an urban environment. This allevia ted the binoculars, battery and other bomb-making mate rials
boredom that comes from constant VC P duty and were found by the firing-point, located in the
allowed some of I0 PI. to share in one of the shoot- Republic .
cut s. W e gained va luable experience from 3-day foot
patrols, OP tas ks and other covert activities. M axi-
Recce PI. ca rried out their Enclave duties with mum use was made of Gazelle and Scout helicopters,
zest and the y reached a good wo rking relationship on priority call for all manner of tasks, from routine
with the loca l community. route clea ring to E agle P atrol s (snap VCPs inserted
by helicopter ). W e also m~inta in e d close liaison with
In their operational role, Recce were assisted by the Ro ya l M arines detachment responsible for
sections of 5 UDR in patrolling the Enclave; they patrolling the River F oyle ( we also profited from
were also the mai n operators of the E agle patrolling their sa lmon contacts!)
ta sks, maintaining close liaison with the helicopters
which gave excellent support. We all became experts at some as pect of farm ing
as a result of hours of community and public relations
We ha ve enj oyed ha ving under command the
now famou s ad hoc I 0 PI. who are to be congratulated (continued on page 20)
19
QUEBEC COY.
I. The CGS, Gen. Sir Roland Gibbs, presents Capt. O 'Gonnan with his LS and GC Medal
2. Coy. R Group, (I to r): Cpl. Mills, Bdsm. Poore, Smith (55), CSM Dickens and Maj. Mellotte
3. Cpl. Wakeman, Hobbs and Greenough
4. An innocent enough looking bag-17 lbs. of frang ' x explosive with command wire (and ATO's hook ),
one device found by Recce 1'1. before it found them!
5. Early morning blues-or Recce PI. prepares for a dawn patrol
6. Mortar PI. VCP crew- ( 1 to r ): L / Cpl. Harding, Cpl. Terry, Farquharson, Goodger, Gray and Scott (96)
(Kneeling) : Cpl. Poulton, Gamer, Brown and Killick
20 ( QMA ). Our new Q, Dave No rris, takes ever ything
in his stride.
(continued from page 18)
Ration Sgt., Pete "Hovis" Brown has moved
discussions (and tea-shops) with the local inhabitan ts. tons of rations most of which arrived at the correct
1978, will be the last yea r for the Recce PI. loca tions with the minimum of fuss.
which is to be d isbanded to make way for an armoured L / Cp l. Eml yn "Grunt " }ones, our butcher, has
troop from the RAC. cut his way through tons of meat, miles of sausages,
and pi les of mince.
10 PI.
Following the CO's initial recce in Londonderr y, l{ esident chef in the Officers' M ess, is L / Cp!.
S tcve " Blue E yes" G ill (" I thought curry lunches and
it became appa rent tha t an additiona l platoon would dinner nights didn ' t ha ppen in N I ")
have to be found . The solution was an "ad hoc" The LAD
platoon of employed personne l in the Battalion plus
soldiers from other units in BAOR. Thus we becam e Apa rt from the normal everyday repai rs and
one of three pla toons manning the perm anent Border ' Bodges', jobs have ra nged from Vehicle S teps to
VCPs. new Gates ( to replace those savaged by the ' Pigs').
In thi s "Rent-a-Platoon", the Commander is "Keeping them on the Road at all costs,,, our
from the RMP; three NCOs and a C raftsman from 4-month tour h as p resented us with m any strange
REME; one L/ Cpl. and driver from 4 D iv. R CT ; problems ranging from obtaining the unobtai nable
seven Privates from No. 6 and 20 OFP, RAO C and spare, to m ak ing and engrav ing plaques, a ll of which
the remainder from witllln the Batta lion . ca nnot help but make us better tradesmen and, most
important of all, better scroungers.
Inaugurated on 2 1 April, we became the envy
of the Battalion, being the onl y pla toon able to con- Congratul ations to all members of the lAD ; in
centrate on "Op . Banner" training whilst everyone this write rs' humble opin ion the y are the best wo rkers
else prepared for the Trooping in M ay. it has ever been his privi lege to serve with.
Guided by old-hand Queensmen and Corps Congratu lations to AQM S T omlinson ( zh e
personne l, many of whom h ad completed several N .!. au thor) on his well-earned promolion-Su b-Ed.
tours since 1969, we were ab le to app roach London-
derry with open minds. (Top): The beginning .. •
(Lower): ... but sadly nor the end
Employed in a variety of tasks, we h ave operated
in all the other company areas, in addition to Enclave (members of Quebec Coy.)
patrolling.
W e disbanded on 24 November and our mem-
bers returned to their respective units; some how-
ever have applied for transfer to the R egiment .
Echelon Notes
Whilst in Ulster, we supplied tons of potatoes,
gallons of fuel, changed hundreds of socks and
generally kept the Battalion on the move. We failed
in one task, however; we did not provide a wheel
cha ir for Sunray Call Sign I, but we did man age the
fl ower box!
For the first half of the tour, the QM ( T ) ,
Capt. Les Wilson, was in the chair together with the
RQMS, WOII Brian Upson. Later, QM ( A ), Maj .
Ron Morris, and WOII Benny Hill ( TQMS ) took
over the reins.
We welcome C / Sgt. Scragger M aye to the fold
before he becomes C/ Sgt. with one of the Com-
panies. Congratulations to L / Cpl. Keith Barren and
his wife M argrette on the birth of their new addi tion,
and to L/ Cpl. Eddie Caffrey and June on the birth
of theirs. Werl air must be invigorating! ! !
Finally, fa rewell and thanks to L / C pl. a nd Mrs.
Mitch Fox who join the civil ranks.
Catering PI.
SQMS P aul Ellis has left us to take an appoint-
ment with HQ 4 Div. and SQMS D ave Norris h as
joined us from the School. Sgt. Norman Green has
left and Sgt. }im Gunning is with us temporarily .
In Londonderry we operated in three locations-
Fort George, Creggan Camp and RUC Rosemount.
At Creggan, were Sgt. Ron Wakeham, Cpl. P ete
Killey, L/ C pls. Nick Tipper, Jack H awkins and
Tim " the boyfriend " Bryett and Ptes. Billy "The
Boy " Butterworth, D ave Wagstaff an d S teve " Blue
Eyes" Barnes.
At RUC Rosemount, L/ Cp l. " Yorkey" M awbey
and Pte. C hris " The Boyfriend" Attow performed
wonders.
At Fort G eorge our efforts were conducted by
M aj. R . E . B. ("God! you can' t do that") M orri s
WERL WHISPERS (or the Wives' Club Notes) 21
It has been a long hot summer wi th little vation and the films, to a nd from L ondonde rr y, are
passion, since 12 Jul y wh ~ n th e last of th e '~ h e roes" eage rl y awa ited, especially by the children.
left for N. Irela nd. But life goes on: free fli ghts to
U K R & R (S till not qu ite certain what that stands The Youth Club continues to flouri sh under
for!'!} , the cat getting lost, and little J ohnnie eating Cpl. Bish op's gu idance. A most successful Summer
love ly red berries which h e foun d on a tree ! Camp for 24 of our children was run by 26 Engineer
Regt. This was by the Diemelsee and, in spite of the
The Rear G uard together with the " P etti coat lake being ve ry low, a ll had a ve ry good an d useful
Government" and the ''Werl Girls" all seem to sur- time there. Financially, the Clubs continue to pay
vive remarkab ly well-a resilliant group to say the their way wi th Sponsored Walks, raffles and such like
least -and a great deal h as been achieved. On most acti vities.
days something is arranged but Sunday is probably
the quietest day with just Church. The Queens C lu b A 5-day Sa iling Cou rse was run on the M iih nesee
Lunches however, h ave proved to be very popular. for as man y yo uth s as poss ible dependant on the
availability of instructors. There coul d have been a
TI1e periodic prod uction of o ur m agaz ine little more wi nd and a little less sun; nevertheless,
"Frustrati ons", li ves up to its name, certainl y for the dreaded "Capsize Lesson" was most popular and
the Rea r P a rt y Orderly Room staff; We marvel that students quickl y lea rned the easiest wa y to capsize
BAOR has not ye t run out of duplicating paper! their boat, have a swim and then r igh t the boat
agai n .
The Video tape recorder is a most popu lar inno -
W e all awa it, wi th "baited brea th '', the return
of the men from D erry and the block leave period
until 3 J an . ' 77 .
THE REGIMENTAL WEEKEND 14-16 MAY
From the "backend of Ulster" (a nd rea ders can It was a superb P a rade; there we re plenty of
read that any way they wish! ), our combined cele- witnesses to confirm that. The excellence of the drill
bration of both Albuhera D ay and the Glorious First did all on pa rade tremendous credit, but especiall y
of June seems an era away. Those few sunn y days RSM Ayling on this his fin al parade before being
when the Battalion, as one famil y (so ldiers, messes,
wives and children ) combined to enjo y an outstanding commissioned ( but remaining with us). This was
pa rade, a lot of pa rties and a n enjo yab le fete around particularly so as the preliminary Ulster training had
the traditional uGlorious First" cricket fixture against mea nt so short a period for a rehearsa l.
HMS Excelle nt, seemed to mark the end of a period, Most importa nt of all, the Battalion on P a rade
before we thought of a nything other than preparing
for, arriving in and coming to terms wi th enj oyed it. The L ord Lieutenant took a keen interest
L o n d o n d er r y. in the soldiers and m any had a chance to talk to him .
If this also mea nt a long time at attention during the
A successful Dress Rehearsal for the Troop ing inspection, all ranks have subsequentl y been grateful
of the Colour took place on W ednesday 12 M ay when for his efforts on our behalf, i.e., to speed up the
the Salute wa s taken by our Burgemeister, Frau Dr. issue of the overdue General Service M eda ls.
Rohrer, before man y of our G erman friends. In many
ways, this seemed to cement the excellent contact we The end of the P arade was marked by an ex -
have with the local German population-one of the ce llent low level fl y pas t by our affi liated No. 3
happier features of our takeover from the 2nd Bn. H arrier Squadron from RAF Wildenrath (another
in October '75. happy take over from the 2nd Bn.)
The following afternoon our guests from HMS In the evening a number of informal parties took
Excellent, together with some of their lad ies, arri ved place, the officers and Reg imental guests enj oying a
first class evening at the Belgian Officers' C lub in
in the Battalion coach. (( Hitchcock 's Tours Limited" Soest .
whisked them away to view the M ohne D am ( through
a haze of silve r goblets and champag ne) whilst a The following day, also hot and sunn y, was the
great deal of hard wark-erecting tents, sea ting, pre- "G lorious First" cricket ma tch. That the actual date
could not be celebrated because of our Ulster com-
paring food-wa s in progress.
In addition to the team from HMS Excellent mitments m attered not a bit. Around the cricket
match we had a fete, each Company, de partment an d
and their famili es, we were delighted to h ave with us C lub producing a stall, the proceeds of which went
the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey, The Colonel of the to our Youth activities.
Regiment and the Mayo rs of Kingston-upon-Thames,
Reigate and Banstea d and the London Borough of Equally enjo yed were the beer tent (where trade
Barnet, together with their ladies. It was good also was predictably and rightl y considera ble), a tug-of-
to see a number of other Regimental "Chum s'~, such
war competition, a free and excellent lunch for all,
as the Regimental Secretary. Al as, a series of mis- and a good R etrea t Beating at the end of the afternoon.
fortunes prevented more from making the jou rney
from England. A large number of spect ators h ad already
arri ved by the time the N avy went in to bat and the
Friday the 14 dawned clear and bright and our stage was set for a happy day's cricket. A combination,
perhaps, of the bright sunlight and prev io us evening's
main concern, the weather, ceased to be a problem relaxa tion resulted in a rather disa ppoint ing Naval
(In retrospect, did it even r ai n that earl y part of score of 56. Pte. Nurse and S / Sgt. Tiley ( 4 a nd 3
wickets respecti vely) would claim it was just good
Summer?! ) Guests were now here, or still arriving. bowling! Very shortl y after lunch, we overhauled
Light lunches, a fin al polish here and there and, by our opponents' score for the loss of on ly three wickets
1500 hrs., the P a rade was form ed up awa iting the and the C O was in good form for his 22 runs. " The
arri val of the inspecting officer, The Ri ght H onourable serious" encoun ter over and with the sun still high,
The Lord Hamilton of D alze ll M C, Lord Lieutenant both sides had a light-hea rted twenty ave rs each in
of Surrey.
( co nrinued 011 page 23)
" THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE"-1976
N
N
(Top, left and right): The Trooping of the Colour (Lower right): All the fun of the Fair
Pictures by Brian P ea rson
Parade
(Lower, left): The cricket teams with Mrs. Ling
and the Rose Bowl
( coutiuued fr om page 2 1) 23
which our guests exceeded our score by four runs. large pan of the tim e was , pent on the never-endmg
But the Rose Bowl, presented by Mrs. Ling, was Rear P a rt y guards a nd duties. Before the Batta h on
returned to the Battalion. left, we acted as enem y ( in compan y with a num-
ber of outside un its which supplied volunteers ) . Apart
The excellence of th e day continued in the from the pl ay-acting, th e stone-throwing and the
even ing for members of the Officers' and Wa rra nt ab use, we also used the band instruments for laying
Officers' an d Sergeants' M esses, together with their many a " IRA gunmen " to rest in the fun eral seri al!
guests, at a Sergea nts' M ess Ball in the Buderich
Sclutzenhalle. But few were wi thout a party of some When the main party left, we had problem'
kind that night! straight away : how to cope with th e "Schutzenfe't
season " a nd Rea r P a rt y duties? We did cope ( in the
The fo llowing da y ( Sunday) was ma rked by a interests of both the Ba nd Fund and our Germ an
well- packed C hurch at a Regimental Service, foll owed fr iends) bu t it left littl e for such luxuries as engage -
by curr y lunches. Sometime(?) in the afternoon ou r ments for the Entertainers.
guests departed and hosts (literall y) melted away.
From the end of September to 2 1 October we
Wh at to say as a conclusion? T o desc ribe it as a boarded the C l30s from Gutersloh to Aldergrove for
"memorab le" weekend would be to use a platitude an autumn holiday with the Battalion .
and, in any ca se, only parti all y true in view of cer-
tain alco holic fogs! Perhaps the weekend will best be One or two concerts, in an attempt to help com-
remembered as a "famil y" occasion . And for us munity relations, provided a little fun for the you ng,
all, one of the highlights of the year before we (some- old and sick of that miserable city.
how, somewhat wearily ) started 11 just anoth er four
months in Ulster". After the attempted mortar attack on C regga n
camp, we contributed in no small part to the anti-
THE BAND Mortar defences. W e put up ya rds and ya rds of dry
stone brick walls ( to minimise the effects of shrap nel )
Although reported elsewhere, the Glorious First and patroll ed the environs of F ort G eorge in a n
of June P arade was the biggest Regi mental Pa rade attempt to neutralise any possibl e base-plate positions.
we had had for some time. It was a success, but the W e also helped man the VCPs on the m ain roads
decision was made there and then that new scarlets leading into the C ity from the Republic.
(some were literall y pinned on ) are a "must"; an
order has now been placed . By the end of October it was back to W erl but
it was satisfying to be wi th the Battalion for a
Our in vo lvement in the Battalion's trip to D erry while. When they have their feet up ( deservedl y) for
has been fairl y considerable- even though ( inevitabl y ) Christmas, our Rea r P art y du ties wi ll go on-and on.
Heigho!
~ f----F_A_M_O_U_S_D--,--R_IN_K_S~I~N~-Y~O_U__R _M_E_S_S--Irl
y
For these and -~riJlJr'Jl ~
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CHAMPAGNE ~J
contact your
nearest NAAFI.
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contact
Inspector Peter Hermitage
Recruiting Officer
Police Headquarters· Sutton Road· Maidstone· Kent· ME 15 9BZ
Telephone: Maidstone 65432 Extentsion 227
WHITBREAD
1froJP~ ·':~;.}:~-·~,.,~'"
BITTER
The pint that thinks it~ a quart
25
The 2nd Battalion
Editorial benefit of all. S up pli es to Sa lamanca we re now sent
JT will be remembered from the last con- by sea because of the unreliabi lity of the roads-one
tribution to this august publication ( do you
suppose sub-ednors m1ght get paid? ) that the driver reported fl ood wa ter enterin g the cab of hi s
Battalion was basking in the sun of that well
known Caribbean holiday resorr- Beli ze. 4 ton ve hicle as he forded a sm all stream and another
had his vehicle swept off the ford he was a ttemptin g
to cross. The courses at the Jungle W arfare Schoo l
became an even greater test whi ch befitted the seasoned
warriors of A Coy. while B demanded, and got, life-
Jackets for their jun gle patrols. M eanw hile the
We p ick up the story aga in at Act I! Scene IV : Signals PI. fou ght with the atmospheri cs and
C Coy. have l aken . up residence at S alamanca ; B h ystencs from thei r new residen ce just com pleted
Coy. ar e .runnmg ctrcles a round H old fas t, a nd A before the r ains began and spared by the fire that
are en) oymg the pleasures of Airport Camp . Th e destroyed 25 square miles of forestr y on M o untai n
Mortar and Anti T ank Pis. each concentrated on Pine Ridge. S upport Coy. man aged to con centrate
M ountain Pine Ridge for two weeks and prayed for again-thi s time in heavy r ai ns. Command of B Coy.
ram so that they could dtschargc their pieces-but chan ged with the arri va l of M aj. P ackh am ( ye t
failed. The Guard provided by A Coy. for the another P eter), and M aj. H ubert retired to BAOR as
queen 's Birthday P arade put on a very creditable DAA & QMG of 11 Armd. Bde. On his way he
dtspl ay though the Guard Commanders uniform co llected the Ad jutants prize for the . . . ( ?) Com-
raised a few eyebrows and his celebration pa rty( ies ) pan y Comm ander which he won outright and left
afterwards raised a few roofs. Both the CGS an d his boots outside hi s room (these m ay ye t be collected ,
VCDS enjo yed their conducted tours though who still uncleaned, from the PM C). Observati on posts
provided the landrover for the C GS from which the were se t up on vario us Cays, a deli g htful never-to -
tailgate promptl y fell off as he mounted remai ns a be-forgotten ex peri ence, especia ll y if the neighbouring
m ~s te ry.. A contin~ent of athl etes were tra ined to pa r- Car was inhabited by an Ameri can sororit y on
ttctpate m the Beh ze Quadrangul ar Athle tics meeting hohday. M any more vi sitors arri ved in Belize in-
held on Al buhera Day and organised, as everyone cl uding the Comm ander of 5 Airportable Bde. w ho,
wrongl y supposed, by Monty P ython . The Ba nd 10 between visits , improved his backgammon-we
arrived wi~h wide open eyes, laughed at th eir intro- hope.
ductory bnef and promptly discovered that what they Act Ill S cene I her alded the arrival of the
had been told was true . They and the Drums carried advance party of the 1st Bn . The Queens O wn Hig h-
out a gruelling tour of the country impressing every- landers and an imminent change of scenery for us.
one--:-even m anaged a two-page spread m the They were greeted in traditional style b y cheers from
M exican newspapers without even setting a foot in tour-happy Queensmen lining the swimmin g poo l.
the country. Thi s trip ended with the Bandm as ter 's If further proof was required that we were soon due
las t appearance a t a Beating Retrea t aft er eight years home it was the sight of C/ S gt. R owney repairing
wtth th e Battah~m ( He could just be recognised under the holes in the soles of his chukka boots with card-
the enormous ptth helmet he insist eWd Ou!poFnrawnecairsi.ngT1h) ~· bo ard and m asking tape. All the hardwork o f
his place has now been taken by
preparing for handover (thank you QM(T ) and the
St~nal s PI. received planning permission for a new rest of your staff) was rewarded with a smooth tran-
rcstdcnce on top of Baldy Beacon to replace the sition of stores, equipment and accommodation to
wmd -battered can vas under which the rebro teams the new owners without a bill. The new Ad ve nture
had stri ven to m aintain communications. Finall y the Training Centre, just completed, was handed over
rumours tha t followed the cancellation of our tour together with gleamin g boots and outboard motors
at Public Duties and participation in the trials of (in working order but we wonder for how long). M aj.
Clansman were confirmed-Op. Banner in Febru ary C ntchley, known to some as <~ Hurri ca n e" o r ay"~Cshbpilaeicn"k~
1977 for four months followed b y Gibraltar in late together wi th the rest o f o ur advan ce p awrt
an idyllic 48 hours in Bermuda on the
August.
before proceedin g on to recce Cyprus via Cairo-a
Scene. V saw the Companies chan ge loca tion for
true case of " around the world in 80 (delays)" The
the last ume. There was a sudden and dram atic
remainder of the Ba ttalion fared better and ret.urned
change in the wea ther with the arriva l of the rains-
to drought-stricken En gland on schedule- even the
30 in ches in four da ys and more in some pl aces.
married fami lies. The Battalion di spersed on three
Roads were fl ooded, bridges swept away and life
weeks earned leave on 20 Aug ust after a short
became thorou ghl y unpleasant especiall y for those at
Thanksgiving Service in the G arri son Church (\'(lho
Sal aman ca where B Coy., aided and abetted by the
was referred to as the Turkey who lives on the Hill' !)
Roya l Engineers, continued the H erculean efforts of
In Scene II , A Coy., with most of those new
C Coy. to rebuild the camp ; replacing leaking tents faces who had arrived whilst we were o n leave, de-
wtth (hopefull y) non-leaking Ni ssen huts. All traffi c parted for Cyprus on Exercise "Tree Line" , five
days after we returned from leave. B Coy. va nished
ca me to a standstill and even the Pumas had to make m.to th~ wilds o f Kent to remind everyo ne tha t we
~tl.ll . ext st, do noc have pi gtai ls, and are we ll wo rth
long detours around rain squ alls when they m anaged )Otntn!(. Sup port Coy., with a new O C (M a j. F in ch)
and C SM in the shape of Rowney, settled down to
to take off. When there was a sli ght easing of the some pro per speciali st training culminating in live
ram, Recce Platoon deplo yed on ro ute reconnaissance
and their efforts, combined with those of the Signals
PI. and Intelligence Sec., provided accurate road re-
ports which were passed to Radio Belize for the
26 EX. " TREE LINE"
firin g their years entitlement of ammunition-in a by Maj . P . P. B. Critehley
force I0 ga le! C and HQ Coys. took the brunt of
the Bri gade Skill at Arms Meeting and Sports D ay Earl y this yea r it was decided to send one Com-
requtrements m fi elding teams- without much pany on an overseas training exercise to Cyprus. The
success we regret to say. Until the end of November island, which became fully indepen de nt in 1960
we continued to train as an ai rportab lc battalion accepts a number of unit exercises throughout rh;
though many individu als are on courses in preparation year centered on one or other of the two sovereign
for Northern Ireland and adventure trai nin g courses base areas retained by the United Kingdom at the
in preparation for Gib raltar. We have ye t to com- time of independen ce. These bases are termed United
plete our FFR and C Coy's trip to T regantle. Then Kingdom D ependencies and are not part of the
there is the GOC's (3 Di v.) specia l trea t -a tactica l Cyprus Republic. Exercises n ormall y take pl ace in
exercise and, no doubt, one or two other surpri ses. the Ea stern Sovereign Base Area ( ESBA ) and in the
W estern Sovereign Base Area ( WSBA ), as well as
From all ranks of the 2nd Battalion to all our in certain training areas and battle shooting ranges
readers, especially 3 QUEENS , we say M erry Christ- in the Republic itse lf. The Turkish invasion of Cyprus
mas and a Happy New Year. m August 1974 restricted trai ning outside the
SBA 's a nd closed the two lea ding holida y resorts of
First Interlude Famagusta and K yrenia . However there are ample
For the statistica lly minded, in Belize, during the facilities still left to make a month in Cyprus a very
wo rthwhile trip .
period 14 Feb.- 31 Jul. our vehicles travelled 41 7,633
miles; they were involved in 16 accidents in which It was decided to send to Cyprus a composite
8 of our drivers were to blame. This represents compan y group ba sed on A Coy., one platoon bei ng
52,204 miles per blameworthy accident or, on ave rage, the potential NCOs cadre and the other three platoons
75,934 miles a month . being fill ed with newl y-a rri ved recruits from the
depot and me mbers of the compan y not on Battalion
Second Interlude cadres.
The Band, returning by VC I 0 to Engla nd, we re
A R ecce party visited the island in August, and
issued the usual cardboard box of polythene wrapped an Advance pa rty one week ahead of the main body
sandwiches. O ne wag, who shall be nameless, placed which arrived together with its freight on 20
one very large but very dead tarantula inside his box September.
and took it to the airstewardess to complai n. The
unfortunate lady took one look and slid gracefull y On arrival, the company moved into Slim
down the side of her galley in a faint. Fortunately for Barracks in Dhekelia (in the ESBA). From a number
her, she recovered before the members of the Band of designated camp sites on the island, two were used
could practice their medical training! by us-one at Erdinsou ( in the WSBA ) a nd one
on the beach with ex tensive training areas in rea r.
OCLEE
This report is being written from the Akamas
to t he Kent Cou nty camp site with two extremely good weeks of the
Re2im e nts fo r over exercise behind us. All platoon weapons have been
sixty years. fired a nd section level fi eld-firing ha s been done. I n
addition, some useful dr y training in 'nitty gritty'
JS SANDGATE ROAD, skills has been completed and all have had the chance
FOLKESTONE to relax in the sun and swim and, for those so in-
clined, to sa il and canoe. On the occasional trips
Telephone 52654 into civilization, ! kebabs and local dishes have been
tried as well as the local brew f rom Mt Keo.
At Akomas, the area is wild and rough. A pro-
minent ridge divides the area into two and provides a
picturesque back drop for the coastline which runs
down either side of this peninsular. The coastline
itself is rocky with the occasional pebble beach, one
of which we use as a harbour for our fl eet of boa ts.
Considering the number of units which pass
( co 111inued on page 28 )
1. L / C pl. Pearee and friends!!
2. P te. H ooker , after the Jungle Warfare exercise-
No comment! 0
3. W02 D ave M oore
4. Sgt. George Whittal, exhausted but ha ppy.
5. A P uma of 230 S qn. RAF " dusts off" from
Salamanca
6. HE, The Governor inspects the Band and Drums,
escorted by W Ol Game
7. Pte. D aly explaining the Anti-T ank G un
8. L / C pl. E ddie F uller briefs h is Section
9. An impromptu Band practice
CQW...I-NW
28 for the tour. It wa s decided that as the largest con-
centration of population in Kent is to be found in
(continu ed from page 16 ) the area of the M edway Towns and M aidstone, the
focal point for the tour should be there. It was
through Cyprus on training, one of the more note- furth er decided to concentra te KAPE attention and
worthy aspects of life here is the considera ble help PR effort there with a view to making a lasting im-
ex tended by all permanent units to those on exercise. pact on the max imum number of people. This policy
We, in particular, owe a specia l debt of gratitude to would enable the tea m to minimise travelling time
3 R. ANGLIAN and I RGJ for their help a nd and undertake more visits and engagements. In the
hospit a lit y.
event insufficient acceptances for visits by the T eam
We will be sorry to leave ( laden down with our
melons and duty free ), an island post occup ied by a were forthcoming from thi s area alone and COI-
Turkish arm y of some 30,000, a UN force of five sequentl y other towns farth er afi eld were included in
contingents and a small remnant of Empire garrisoned
by a tiny force of the British Army. the tour programme.
Third Interlude Preparation and recce were considerabl y ass isted
by OC The Regimental Informa tion Team ( RIT ),
The Anti Tank PI. Sergeant committed two Capt. G . Simmonds, who is based with the RIT at
cardinal errors when parking his land rover. H e fail ed Maidstone. During Jul y and August he was
to back it into a position for speedy get away and responsible for arranging display sites in the va rious
failed to check his route out. The net result was the town centres and for organising the visits to QUEENS
whole of the platoon deployed to lift one landrover -badged ACF detachments.
out of one very large and deep hole. Other drivers
The tour was given a fl ying start on the first
beware! evening when the team took part in " Ashford 's Night
with the Army" at Ashford Football Club. The Band
THE POTENTIAL NCOs CADRE- CYPRUS and Drums Beat Retreat; a lively display of fire and
manouvre was put on by 7 PI. and a large static
by Lt. J. N. Pratten display by the RIT. H ere, as elsewhere, Maj . Packham
was given use of the Public Address system, a facilit y
On 20 Sep. twenty-nine selected soldiers landed which provided a splendid opportunity to publicize
at RAF Akrotiri under the eag le eyes of Lt . Pratte n, the Regiment to a large captive audience.
W02 Moore, C/ Sgt. Cooper, Sgts. Miller and
Newman. The group were launched into endless The first weekend was spent at Gillingham
teaching practices, numerous tactics periods and an Football C lub on 19 September followed by the W est
assortment of other activities all of which appe rtai n Mailing Round Table Knockout '76 on 20 Septem-
to the production of a steely-eyed, lantern-jawed ber. At the form er, the Band and Drums pla yed
section 2IC. before the match and during the interval while a
platoon of soldiers in uniform mingled with the 15,000
Whilst at Dhekelia, prior to the final exercise, strong crowd and were welcomed with cons iderable
Hannington, Mankelow and Williams showed they
had a flair for instruction, whilst Giles, McDougal goodwill. 9 enquiries from potential recruits resul ted.
and Still demonstrated a penchant for minor tactics. On the weekdeys, ten schools were visited and
The CSM spent comparatively little time bouncing
everybod y off all four sides of the square but did our reception was nothing short of overwhelming .
notice that Anthony, Burton and Martin seemed to At each, the programme began with a 30 minute
be able to drive a squad around without making too presentation by the Officers and NCOs of a rifle
many mistakes.
platoon, including an elemen t featuring the battalion 's
For the last four days, the group went to recent tour in Belize. This was followed by an enter-
Akamas, a training area at the North West end of the
island. Everyone arrived without trouble in four hours. taining 40 minute band concert with, in some cases,
Lt. Pratten sa id " Jolly good" and everyone awarded School Band participation . The audience then moved
them selves nine marks. Then followed BHE 's, to the playing fields where a large static display took
patrolling and a gruelling 24 hour exerci se ; the latter place followed by the arrival of a Sioux helicopter.
being a test of stamina, leadership and tactical know- The highlight of the visit was a flight in the heli-
ledge. Of the 29 hopefuls, 17 have now found Lance copter for a volunteer member of the staff, normall y
Corporals tapes but Lt. Pratten and his staff are still in the person of the headm aster. A landrover fitted
looking for a number of red flags. with radio and a loudspeaker was used to enable
the airborne passenger to address the children below
KAPE-OR BAITING OUR TRAPS with, on occasions, hilarious results . During one flight
by Maj. P. F. Packham, MBE the headmistress of a large secondary modern school
was completely unable to suppress her nervous giggles
As the newl y-arrived OC B Coy. had recently all of which were heard by the delighted children on
held the appointment of Regimental Careers Officer, the ground!
that Company was the obvious choice to " K eep the
Army in The Public Eye" in September. Preparation While school visits were in progress, the other
and planning started during the latter stages of the
battalion 's tour in Belize and 4 days after disem- half of the team set up shop on carefully-selected
barkation leave ended on 13 Sept., the company,
together with the Band and Drums and small elements si tes in town centres. At each, a static display was
of HQ Coy., moved to Kitchener Barracks, Chatham erected together with a radio control station whilst
for ten days. foot patrols, each of an NCO and 3 soldiers equipped
with manpack radio, toured the surrounding area dis-
In addition to KAPE, the aim of the tour was tributing regimental leaflets and talking to the public.
to recruit su itable men for service in the Regiment. Every hour, the Corps of Drums presented a static
Because the 3rd En's KAPE Tour in June had visited programme of music to attract the public to the dis-
Surrey, Sussex and Middlesex/ London and in an play; on one occasion in the middle of Gillingham
eft art to cover the regimental area, Kent was selected High Street it was so successful that the intervention
of the local police was necessary to prevent traffic
congestion!
Evening activity concentrated on regimental ACF
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Issued by the Department for National Savings London.
detac hments when OC RIT a rranged for several units 29
to combine to form an a udience. The school p ro-
gramm e was repea ted ( with the exce ption of the crowd~ to the T own Cen tre fo r a concert, during
helicopter ) a nd a ud iences normall y n umbered abou t wh ich Sgt. Bob Freydanck blew some notes to the
100 Cadets and parents. Guatema lans on hi~ post horn and S / Sgt. J ock
Pinke rton "went wa lkies" with h is trom bone. After
The fin al weekend included a m arch thro ugh biddi ng a fond fa rewell to our ve ry congenial hosts
Dover by the Ba nd and Drums to ad verti se the Dover at H oldfas t, we we re on th e road to Sta n reek.
Round T able Fete and, with the help o f the land-
rover -borne PA equ ipment, the Reg iment itself. The Around midday, the " Belizean Queen " rolled
culminati on o f the to ur was a highl y-success ful v isi t into the jungle W arfare School at S ib un, for a much
to Ca nterbury Speedway Stadium whe re a repeat of ap precia ted " J uicy". Th e BS M had warned us tha t
the programme at Gill ingham F .C. wass p resented the people of S tan C reek we re looking forwa rd to
before a crowd of 5,000 . our a rri va l but it was much later that we found out
the rea l attraction. Numerous items- watches, wallets
There is no doubt tha t the KAPE aim was and shoes va nished and it was onl y when a certain
achieved and considerab le goodw ill was encountered "Ed Smith" was seen wea ring the shoes th at the
everywhere. Through out the tour the soldiers we re police recovered some of the propert y. Appa rently
enthusiastic and enj oyed themse lves but 10 days non- the payi ng guests at the hotel didn' t get away with
stop was ve ry tirin g an d all ra nks were pleased to it either ; J ock lost h is ai rline bag and watch there.
return to Bulford. Next morning we boa rded our "air-cond it ioned"
bus ( the windows open )) for Punta Gorda, stopping
* * *Fourth Interlude at the Blue Hole on the way. A long journey ended
Pi cture a small boa t, the outboard eng ine o f with dinner at the pla toon location and followed by
ghost, being blown steadil y our show to the loca ls. In the even ing two of our
whi ch has give n up the num be r managed a tri p to Bill Butlers Ba r a t Ca ttl e
away fr om the nea r es t land I t miles away by a L anding. In the mornin g we we re off to Salama nca,
C Coy's HQ. We performed at Sa n Antonio at m idday
gentl e breeze . Sitting in the boat is one vis iting for an audie nce almost en tirely consist ing of the
sunb urnt Brigadier wielding an unfamiliar paddle loca l M aya n Indians and a t one stage the vi ll age
w ith a rather disconsolate corporal whose res ponsibilit y "soak'' danced across in apprecia ti on. (It takes o ne
was the eng ine. Swimming some 20ft . in front of the to know one). Our evening show was the Beating
boat are one m ajor and one li eutenant towing it, the Retrea t at S alamanca where four inches o f ra in had
whole making steady progress aga inst the wind until recentl y fallen and it was so muddy th at L / C pl. Tim
a bl ack fin is sighted followed by an immed iate cry H olman (5' 5") ended up the qualifying height fo r
o f "shark". The appea rance of the rescue launch the M etropolitan P olice. After a grea t m ea l an d a
spoilt chances of promotion for several people. few laughs we bid our hosts, a nd in particul a r CS M
Tim H ayley, fa rewell and got our hea ds down for
BAND AND DRUMS TOUR OF BELIZE the long journey back to Airport Camp .
by W02 J. G. Lemon (with Band help!) M ay 16 ( Al buhera D ay) was fill ed to the
brim with all the usual festivities. Sta rting with
On 1 M ay, after many weeks preparati on, we marching at the M CC ground, Belize C ity an d cul -
were on our way to Belize . ( The fact th at it was C up mina ting in an Offi cers' M ess Guest N igh t.
Final Da y didn 't matter much, except that Sgt. Bob
Freyda nck ended the day ten precious dollars the Our next rt ip took us to the north Coroza l,
poorer after a wager with the RSM on the outcome stopping at Orange W alk on the way to put on o ur
of the C up ). After an uneventful flight we fin all y show. H ere we were entertained b y the loca l R ound
set foot on the tarmac in stifling heat, onl y to be T able Society at their club an d were accommoda ted
told by some joker that it was cold ; also tha t it was at the local TA Centre. N ext day the Drum M ajor
"Good 'ere" ! did his " Pied Piper" thing and brought crowds of
people to the Stadium for our show, which impressed
At our initial briefing we were informed by the eve ryone so much that the M exican newspaper
M edics about all the nas ty diseases-Snake Bite, covered much of the days events.
T arantulas, S corpions, M alari a, W omen and Booze-
and having taken the pledge, we listened while the The two days a t Belmopan (Ca pital o f Beli ze )
Ba nd Pres ident foretold of the miracles we were abo ut bring back memories of Beating R etreat in
to perform . W e were then led to a gigantic N issen temperatures o f 114 ° f ; in fact, we now intend to
hut to lay our weary heads and didn 't have mu ch celebrate 23/ 24 M ay annuall y as THE BATTLE
problem sleeping after sampling the local brew. OF BELMOPA N. Our R ad io Broadcast and Concert
in St. ] ohns Cathedral were al most our fina le though
There followed a week of prepa ration e.g. our las t en gagements we re a G ua rd of H onour for
acclimatisation , tanning, testing the brew, rehears ing, the G overnor followed by Beating of Retreat a t
at the end of which we were all raring to go. Ai rpo rt Camp-the crowning moment o f the to ur.
This was also D ann y Ga me's fin al engagement
Our fir st engagement was at August ine, right with us before leaving the Arm y and o n thi s occasio n
in the heart of the F orestry Commission area where he donned a white pith helmet causing one joker to
the folk had never seen or heard an ything like it. remark : "Look out here comes M a' hat'ma Game"!
W e then proceeded to Holdfast Camp, where we
performed for the locals at the Sports P avilion, closing Reward for all our toi l came on the 27th du rin g a
with the Senior Drum M ajor (Ca ribbean Area) a nd trip to St. G eorges Cay where steaks, booze an d even
hi s Drums performing " Stick Beatings" a nd fin ally a bit of swimming we re enjoyed to the full. After a
Sunset and the N ational Anthem. ( Unlike a t the cou ple of days preparation and a 24 hour delay, we
Cinem as in UK, the people ac tually stood up! ) The fin all y boarded the grea t white bird for our return
following afternoon, the Corps of Drums ma rched to U K.
around the border town of San Ignacio attracting
In conclusion we would like to tha nk our
Battalion, on ce again, for the way they looked after
us during that ve ry lon g month of M ay.
30 tain. A contribu ting factor was that our wet and
VICTORIA PEAK 1976, OR MOUNTAINS I much abused A 16 radio had not managed to make
HAVE NEARLY CLIMBED reliable contact with ba se to rea rrange transport
by Maj. C. M . M . Grove detai ls.
If yo u ever see a whi te teeshirt emblazo ned wi th A fter two mo re wet camps we reached the clearing
a snowy mountain peak protrud ing from a jungle
( brown actually, but they were very short of green again after crossing a rapidly rising river wi th the
dye in Belize this yea r ) and the legend "V ictoria
Peak or bust", you will kn ow you are seeing one of help of our rope, and fo rtunate ly without distu rbing
the few survivo rs of HQ Coy's expedition to Victoria
Peak. The repetition of the las t wo rd on the back of a sleepy fe r-de-lance lying some 6ft . from Sgt. Gooda .,
the shirt will tell you all you need to know of the
success of these intrepid explorers. who was hold ing it. T he radio at last made contact
The story begins at the planning stage of the thanks to our high powered signals team of Sg t
Belize tour, when it was mildly suggested that each
Company should run some fo rm of Adventure D oughty, L / Cpl. Fagg and Pte. Bicker but the
Training Exped ition. In the way that su\Oh matters
have of gaining a hold on the minds of senior helicopter could no t reach us due to low cloud. A
offi cers, that mild suggestion became a hideo us rea lity
for nine men with outrageously large and variously final camp was made and the jungle wood was fi nall y
coloured packs, waiting for the RAF to fl y them into
the jungle. persuaded to burn, which dried much of our clothing.
Victoria P eak, the h ighest point of Belize, is The helicopter managed to reach us the next
onl y 3680ft. but is surrounded by miles of thick
jungle. It is a peak of limestone which thrusts day and a rathe r bedragg led but satisfied team rode
dramatica lly out of the trees but was unde rstood to
be fairl y easy to climb once yo u found it. H owever, back to Airport Ca mp. The dum ped supp lies were
a party from C Coy. had reached the mountain but
failed to sca le it ( by onl y 50 feet ) due to lack of not recovered for th ree weeks ( two days before the
rock-climbing equipment. This indicated that we had
rather more of a problem. OC was going to have to pay for them! )
The trip was therefore delayed a few days to M ention mus t also be made of Cpl. O'Neill, the
allow gear to be brought from U K . The plan was to
preposition food, wa ter and climbing gear at the foot Battalion Photograp her who not on ly took some
of the mountain and then walk in through the jungle
from a clearing where a helicopter could land us. pictu res of us but actually applied his jungle survival
The first delay occurred when no helicopters techniques by ca tching a fish in the fl ooded ri ver;
were ava ilable in the morning of our first day-IT
went unserviceable- and not till mid-afternoon did and / L Cpl. Colm Campbell, RAM C (from the MRS
we take off and drop our supplies. By then the heli- Airport Camp ) who made sure we took our da il ~
copter was short of fu el and could not find our
clea ring. W e we re therefore dropped in, at the end of pa ludrine and ministered to our many aches and
the day, some two miles fu rther from the mountai n
than planned. pains. The party was completed by Pte. Richardson
The long trek began. Our deputy lea der, ex- from the Officers' M ess and L / Cpl. L ayton who
peclition veteran Sgt. Barry Doughty, ass ures us that
our jungle was much thicker than Rifle Company took time out from the Company Stores. Although
jungle at Sibun. Certainly every tree seemed to have
thorns and much time was taken pull ing these out . the ob jective was not achieved, and it is h ard to get
N avigational and comfort considerations led us to
move up streams whenever possible where we saw any member to say he actuall y enj oyed the trip, we
many fi sh and huge blue butterflies. Our first camp
was dry and only the persistence of the sandfl ies all considered our jungle trek to have been a worth-
disturbed our sleep .
while experience.
The next day the weather turned worse and was
remarkable onl y for the look on the Company Com- S ub-Editors Note: T o commemorate our two
mander's face when he very nearl y trod on a fai r Viccoria Peak attempts there is, at the summit, a
size boa constrictor. The night was very wet and concrete block with a QUEENS cap badge- cheating
most of the party were soon up improving the weather we know but at least we tried. Our advice to fuwre
protection of their bashas . Pte. T ed Bicker, another expeditions is to plan and execute the auempt in th e
jungle veteran, was still chuckling to himself in his dry season from F ebruary to M ay inclusive.
warm dry bed when the tree to wh ich he had lashed
it fell over . F ortunately the onl y damage caused was ADVENTURE TRAINING-
to Pte. Bicker's pride.
CARIBBEAN STYLE
The third day was one of cross-country move -
ment which showed us all too clearl y how tiring and by Maj . P. A. Gwilliam
fru strating jungle travel can be. T owards the end of
the day, a stud y of time, motion and weather (we Running down the coastline of Beli ze, some 20
we re later told it was the wettest week of the yea r ) miles out, is one of the longest barrier reefs in the
led to a decision to return to our clearing rather world. Between the reef and the ma inland, the water
than risk being stranded on a cloud-engulfed moun- is rarely deeper than 12ft. and the area is dotted
with cays or islands, many of wh ich are below the
surface, with vegetat ion poking through .
On one of these cays, S t. G eorge's, was
established what was grandl y ca lled the "Ca ri bbean
Adventure Training Centre". Based on a two-storeyed
wooden house built by the Sappers, surrounded by
palms and with a jett y running into the sea from
the sandy beach in front, the permanent sta ff ran
week-long courses in sailing, canoeing and sub-aqua.
C loser to the mainland, on Amberg is Cay, courses in
island survival we re laid on for those with a desi re
to be latterday R obinson C rusoes.
The whole operation was mas terminded by an
officer, who shall remai n nameless, with the self-
styled title of "Central America and Cari bbean
Adventure Trai ning Offi cer" (CA CATO ). H e was
eas ily distinguished from his fellows by his long hair,
d irty jeans, and T shirt adve rtising a local beer, plus
a tan that wo uld have got him an immed iate job
as a model for one of those instant tan prepa rations.
Being, as it were, "the Boss," he lived at Bn. HQ,
wi th easy access to the fl eshpots of Belize Ciry. On
St. Geo rges Cay, the instructors and administrators 31
Ji ved a more spartan ex istence and, as the weeks went an "A ngel of M ercy. "
by, they came gradually to look more like deserters Those wanting to li ve more up to the "Cousteau
from Blackbea rds crew. Among them were
two M arines, who obviously could not believe their image " did sub-aqua. The image became rea lity when
luck at being give n a six month posting just to sa il they dived in the Blue H ole, a phenomenon ou t on
the Barrier Reef, I 00 ya rds across a nd 500 feet deep.
and canoe. About 150 feet down, the wate r becomes fresh and
Courses, each of abo ut 7 days started every Mon- Cousteau himself h as discovered a n underground
connection to a sm aller Blue H ole about 50 miles
day. The onl y qualification was the ability to pass the inland.
Army Swimming Test (except Sub-Aqua, which re-
quired a more stringent test ) . The cost of £5 per Island Survival proved to be popular, allowing
cou rse ( £ 10 island survival, as a plane flight out one to live out one's fanta sies secure in the know-
and back was included ) was subsidised, and in the ledge that fi ve days later rescue was guaranteed . A
two-month period each company was given to use local fi sherman was emplo yed ; he gave instruction
the Centre, many took the chance to go two or three on how to feed off the land and, as a lucrative side-
line, sold cannon balls sa lvaged from the reef, relics
times. of buccaneer battles fought when Be lize was just
For those unable to swim, the warm sh allow part of another undiscovered con tinent.
wa ter helped to overcome their fea rs, and man y were For the more idle, or those with less time to
able to pass the swimming test within a week. There spa re, a gentle, alcoholic ride ou t to the cay, followed
was time off during the week for the two most by a spell of gentle waterskiing or a sai l, wa s more to
popu la r spa retime activities- snorkelling a nd fi sh ing. taste (even if the engine broke down ) . Still, there
was always the ri de back with the sea to hide the
The reef acts like a magnet to the fi sh and, once evidence of over indulgence!
down amo ng the multicoloured cora l, it is like being
in a j acques Coustea u film. Fish of every imag inable THE LAND WITH A HEART
size, shape and colour lurk in the rocks, tempting
the unwar y to touch or spear them . Spearing can lead by Capt. P. C. Cook
to shark or barracuda appearing to attack the
wounded. Quite a few snorkellers h ave asked what El S a lvado r is situated on the P acifi c coast of
"the funny look ing fi sh like a pike" is, and been Centra l America. It is sandwiched between Gua temala
horrifi ed to lea rn that it was a ba rracuda . Frozen and H onduras to the E ast and South . Possib ly its
turkey, issued in rations, if found to be bad, made greatest claim to fame is that it went to war with
excellent sh ark bait. One intrepid sw immer discove red H onduras in the 1960's after a disputed W orl d C up
that although a shark may be known as a 'Nurse', qualifyi ng footb a ll m atch . San Salvado r won the
attached to an anchor chain with a turkey stuck in replay and only US intervention prevented H onduras
its throat made it feel far from the popular image o f
(co ntinu ed ot•erlcaf)
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32 greatly aided by befriending the expa triot Britons
who acted as guides for us. We stayed in a luxury
(co ntinued from pagc J I ) hotel, which boas ted a swimming pool on the roof and
a waiter who, for a small cons ideration, would show
havi ng to ask for re-election a t the end o f the season
-<IUite a fea t of arms considering El Sa lvador is a us the most bea utiful senoritas in all Central
mere fraction of the size of Honduras. America. Sad ly we had left all our "small con-
It has a very diverse and attractive countryside : siderations" behind .
in the main it is hilly and fertile, though dotted with
man y volcanoes. Some of these were recently ac tive Our first evening, after a hair raising taxi
and in some cases, resemble NCB slag heaps. The
views from many are very inspiring and some of th em journey from the airport to the hotel, wa s spent
have been turned into holiday centres with hotels exp loring the open markets which can be found in
perched on their tops. Looking W est, one could see San Salvador city. Leather, jewe llery and towels arc
the Pacific and, on closer inspection, a Pacific coa st particular bargains worth hagg ling over, the vivacious
with black volcanic sand, hot to the the touch under beauty of the stall girls making the purchasing an
the equatoria l sun, with vast sweeping bays of in- even more enjoyable pastime.
credible beauty relentlessly pounded by the most
On the first full day (a Saturday ) we sampled
enormous breakers. the delights of lunch in a restaurant perched on a
El Salvador is a busy country, exporting coffee volcan ic hill top ; battling the surf a t a Pacific beach
club, and eating far too well in a seafood restaurant.
in considerable quantities and importing J apanese cars Sunday included a trip to the incomp lete but very
in even greater numbers. I t's people are friendly and impressive cathedral in the city; furth er trips to the
industrious, though in parts there was evidence of markets to buy C hristmas presents ( which yo u know
appa ling poverty, far worse than in Belize which is, you'll never get around to giving away ), and a trip
to the local British Club where we were made very
in genera l, a far poorer country. welcome.
Salvador was to be the one escape centre for
On Monday, all too quickly, we were back in
five Officers ( whose Ch ristian names all begin with Belize but not without incident: one of our number
the letter P ); a place where one was to be reminded was arrested by a machine gun toting soldier at the
of what civilisation was all about after the rigours ai rfield for taking photographs of cla ssified aircraft
of Belize. ( which looked very like Dakota s); and at Belize
International Airport, we were informed that there
Two airlines fly from Belize to San Salvador had been a mistake and our luggage had gone to
( the capita l city of a million ). We chose TACA J amaica (or was it Miami? ) It returned a few days
(Take A Cxxx An ywhere ) as opposed to SAHS later and anyway, who needs suitca ses in Belize? El
( Stay At Home, Stay Alive ) maybe because the air Salvador is a "must" for any globe-trotting Tom who
hostesses had a better reputation and they served free finds himself in Belize.
drinks. Sadl y the flight on ly takes 30 minutes.
W e were to have just 72 hours to try and see
as much of the country as possible and we were
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33
The 3rd Battalion
Overview "Spearhead" being our nex t major concern, w~.:
tri ed to prepare for it via Ex. "Javelin "- a maJor
AS forecast in our last notes, it has been a move through the trials and tribulations of th e military
varied and busy summer; most of us air mounting system. The QM notes describe it well,
but suffice it to say that some lessons were learnt or
suddenly realising how far North from ou r norma l relearnt! Spearhead itself was a non event, although
the extension by one week led to a certain amount of
haunts is Catterick and what a convenient re- fl ap!
fuelling station for the wande ring military we A memorable Quebec Day was celebrated in
fitting style- an All Ranks dance with a mag nificent
have become. buffet prepared by the messing Maff, plus a sporting
We were involved in the North East District bonanza. The inter-platoon soccer was won by M or
PI. ; the inter-platoon ath letics by 9 Pl.; the inter-
Skill at Arms meeting and were rewarded for our Coy. rugger by C Coy., and the COMM AND ING
various efforts by winning the Regular Major Units OFFICERS TEAM WON TH E INTER-COM-
Championship. Most of the rifl e companies, aided by PANY HO C KEY (on a very small pitch! ) The per-
H Q Coy. to make up numbers (and the weight ), took form ance at the Army Athletics of Pte. P atterson (2nd
part in Ex. " Big Griffin", a Brigade-sponsored m the ZOOm. a nd Pte. D ela ney (7th in 1500m. and
exercise to test the ability of a n airportable company lOth in 3000m. ) was noteworthy-a good effort con-
against an enemy armoured threat in woods. In sidering their lack of coaching and training time.
practice, it was similar to submarine hunting by
frogmen in pairs- certain ly the clothing would have The last of our many events has been the inter-
been more suitable for the weather, and in which the platoon M arch and Shoot Competition which took
ability to bail was of more importance than to dig . place under appali ng weather conditions. It was a
The Brigade report was as spectacular in concept test of all th e individual skills and included an Assa ult
and ( dare we say) almost as wet?
The Colonel of the Regiment presents the LS and GC
We then turned our attention to parades, drill, Medal to WOII Smith
KAPE, recruiting and public relations. W e marched
through Guildford, exercising ou r rights as Freemen
and Beat Retrea t there where some were
presented to the Corporation and E stablishment whilst
others (at least one ) " presented" himself to the
people now garrisoning Guildford-the WRAC! The
fo llowing day, a number of the J NCOs acted as
ushers in Gui ldford Cathedra l for the Queens Royal
Surreys Reunion Service and, showing even more
enthusiasm, acted as barmen at Stoughton Barracks
for the Old Comrades R eunion . Our KAPE tour,
including Band engagements, covered most of the
Regimental recruiting area.
The Ca tterick Army displ ay, billed as a "Major
Army event of the North" then drew our unwilling
attention. 9 Pl. of C Coy. ( Lt. Waller ) produced a
spectacular helicopter-borne assau lt (big bangs by
courtesy of Sgt. Dixon and the Pioneers); Support
Coy. managed to find water when digging their fire
trenches ( despite the drought ) for their static display
and there were few who were not involved in some
way, with security! In fact, this is a major pre-
occupation of the Catterick Military Hierachy; the
ratio of troops to tasks for guarding visiting Royalty
to hospitals etc., makes Andersonstown seem like a
picnic.
A Coy. gave aid to the civil power by their
assistance in fore st fire-fighting. B Coy.- well actually,
they do not mention where they have been in their
"special )) notes. C seem to ha ve remained cheerful
although Lt. Keams d id lead a party to the wilds
of Scotland for adventure training. Suppon Coy.
have come to believe that "home" is Salisbury Plain ;
nevertheless their results there have been gratify ing
and the many changes in their command structure
would seem to have been overcome although not with-
out drama. L / Cpl. Ebeigbe tried ( unsuccessfully ) to
prove tha t Spotting Rifl e can be made automatic; Pte.
H addow tried to prove that Ground Action can be
attempted from a moving vehicle; and Sgt. Arey
tried (also unsuccessfully ) to prove that a gun pit
can be blown under a tree!
34 In August, "Spea rhead" wa s upon us and the
long-suffer ing Armourers suffered most. H owever
course, a 10 mil es M a rch and a shoot. It was also S / Sgt. Nicholson, having been awa rded a well:
a test for company commanders to find enough men deserved Battalion Recognition Tie, managed to cope
to complete each platoon team and to understand the and his bemused Armourers m ade frantic and success-
rules! The Mortar PI. were we11-dcscrved winners, ful efforts to repair the ravages of Coy. Training and
the M arch and Shoot Competition s. ( At one time
with Recce, the runners up. 20 GPMG 's required repair ). " What was Spea rhead"
Finall y, we say farewell to Maj s. Christian ( to they demanded; to which we co uld only reply- "A~
Exercise to use all our Kit to destruction for six
Aldershot ) Gladden ( to BAOR ) and Hiscock ( to . week s11 !
Housekeeping (?)) ; Lts. Owen and Mercer who,
having given us their all as SSVC officers, have Quebec Da y, wa s a welcome break in the midst
returned to civil life, wiser in the military arts but of all this acti vi ty. The department was, of cou rse,
no richer; CSM Perryman, on retirement ( although deeply involved in supply of sports' kit, glasses,
to remain in uniform with the CCF ) and Sgt. Green furniture etc. etc. but the highlight of the weekend
also on retirement but both clutching large suitcases was the All Ranks' D ance at which the Catering
full of greenbacks having been lucky in the redundancy Staff, under SQMS Ashley, produced a magnifi cent
lottery; to all ( and those not mentioned ) our good Buffet ( Sub-Editors Note: He ate it ). Over £1,500
wishes. To all those recently arrived, greetings, and was spent and the spread wa s the best ever seen.
a special note of welcome to Pte. Fairs who, wounded Cpl. Goodacre served the champagne (and lost him
in N.!., is now back in the Battalion. 20 points with QM ( T ) who was told there wa s none
left for him! ) The Sports' Store took a battering
QM's View (or Much ado about Nothing) but Cpl. M acK enzie coped, although washing 150
sets of football strips caused him a few bad moments.
The long hot summer ha s taken its toll on the
staff . Currently the RQMS is in hospital with spinal Sports' pitches, had to be organised and at one
problems caused by over-enthus iastic use of the time our pitch was marked out for four different
Hoover. He wa s joined late in September by L / Cpl. Sports at the same time ( DOE are used to us by
Smith, the clothing king who, having given his " all" now! )
in the Battalion March and Shoot, promptly had to
go to hospital with a collapsed face. At last we can And so on to Christmas and a promised reduction
tear up the "Spearhead" file which was ea sy in the pace of training ( Quote C/ S9 25 Sep. '76 )
compared with Ex. "Javelin" and var ious until of course a change of command takes place and
packing exercises ranging from-world wide with a new Broom starts vigorously sweeping to "Get us
Support Weapons, to Northern Ireland without belts. into trim for Belize '77". Still, we've heard it all
Finally all stores are back under lock and key and before and the motto wi ll prevail to all our customers
not in boxes or trailers (or in A Coy's Rover or (as "Demands Six Weeks in Advance and Quote Part
not in boxes or trailers (or in A Coy's Rover or- as Number"!
in one case-in the Intelligence Section's Rover ) .
The next notes will be from the Carribbean and
The Summer will be remembered for certain written from a cane chair, FFR ( Fitted for Rum ).
highlights caused by Ex. " J avelin" and "Spearhead" Adios Amigos.
-n amely Sand, Rope and Plastic Bags, all simple
commodities but ones that caused a lot of excitement Anonymous View (or Looking for Inspiration)
and fury at all levels. It was never rea lly resolved
who wa s responsible for Sand (for Pouches, in The relentless red orb began to sink beyond the
lieu of Ammo! ) QM ( A ) obtained, but QM ( T. Ea stern hills, its energy diss ipating as it descended.
provided, the plastic bags. Getting the Sand into The heat had wreaked havoc that day; parched and
the bags in 51bs. (or was it 3lbs?) loads was more brown was the ground, empty waterholes and the
difficult and defied the efforts of 9A and the H awks hot dry dusty air stung the reddened eyes and aggra-
of Kestrels Staff. vated the parched throat. The cool of the evening
would perhaps brin g some respite. Across the hills
Rope, I!" sisa l also caused high blood pressure echoed the sound of musketr y and from the valley
as loads for Airportability were tied, untied, and tied drifted the note of a single bugle with an answering
again. In the end we used 1,000 fathoms of the stuff call from afar. An eerie and awesome situation. A
although vehicles still appeared having used string batta lion at duty on the Northern extremities and
from the post Corpora l! little prospect of rain to relieve the tension.
Ex. "Javelin", an Airportability exercise with My contemplations were disturbed by the noise
Coaches representing VC !Os and 4 tonners repre- of a scrambling figure appearing from the gloom. I
senting Pumas ( understandable considering the RAF's perceived the dusky features of one Ponnusamy (clerk )
current predicaments) got the Echelon on the move " Major Sahib; I am understa nding that those fellows
and was enj oyed by all . Initially deployment wa s by down the path are wishing you to tell them what
Coach through the mysteries of AMC South Cerney should have been told them some many times ago".
and thence by Puma to RAF Upavon. The Echelon
stores were dumped in a wood and sa t on by Sgt. " F ellows- what fellows"?
Dau, ACC, the only person who could represent
the Echelon; all went well and, as was predicted, "Those damn naughty fellows who are always
the Echelon grew in size until it was larger than asking for tomorrows things last week".
any of the Compan ies.
"Oh, you mean Battalion H ea dquarters" (getting
The staff flew by RAF in a series of hedge- the drift) .
hopping sorties; as we were on 24 hr. ration packs,
no sickness resulted and everyone was in fin e fettl e "As I am saying sahib, they are now wishing
to act as enemy throughout the Exercise. In spite of that we tell them what we have been up to getting
this, service with a smile preva iled and the ten tons during the recent times. I am not understanding their
of simulated ammunition were returned complete to a newest des ires as every week I am sending even more
mystified Ord. Depot on the final da y. of thei r return s. What this newest wish is I do not
know".
" Chri st, it's the bloody J ournal n otes aga in . 35
Blow for Mills Sahi b, the gay, dashing secon d in
comma nd". ( Not reall y gay, just looks it an d a nyway, response from C S M Ca tt. " I've got a ll these return ~
to do for Bn. H Q ; another 25 new ones came in
he gets ma rried next week ). today- an yway, it 's got to be a n officer wo t does the
41J ames, they wa nt the journ al notes". notes".
" No t those damn na ught y fellows who are . " Well you 're a n offi cer ", I sa id .
"O nl y war rant thoug h sir".
" Don' t you start. Just turn out some of the " D on 't p ush your luck ", I replied wi th feeling.
norma l guff " . " Quite frankly" replied the ga llant " H ee hee hee", sn iggered H edger, ((Guess who's
minor, " I am not reall y in a position to write a ny- been carted " ? {S u h E ditor's N ote: T hose two readers
thing as I've been away since we left the R ock and who have n·avelled this far will realise w ho really
know nothing of Catterick". go t ca:rlCd.)
" Knows precious littl e about an ything else for 11Lock him up". We ll someone's got to take the
that matter" ( I kept that revelation to m yself) " Well brunt even tuall y have n' t they? I mean H edger
I'm not doi ng them and that's fo r certain,. shou ldn' t have been around once the tempers started
rising; he's onl y himself to bl ame.
I said with determ ination, " G et one of the
I do n 't know a bout you but I fi nd writ ing J ournal
Pla toon Commanders to do it" . No tes a bore. O ne gets the normal old claptra p
" We-ll ", h e replied a nd I sensed pen ding drama. whi ch interes ts no one excep t the writer, the fa ther
or new lu ckless husband. They do n' t actu all y ha ve
" Russel l's in Brunei, \Vilkinson's too wet and W atson you ro llin g on your back clutchin g the stomach do
can't write", ( Plays a mean hand at poker but joined- they? And we've had the same old synd rome of the
biblica l quotati ons, the " G runtfu ttock" letters and
up writing- no way) . the thoughts of C hairma n wha tsit. No do ub t ever y-
' 'O h" I said cl utching at straws, " Whaf s Russell one will witter away about the va rious thi ngs we've
done in the last six mon ths so why bother saying it
doing in Brunei, ? again. The births, deaths and m arri ages co lumns will
" On a jungle wa rfare course", inj ected the in- give all the other news and apart from sayi n g w ho
got legless last wee k there seems little point in writing
trepid C/ Sgt. T alman who had somehow sidled into any notes at all. So wh y bother ?
the presence and conve rsa tion .
" E xcusing me M ajor S ahib, I am regretfull y in-
" J ungle wa rfare! There's no jungle in Yorkshire" . tempting your noble thoughts bu t I am hearing from
" Ah but there is in Belize", retorted T alma n. my d istant cousin in the O rderl y R oom that you a re
not in need as the senior ma jor has decided that he
U nfortunately th e reasoning behind that was lost is better qu alified to write them all hi m self and
on me and I said so. The administra ti ve addition all y I am hearin g that the J ourn al h as already
expert and his advisor, Pte. C unliffe then slid away been published" .
discretely, giving the d istinct impress ion that if a n y-
one was going to be carted it wasn't going to be
them. " N eve r mind", I sa id aloud (a nother m istake ),
" The Sergeant M a jor is ve ry good a t stringing a few
handy phrases together " .
"You must be joking sir' ', came the imedia te
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36
I
)'
...
I. The Quarter Guard (B Coy.) for the Colonel 4. "Which QM gave you those?" (or keeping the
of the Regiment's visit Anny in the Public eye!)
2. The Cricket Officer preparing for cricket- 5. "Did I really do this?" Lt. Rayner and the forest
new style fire at Whitby
3. Catterick Anny Display. 9 PI. of C Coy. take 6. "Its a hell of a war! " The Assistant Adj utant
part in the Helicopter Assault forced to leave his office on Ex. "Javelin"
37
The 5th (Volunteer) Battalion
General while A Coy. ( Guildford ) travelled to G bent,
Belguim, to t ake part in the Anniversary Ceremonies
W E are glad, indeed proud, to say that our of the 1944 Liberation .
note of optimism in the last issue about
(Top): The Band and Drums at Roubaix
being part of the future 6th Field F orce has (Centre and lower): Beating Retreat on 2nd Oct. The
been nearly realised. This Battalion, at present Colonel of the Regiment with the M ayor and Mayoress
part of 16 P ara. Bde., will almost certainly be
of Canterbury and other Guests
one of the two TAVR Battalions in the Field P ictures by K entish G azette
F orce.
So busy and varied have the last six months'
activities been that Annual Camp '76 at Westdown
Camp, Salisbury Plain ( 22 M ay- 5 J une ) seems
somewhat out of da te now we are fa st approaching
C h r istm a s.
W estdown Camp has been the scene of many
ucampaigns" by the Battalion in recent years and
after the attractions of Sennelage r ( how many of
the R egular Battalions can say that !) last yea r, there
was undou btedly some apprehension .
The turn out this yea r was a little d isappointing.
We had hoped ( and even boasted in the last issue )
of the prospect of 5 12 Offi cers and men ; quite which
economic or employment crisis it was ca nnot be re-
ca lled, but employers became reluctant to release men
in the last few weeks before camp and onl y 450 men
arrived to taste aga in the rigours of Salisbur y Plain .
The Battalion's 'exa lted' and rather exposed
position as pa rt of 16 Para Bde. means that every
effort had to be made to sharpen up all aspects of
individual and unit training. S pecial emphasis this
yea r was placed on the Anti-T ank, M ortar and Signal
Pis. The M ortars and Signals were pa rticularl y im-
pressive, as the GO C South E ast District, Lt.-Gen
Sir J ames Wilson, KBE, M C, was kind enough to
say on his visit.
Almost more important than the Specialist
platoons are recruits. After train ing 84 successfull y
in BAOR last yea r, a further 94 were put through
two hard weeks of training by C SM P eter C rick and
his team of Reg ular and TAVR Instructors. Co:o -
gratulations must go to them for all they achieved.
Inte resting and worthwhile infantry trai ning (on
foot rather than mechanised ) is not eosy to achieve
on Salisbury Plain . Fortunately with the aid of the
Royal Engineers ( who instructed at length on m inin~
and wiring ) , D Coy. 2/ 2 Gurkha Rifl es ( who acted
as a most thrill ing and impressive enemy as on ly they
know how ) and plenty of helicopter support, made
the training and exercises much more interesting and
wo r t h whil e.
Some of the Batt:.lion's night train ing has become
infamous since the writings of a nosy reporter on a
well known da ily pap er. P erhaps he should look in
the mirror ( !) and refl ect that all he achieved was a
few red faces initially, plenty of laughs, a few
"typica ls" and an increased demand to borrow fi lms.
N ever was Hut 29 so famous.
No sooner h ad Annual Camp fini shed than we
heard that HQ S .E . D istrict and HQ 16 P ara Bde.
propose a mobilisa tion exercise, with a flight out,
for Annual Camp 1977 ( October ) .
The Queen's R egiment Band (T AVR ) along
with our Drums have been to Gravelines and Roubaix,
38 M BE, MA ) and th e C hair man and Secretary of
SETA VRA (Maj .-Gen. J. A. d'Avigdor Goldsmid,
In September, 8 members spent 2 weeks in CB, OBE, M C and Lt.-Col. I. N. R yle, OBE, M C,
Norway on Ex. "Teamwork": M aj. Geoff Wright, DL ) . Bng. G. H . W . H owlett, OBE, M C, Comd.
CSM Fairfax, L / Cpls. Cooper and Thompson acted 16 P ara Bde. and some of his Staff also visited on
as umpi res with 2 R. ANGLIAN whilst the Com- various occasions.
manding Officer, RSM, Cpl. Daly and L/ Cpl.
Gardiner acted as mobile umpires ( i.e. umpiring the On 12th October Lord Astor of H ever, Lord
opposing umpires). The setting was an attracti ve Lieutenant of Kent, visited Tonbridge and presented
coastal region between Trondheim and Namsos, with M eritorious Service Certi ficates to Sgt. J asper Hurst,
plenty of mountains and fjords. 16 P ara Bde. rein- Cpl. Bob Rank in and L / Cp l. Dennis C lements of E
forced a Norwegian division, to oppose an amphibious Coy.
landing by 2 M arine brigades, one American and one
Anglo-Dutch. On 2 1 Oct. the M arquess of Abergavenny, Lord
Lieutenant of Ea st Sussex, visi ted H astings and pre-
It was a valuable experience to see 16 P ara Bde. se nted Meritorious Certificates to WOZ Ernie Ball,
in the field and to learn something of the operating RAPC and Cpl. J ohn Turner, ACC, both life-long
techniques for our future role in 6 Field Force. At and loya l Volunteer soldie rs. Cpl. Turner also received
the same time useful lessons were learnt abo ut allied the TA VR Efficiency M edal ; this is for 12 years'
"interoperability" ( believed to be a Norwegian wo rd !) service beyond the I 2 yea rs which had al ready quali-
fied him for the old TA Efficiency M eda l. H e is the
Lt.-Col. J ohn Stephenson was there in a liaison first member of the Battalion to have ach ieved the
capacity and also managed to visit all his Norwegian " d o u b le".
cousins as well as taking lunch with the King.
Lt.-Gen . Sir J ames Wilson, has again
Since camp was so early this yea r, the various visited A Coy. ( Guildford ), this time to cut
cadres, company exercises, the Officers/ SNCOs their lOth Anniversary Birthday Cake. H e has also
Trai ning Weekend and a Battalion C PX have all very recentl y visited Drill Nights at HQ and B Coys.
had to be part of a steady build-up towards the
Bat talion Exercise being set by Brigade HQ for the To anybody of the 2nd Bn. who might read this
end of November. The night occupation of a defensive section, Ca pt. C hris P arkinson thanks them all for
position followed by patrolling, helicopter operations his marvellous month in Belize (even if he was left
and defence aga inst an airborne assa ult are likel y ' holding the baby' on the Honeymoon flight home!)
to be amongst some of our problems. Thus the
valuable centralised training at Annual Camp was There have been very few changes within the
continued throughout the Summer and Autumn with Battalion except in the Regular element : farewell to
M aj. Hugh T ennent ( AFCENT ), WOZ D ave Gilbert
the emphasis on rangework, signals training, map ( 3 UDR ), CS M John Butler ( I}LB ), C SM Peter
reading and basic tactics. C rick ( retirement and ACF ), C / Sgt. J ohn Blanchette
(2 QUEEN S ) and Sgt. Bobrow ( 2 QUEENS ). We
The highlight in the social calendar in recent welcome in their stead M aj. Ian Lloyd, the new
weeks was the Beating Retreat by the Band and Corps Training M a jor, S/ Sgt. Brian Wright, C / Sgt. Nick
of Drums, followed by the Officers' M ess Cocktai l Bullen, CSM Eddie Law rence, C / Sgt. Mick Gill and
P art y held at Canterbury. W e were delighted that a Sgt. Bill " K eep off the pavement" Butler.
30 minute break in torrential rain allowed some ZOO
spectators to watch a splendid display by Bandmaster T wo notable volunteers departed recently: first,
T ed C lark, Drum M ajor P eter Solley and their C SM John Collins of E Coy. (Tonbridge); he
talented musicians. The Colonel of the Regiment took originally joined 1 BUFFS in 1951 as part of
the Salute and amongst other guests were the M ayor National Service and has since served as a vo lunteer
and M ayo ress of Canterbury, Maj .-G en. J. A . in a wide va riety of TA posts until joining E Coy.
d'Avigdor Goldsmid, CB, OBE, M C and Col. A. A. as CSM on form ation in 1969.
Atherton, Commander Dover/ Shorncliffe Garrison.
Secondl y, Sgt. ' Fred' Richards, the indispensable
The Battalion cricket team, based almost entirely Officers' M ess Sergeant, after eight extensions. H e
on B Coy. ( Broadstairs), were runners-up in the originally joined the Army in 1936, was a prisoner
Final of the Thanet Works Knockout C up. They beat of the J apa nese in W orld W ar II and a devoted
member of the TA and TA VR since demob in 1948.
a number of much better teams in the preliminaries Every good wish goes to both these marvellous
by a combination of team spirit and extreme good volunteers from all members of the Battalion .
fortune. Nevertheless all members played their part
in the best and most memorable yea r so far. ROUBAIX 1976
Personalties by Maj . P . C. Harrington, TD
Amongst the many distinguished visitors to Who loves you baby? Certainl y the citizens of
Annual Camp this yea r we welcomed our Honorary Roubai x in Northern France love the Band of The
Colonel, Col. H . H . Prince Georg of D enmark, Queen's R egiment ( TA VR ) and the Drums of the
K CVO who, besides being the Guest of Honour at 5th (Volunteer ) Bn . They showed it when they turned
the Officers' M ess Dinner Night, stayed to watch the out in their thousa nds for the F estival of Military
beginning of a Battalion exercise. Music held there in September.
A large number of local R egimental Officers, This is the third visi t of the Band to the Con-
both serving and retired, also attended an Officers' tinent w here they are fas t acq uiring as envious a
M ess C urr y Lunch at Camp; they included Lt.-Gen. reputation abroad as they have at home.
Sir Richard C raddock, KBE, CB, DSO, Maj-Gen.
R. S. N. M ans, C BE, Col. J . Shipster, C BE, DSO The other two visits to the Continent proved to
and Col. D . C. Snowdon, TD . It was a good be a great success and at Roubaix they reinforced their
opportunity for the R egular and TA VR Officers of reputation .
the Regiment to meet.
Amongst the steady stream of other visitors to
Westdown we welcomed The Colonel of the R egi-
ment, the DVT&C (M aj.-Gen. P. A. Shapland,
Arriving late on the Saturda y evening, they all 39
managed to find some "entertainment" or other before
the night was out. The accommodation was in a local selves. Each gave a performance lasting abou t 30
school and the band 's knowledge of French must be minutes and a ll were of a high sta ndard.
queried as bells were being pressed all night in the
hope of s ummoning a "mistress" ! There was no doubt at all however, about which
was the most popular. Not a soul in the crowd moved
Sunda y morning dawned a little too clea r for a muscle during the playing of "The Queen " and
some but all were soon on parade and made a fin e they even app lauded that) W e had the advantage of
show in their red and blue. appea rance-the Drums in their scarlets and the Band
in their blues-but we also had the advantage of a
Jt wa s a so lemn morning with a march to various cunning old so ldier in the Bandmaster ; he produced
memorials by the local groups of service veterans and a varied and entertaining performance which brought
res istance fighters. The applause by the crowds on the constant app lause. "Frere Jacques" had everyone in
appea rance of our Ba nd and Drums was spontaneous the right mood ; the d rums excelled with their high-
and genuine. For both those old enough to remember speed drumming; everyone in the audience joined in
and those for whom it was a first experience, it was with "Keep all your ki sses for me" and the trumpeter
most moving to rea lize the wealth of feeling which struck a solemn and nostalgic note with the "Evening
obviously still ex ists in F rance for the British soldier. H ymn". And when the Band and Drums marched off
to " Soldiers of the Queen", they were positively
In the afternoon, a performance in the loca l swaggering to the tumultuous applause from the
Sports Stadium by five military bands included those thousands present. As an exercise in showing the flag
from F rance, Belgium and H olland as well as our- it was a first class trip and certainly one of which a
TAVR Band and Drums can be proud.
Col. HH Prince Georg of Denmark, K CVO , our Honorary Colonel, with his officers at Annual Camp 1976
Picture by Fuller & Sons, Amesbury
CAMP
~976
41
1. The GOC talks to members of E Coy. CO, Maj . Panton and Capt. Jelf are on their
2. The Commanding Officer, Adjutant and RSM
left.
setting off on the Orienteering Competition with 4. Cpl. Hazard, L/ Cpl. Sheridan and L/ Cpl. Spice
members of E Coy. of B Coy's det. of the Anti-Tank PI.
Gen. Sir James Wilson (right) talking to Capt. 5. Maj. A. J. D. Salter, OC C Coy. well wrapped
E. R. Holmes during the Mortar shoot.. The
up after the Orienteering Competition
Pictures by K entish Express
EX. "TEAMWORK", NORWAY
(L to r): Cpl. Daly (C), RSM Barrell, L/ Cpl. Gardiner (HQ), CSM Fairfax (A), L/ Cpl. Thompson (B),
L/ Cpl. Cooper (A) and Maj. Wright (A)
A NEW BOOK CLUB FOR In addition to the wide range of military books
MILITARY ENTHUSIASTS there will be a substantial section of books on other
subj ects, giving the member a total of over fift y
The immense appeal of military books is re- books in each programme to choose from. The great
flected in the launching of the Military Guild by Book ma jority of the books will be identical with pub-
Club Associates ( who run the Literary Guild, World lishers' own editions.
Books and other clubs) . This will be a new kind of
club with members receiving programmes approxi- An informative magazine, 'Campaign', will be
mately every three months ( instead of every month ), issued specifically for the Military Guild, and it is
from which they are asked to take at least one book. from the books listed in its columns that members
will make their selections.
The club will offer the best of the new military
books, at the time of, or shortly after, their first An introductory offer to new members brings
publication. Other existing military books of note will any three of at least tweh·e recent military books for
also be offered. The main selection for the first period just £ 1.00-and the three books could have a total
is WHO 'S WHO IN MILITARY HISTORY by value of up to £20 .00 .
Keegan and Wheatcroft, published by Weidenfeld and
Nicolson at £6.95, and available to members at £4 .95. Further information and full lists of the books
The alternatives represent a wide range of periods concerned are available from Press Publicity Office,
16 Mortimer Street, London WIN 8QX .
and subjects, and all the Services.
GUILDFORD CENTENARY JUNE ' 76 43
A C oy. 5 QUEENS led by Maj. Geoffrey Wrigh t
A P eriod Group-members of A Coy. 6/ 7 exercise. The parade through the streets of Guildford
QUEENS with fixed bayonets was not an affai r of p ageant;
3 QUEENS Bea t Retreat at Millmead true, there was a band and the bandsmen wore scarl et
The 3rd Bn. C olours E scort March past the Mayor uniforms. But the major p art of the parade was pro-
vided by so ldiers of the 3rd Bn . in battle d ress,
Pictures by PR H Q SE Di strict bayonets blacked for action. For these men h ad been
in Northern Ireland and typi fied one of the roles of
QUEEN'S SOLDIERS tod ay's soldier : kee ping the peace--or attempting to
Th e following extract was taken from the "Daily under the most difficult conditions-in p art of ou r
Adverciser" (a Surrey paper) dated 16 Jun e '7 6. own United Kingdom . A brief parade such as last
weekend 's means more than the pomp and ceremony
The 20th Century h as taught us that jingoism of the co lourful trooping of the colour which was
can be dangerous, as it is capable of being inflamed going on simultaneously 30 miles up the A3 on
into paranoi a and open strife. We therefore tend to Horseguards P arade. P eople watching the Queen 's
look with a certain amount of suspicion upon military soldiers were right ly impressed with the fact tha t
shows of strength. But every so often it is relevan t to this was a fighting unit with a sense of purpose,
be reminded abo ut the facts of political and militar y carrying out the orders in a world which seems at
life. the moment to lack a simil arl y commited sen se.
L as t weekend's celebrations of the cen tenary of I t does no harm to be reminded of this fact of
Stoughton Barracks, Gui ldford, and of the connection life face-to-face, instead of through the trad ition a l
with the Queen's Regiment, was one such relevant medium of the television and the cosy arm chai r. The
Queen's Regiment, which is, as we were reminded by
posters around Guildford, Surrey's county regiment,
is very welcome in Guildford. We can have nothing
but admiration for its soldiers and for the role which
it pl ays in tod ay's strife-torn world .
ANCIENT AND MODERN
4*" Hig h \ 4!" High
(incl . Base) (incl . Base)
A pair of yo ur own Regi- \
ment's soldiers modelled by
Chas. C . Stadden and
beautifull y cast in the h igh-
est Quality English Pewter
with the Eng lis h Pewter
Craftsmen's As ~ociation
Make a nd Certificate at-
t ac he d .
Price £9.20 each or £16.41)
the pair ( includ ing VAT and
p&p) .
SPECIAL FOR THE
REGIMENT
Have your name/rank/
number engraved on the
base! Add Sp per letter/
numb er a nd a llow 14 days
minimum for engrav ing .
( Max. 30 letters/numbers)
OFFICER 1680 INTERNAL SECURITY DRESS-1974
To HAMILTON MARRIOTT, 16 THE BROADWAY, STANMORE, MIDDLESEX, HA7 4DW.
I encl ose £..... plus £.
44
FINANCIAL PLANNING
ITS PURPOSE is to make the best use of In come GOOD INFORMATION is the basis of sound
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the individual to achieve financial aims. These may confidence the better we ca n as sist them . Please
include :- let us have full details of exi sting resources , your
abi lity to save, an d any exp ectations . Please also
FINANCIAL PROTECTION- te ll us all you can about commitments with which
against the effects of possessions being lost you expect to hav e to cope . We of course treat
or damaged. all suc h inform ation as confidential .
FINANCIAL SECUR ITY- AN EARLY START helps , and we wi ll be pleased
for present or future dependants. to assist you however modest your resource s
may be now . If you have existing arrangements
HOU SE PURCHASE- w hich may need deve lopin g, the sooner you refer
immediately or in the future . them to us, th e more help we are likely to be
ab le to give yo u.
EDUCATION EXPENSES-
for present or future children . OUR ADVICE is free and does not commit you
to any action : we only ask that any arrangements
COMFORTABLE RETIREMENT- you deci d e to make be made through us. lt is
based on an adequate continuing income based on over 28 years of examining clients '
backed up by an adequate capital reserve . probl ems, analysing them and advisin g on them .
lt is not d eli vered by pursuasive sa lesmen , but is
TRANSFER OF ASSETS- give n in wr it in g for yo u to st ud y at your leisure .
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ARE YOU MAKING THE BEST USE OF YOU
WE ADVISE on the use of savings from income , INCOME AND OTHER ASSETS!
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existi ng plans and keep them up-to-date, and then LET US SHOW YOU HOW GOOD PLANNING
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Brigadier R. T. WILLIAMS LTD. Major
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45
The 6th/7th (Volunteer) Battalion
Between April and June many senior appoint- detachment, in uniforms worn since 1870, to the
ments in the battalion changed hands, the incoming R egimental Centenary Ce lebrations in Guildford
officers being:
(See picture on page 42 )
Commanding Officer: Lt.-Col. Foster H erd, TO;
Trg. Maj.: Maj. Gordon C rumley; OC B Coy.: Maj . and manned the TAVR Infantry Stand at the Alder-
Roger Lowans; OC C Coy.: Maj. A lan Stocks, TO ; shot Army Displa y. At the Ro ya l T ournament. Lt. J oh n
OC D Coy.: Maj . Tim Hutton. Shephard manned a batta lion stand. If anything, we
spent too much of our limited time on these acti vities
The Commanding Officer Lt.-Col. Foster Herd, ID and B Coy's example, of only taki ng part in shows
with a guaranteed audience of at least 3,000, may
One of their first tasks was to cope with the well be followed by other companies in 1977. We
very welcome influx of recruits, brought in during have, however, after the success of M aj . Dudding,
the national TA VR recruiting campaign in M arch Lt. Roberts and 2/ Lt. Hoste in winning a
and, in many cases, as a direct result of the publicity large cash prize in the L ondon TA VRA Publ ic
generated by the battalion 's duty in Gibraltar. With R elations Competition for 1975/ 76, continued to
the London companies fully recruited, and A Coy. foster our relations with the press. HQ Coy, were the
strength growing each month with the opening of a subj ect of a full-p age spread in the W est Sussex
platoon in Camberley, the battalion as a whole is now County Times in Jul y; A Coy. got a long article in
438 strong, or 85% of establishment. D uring the the Camberley N ews after a visit by two reporters to
summer we continued to make our presence known camp, and B Coy. provided the national coverage with
by including detachments in various local shows- the headline "Arm y B lasts House" after an incident
at H orsham, RQM S Everett and S/ Sgt. Dale joined involving another unit using the .22 range at Hornsey.
the jury of the 'Miss Horsham' Competition; in I t just shows how Lt. Phi! Roberts will stop at
Lambeth, Sgt. Elliott and 'The Animals' of the Cam- nothing to gain publicity!
berwe ll platoon demonstrated a section attack in
Brockwell Park; and B Coy. did a similar demon- Between shows there were, of course, some week-
stration for the Enfield Show. A Coy. contributed a ends actua lly devoted to training. A Coy. concentrated
on junior NCO t raining; B Coy. on basic training
for recruits with an excellent weekend at Crowborough
where Sgts. Yeames, Cadywold and Cowlard showed
their wo rth as instructors; C Coy. had almost 100'7<
turnout for their weekend with APCs at Bordon, and
D Coy. provided the rough stuff in an IS exercise at
Maresfield, with men of 71 Signals Regt. ( V ) acting
as enemy. Not to be outdone, HQ Coy. went to
Salisbury Plain for helicopter training and a patrol
exercise against men from ! 5 1 Regt. RCT (V). 'Miss
H orsham' accompanied them for the whole weekend
- with her boy-friend, to the dismay of Sgt. Downs-
and Capt. Richard Ratner showed the QM that when
it comes to things like insurance of civilians, the
TAVR does it diffe rently! B Coy's Nijmegan March
team was also in training in the first half of the
summer, graduating from 5 to 25 miles a da y in
conditions varying from continuous rain to 90 degrees
The battalion shooting team had a busy season,
under the watchful eye of RSM Ward. After beating
71 Signals R egt. ( V ) in April, they went on to tie
with 2 Wessex ( V ) in the London and South East
District TA VR M eeting in May. The Battalion won
the SMG Team, Section Match and Young Soldiers
events, with Pte. Wicker gaining particular distinction.
In J une they beat the RNR in a match run by the
Sussex County Rifle Association, with Cpl. Andrews
and W02 D ay, both of A Coy. obtaining the highest
scores. On then to Bisley in J uly, where the team
came about half-way down the list of competitors in
most matches . Pte. Goss, W02 Day and Cpl. Blockley
got into the 'Top 50', and Pte. Go$S also had a
winning score in the Young Soldiers Championship
but failed to win the cup because of a complete
nonsense over the 'rules'. Finally, in September, came
the London and Middlesex Meeting, where Pte.
Wicker again won the Young Soldiers event. Although
first prizes did not come as frequentl y as we would
have liked this year, the team is now well established
and RSM Ward, who leaves us in the New Year, can
46 Secretary of the South East TA VRA, Co l. Thompson
of London TA VR A and the Divisional Brigadie r. P ar·
hove the sa tisfaction of knowing that he has set us ti cularly we lcome were "fami ly, vi sitors-M aj.-Gen.
fi rml y on the road as a "shooting" battalion fo r Ling, Col. Sime, L t.-Col. Cole and M a j. D ixon. Our
many years to come. H on . Colonel's annual st ilton prov ided the on ly bomb
hoax during camp when Sgt. Rendell left it un-
S ince Albuhera D ay thi s yea r fe ll on a S unday, announced on the Sergea nt's M ess d ining table, to be
the officers and senior NCOs made a day of it wi th carefully unwrapped in the presence of the AT O and
o pa rty for their fam ilies at H orsham. A fter a Service the Fire Brigade ! Last, but by no means least, we we re
in H orsham pa rish church followed by the "S ilent visited by Lt.-Gen. S ir J ames Wilson, GOC South
T oast", there was a buffet lunch provided by the E ast District, who was ki nd enough to ment ion us in
ca tering team. Each company produced a stand his rsu nday T imes' article on 3 October. It was he who,
showin g va rious military activ it ies and after lunch, on asking one recrui t why he had joi ned, was told:
during which the Band of the Surrey Yeomanry "Dunno rea ll y, but I 'spose it was being told to smash
played, there were ga mes and sideshows. O n 17 June, this, ki ck that and shoot at that and get paid for it,
Horsham saw another ceremony when M aj.-Gen . The whi ch can't be bad can it ?" Another vis itor, who
Duke of Norfolk, accompanied by the Duchess and asked a soldier whether he liked lyi ng in wet grass,
Gen. S ir Victor FitzG eorge-Balfour, presented Lord was to ld that it was ua bloody sill y question"!
Lieutenant's M eritorious S ervice Certificates to \V0s2
Everett and H ymans, S/ Sgt. D ale and C pls. Weller Socia l events were not neglected. Cpl. Murphy
and Stobbart. This was the las t time that Lt.-Col.
J ohn H ewson was on parade as CO, and our thanks organized a very successful Corporals' M ess part y,
go to him for ensuring that the amalgamation of 6 and both Officers' and Sergeants' M esses held dinners.
and 7 Q UEE N S went so smoothl y and resulted in A t the former we were pleased to see, and hear, the
such a happy and eff ective new unit. Our thanks also Band of the 3rd Bn. and Pte. E de who pl ayed the
go, on thei r departure, to M aj. D an M cCarth y RAMC bugle ca lls. P ost-prandi al da mage that night was
-who swears he will be the first posthumous TO!- mostl y to the mess structure, whereas after the
Capt. Rodney Turner, RAPC, Capt. R ichard R atner
and W0 2 Sand y Frase r. Sergeants' M ess dinner it was the officers' who
suffered! (Lt. T ony Prior nearl y met his M aker,
Camp 1976 courtesy of C/ Sgt. Spillett).
This yea r 350 men went to Otterburn, after 150 Certain groups deserve special mention ; firstl y,
had already been to Gibraltar. The latter had been the WRA C pl atoon . 2/ Lt. J oan M orters had nearl y
trained soldiers, so the emphasis in September was a dozen girls at camp, who did recruit training in
on recruit train ing. A centralised cadre for 94 was the mornings and specialist tr aining after lunch . T hey
run by Lt. Piers Storie-Pugh and 15 NCO s, whilst di spl ayed remarkable stamin a and r an the battalion
rifl e companies carried out fi eld firin g. H eavy driving CP on the fin al exercise from a cold, concrete bunker
rain ca used disruption on some days and one or two in the middle of the r anges. Rank problems in husband
cases of exposure. N evertheless morale remained high and wife teams-Mr. (Sgt.) and Mrs. (Pte.)
and with men like Pte. W adey, who missed his Singleton and L / C pl. (Mrs.) and Pte. (Mr.)
first wedd ing anniversa ry to attend, and Pte. Goward Hutchings- seemed to present no problems. R etired
who, joining late, hitch-hiked to Carlisle and wa lked
the last 18 miles to Otterburn, how could it be officers in various H eadquarters who have said that
o th e rwi se? infantr y battali ons don' t have women on establi sh-
ment now know otherwise, and Cols. Anne Field and
The recru its' day started w ith a morning run . Ro semary D enne, who both visi ted us, are out to get
Therea fter instruction covered drill, wea pon training field accommodation for WRAC Volunteers whi ch
and minor tactics, although the film about the needs no hessian screens as improvised window
Armoured Recce R egiment could onl y have been covering. Col. Field achieved a remarkable success
ordered by an ex-Yeomanry offi cer! One highlight of in getting M aj. R on Lucas's attenti on for 45 minutes,
the cadre was LMG firing, in rain so heavy that the but he was able to tell his story of the three girls he
rifl e companies abandoned shooting. Another was a had met--{)ne in DMS boots, one in women's black
7-mile march in simil arl y appalling cond itions, boots and the las t in brown boots- all limping from
followed by the assa ult course. Pte. M arriott had to blisters, which proved concl usive ly to him that there
be expressly forbidden to march and onl y four men
fell out, the low num ber perhaps being because three was no point in changing the issue pattern .
WRAC girls also took part! At the end of the ca dre,
the recruits took part in a ba ttalion exercise to practice P articul ar tribute goes to the cooks. W e were
map-reading and living in the fiel d. C ross ing the able to do our own catering this year without any
wild moorland in bad weather was another challenge
and, in fac t, the second day was abandoned as cloud o utside ass istance. Inevi tab ly there were problems in
- which had shrouded D Coy. base all night-came the initial stages-pilot lights turned off, unfamiliar
down everywhere. Only two men left the cad re, one equipment and fl oors whi ch sloped away from the
due to pressure of school examinations. A num be r, drains-but the standa rd of food quickl y rose as the
like Pte. C lark, h ad doubts but stayed the course junior cooks learn t their trade, enabling M aj. Lucas and
and now take pride in their achievements. The best Capt. G err y Webb to stop acting as Nos. I and 2 on
results overall were obtai ned by Sgt. Cowlard's platoon the was hing-up machine. Pte. P eacock, the Offi cers'
and the best recruit was Pte. C. L. Harbour ( HQ
Coy.) with Pte. I saacs ( B Coy.) the runner-up . M ess cook, deserves praise for m aintaining a good
standard under the eye of Lt. Gordon Andrew (ni ck-
The flow of visitors was such that the recruits named HThe G arrison Offi cer" by his pl atoon, from
met 3 Generals, 2 Brigadi ers and 5 Colonels in three whom he had to be dr agged screaming by a demanding
days. O ur immedi ate comm anders- Brig. Carroll of PM C). The staff of three in that mess we re amazed
Aldershot Garrison and Col. M ay, TAVR Colonel th at I RHF, the relieving unit, wo uld have 13 men
South E as t District- came, as did the C hairman and lookin g after the same number of offi cers, but a
measure of their own success was one M ajor's com-
ment that the dinner-night was the best he had ever
attended in 14 yea rs service. T he P ay T eam, now
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