June 1979

The QueenS
Rsgiment

.- - ... j · l.

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The Journal of
THE QUEEN'S REGIMENT

UNCONQUERED I SERVE

Vol. 13, No. I June, 1979

Battle Honours bol"!.'e on The Colours

The Regimemal Colour: _

"Tangier, 1662-80," "Namur, 1695,' • "Gibraltar, 1704-5," "Blenheirn," "Rarnillies," "Malplaquet,"
"Dettingen," "Louisburg," "Guadeloupe, 1759," "Quebec, 1759," "Martinique, 1762," "St. Lucia,
1778,'' ''Seringapatam,'' ''Maida,'' ''Vimiera,'' ''Corunna,'' ''Douro,'' ''Talavera,'' ''Albuhera,''
''Aimaraz,'' ''Badajoz,'' ''Salamanca,'' ''Vittoria,'' ''Mghanistan, 1839,'' ''Punniar,'' ''Moodkee,''
"Sobraon," "lnkerman," "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, 1914-15-16-17-18," "Hill 60," "Festubert, 1915,"
"Somme, 1916, 18," "Albert, 1916, 18," "Virny, 1917," "Cambrai, 1917, 18," "Hindenburg Line," "Italy,
1917-18," "Macedonia, 1915-18," "Gallipoli, 1915," "Gaza," "Jerusalem," "Palestine, 1917-18,"
"Defence of Kut a! 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,"
"Salerno," "Anzio," "Cassino," "Italy, 1943-45," "Malta, 1940-42," "Malaya, 1941-42," "Hong Kong,"
"Defence of Kohirna," "Burma, 1943-45."

Allied Colonels-in-Chief
HER MAJESTY QUEEN JULIANA, Queen of the Netherlands

HER MAJESTY QUEEN MARGRETHE 11 of Denmark
Colonel of The Regiment: Maj .-General R. S. N. MANS, CBE
Deputy Colonel of Th e Regiment: Brigadier H . C. MILLMAN , OBE

2

Commanding Officers

1st Battalion-Lt.-Col. ]. C. HOLMAN
2nd Barralion-Lt.-Col. P. de S. BARROW
3rd Battalion-Lt.-Col. G. BULLOCH, MBE
5th (Volumeer) Barralion-Lt.-Col. S. M . BOUCHER
6th/ 7th (Volumeer) Barralion-Lt.-Col. M. ]. DUDDING

AFFILIATED UNITS OF THE CADET FORCE
C. C. F. School Comingems
Ardingly College; St. Aloysius College; Brighton College; Chichester High School, (Horsham); Collyer's
VI Form College; Cranbrook School; Cranleigh School; Dulwich College; Eastbourne Colle~e;
Haberdashers' Aske's School (Elstree); Hampton Grammar School; Highgate School; Hurstpierpomt
College; The Judd School; The King's School, Canterbury; Kingston Grammar School; Lancing College;
Mill Hill School; Ottershaw School; Reeds School; Reigate Grammar School; Royal Grammar School
(Guildford); Sir Roger Manwood's School (Sandwich); St. Edmund's School (Canterbury); St. John's
School (Leatherhead); St. Lawrence College (Ramsgate); The Skinners School (Tunbridge Wells);
Tonbridge School; Whitgift School; William Ellis School; Wilsons Grammar School.

A. C. F. Units/Sub-Units

Greater London: Cadet Coys. Nos. 25 and 26.
N.E. London Sector Cadet Coys.
Nos. 194 (Hounslow), 195 (Staines), 205 (Willesden), 211 {Edgware), 225
N. W. London Sector (Tottenham), 226 (Hornsey).

S.W. London Sector Cadet Coys. Nos. 133, 141 , 143, 151, 152, 153, 155, 161 to 165, 167
Cadet Bns. 1st, 2nd and 5th Cadet Bns., The Queen's Regiment (Surrey A. C. F.).
Surrey: Cadet Bns. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Cadet Bns., The Queen's Regiment (Kent A. C. F.).
Kent: Cadet Pis. Nos. 2 (Seaford), 3 (Hastings), 4 (Lewes), 6 (Crawley), 7 (Chichester), 8
Sussex: (Crowborough), 10 (Eastbourne), 11 (Horsham), 13 (Shoreham), 14
(Bexhill), 15 (Brighton), 16 (Hurstpierpoint), 17 (Bognor), 18
(Littlehampton), 20 (Lewes OGS), 22 (Tilgate), Mayfield College.

ALLIANCES

The Canadian Armed Forces-

The Queen's York Rangers (RCAC)
The South Alberta Light Horse (RCAC)
The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
1st Battalion The Royal New Brunswick Regiment (Carleton & York)
The Essex and Kent Scottish

The Australian Military Forces-

The Royal New South Wales Regiment
The University of New South Wales Regiment
The Royal Western Australia Regiment

The New Zealand Army-

2nd Battalion (Canterbury, Nelson, Mar!borough and West Coast)
The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment

5th Battalion (Wellington West Coast and Taranaki) The Royal New
Zealand Infantry Regiment

The Pakistan Army-
12th, 14th 15th and 17th Battalions, The Punjab Regiment

AFFILIATIONS HongKong-
The Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers)

HMS Excel/em, HMS Kent and HMS Bnghton
The Royal Marines
3rd (Harrier Sqn.) RAF
The Royal Danish Life Guards (Unofficial Alliance)

REGIMENTAL HEADQUARTERS

RHQ THE QUEEN'S REGIMENT
Howe Barracks, Canterbury. (Tel.: 65281)

Regimental Secretary: Col. ]. N. Shipster, CBE, DSO (Ext. 1)
Assistant Regimental Secretary: Maj. G. V. Weymouth, MBE (Ext. 3)
Financial and Regimental Association Secretary: Maj. E. A. Me Carthy (Ext. 2)

Archives: Maj. F ]. R eed (Ext. 22)
R ecruiting: Maj. G. T. Faulkner (Ext. 9)

Admin.: Maj. R . Waite (Ext. 21)

Regimental Careers Officer: Maj. D . C. F Gouda (Ext. 12)

REGULAR UNITS

I 2nd Bn. (l) 3rd Bn. QUEENS RIT

1st Bn. Lathbury Barracks, Connaught Barracks, Maidstone
Gibraltar, Dover. Tel: Maidstone Mil. Exr. 292
Albuhera Barracks, BFPO 52.
Werl,
BFPO 106.

T & AVR BATTALIONS

I I

5th (V) Bn . 6th/7th (V) Bn.
Bn . HQ & HQ Coy: Bn. HQ: T & AYR Centre,
Leros T & AYR Centre, Denne Road,
Sturry Road, Horsham, Sussex .
Canterbury.
Col. D. A. H. Sime, OBE, MC, TD.
Honorary Colonels:
Col. H . H. Prince Georg of Denmark, KCVO.

DIVISIONAL DEPOT- Bassingbourn Barracks, Royston, Herrs . Regimental Representative : Maj. R . P. Murphy

( l) Colchester in Aug. '79

"'

4

Editor: contents
Major G. U. Weymouth,

M .B.E. (Ret 'd.)

Regimental Headquarters,
Howe Barracks,

Canterbury, Kent.

Cap Badge A Message from The Colonel of The Regiment Page
Collar Badge Editorial
Forecast of Events 5
Button Officers Location List 7
The Ist Battalion 9
The 2nd Battalion ... 10/12
The 3rd Battalion 13
The 5th (Volunteer) Battalion 20
" TAVR-What's That" ... 27
The 6th/7th (Volunteer) Battalion 35
Officers' Club
Book Reviews 37
Depot The Queen's Division
The IJLB 39
The Queen's Cadets 46
Regimental Secretary's Notes
RCO's Report 48
The Regimental Association 52
Marriages and Deaths 53
Obituaries
Alliances and Affiliations 54
"Steady the Drums and Fifes" 55
The County Associations ... 56
The Regimental Shop
Journal Order Form ... 57
60

61
63
64
6717 2

73
75

Printers : COVER PICTURE

Kent County Printers A Coy. 1 QUEENS in the Assault during Exercise "Shake Out" at Soltau
Canterbury . Herne Bay and in Nov. '78.

Deal , Kent (I to r) Ptes. Thomas , Fowles and Rose.

5

A Message
from The Colonel of The Regiment

This message is to our Families.
I want to take this opportunity of telling the Families of our

Queensmen-both regular and TAVR-how much I appreciate the support they
give to husbands and sons: the Wives, in particular, for all the unsung effort they
put into battalion activities wherever they may be; but also the Fathers and
Mothers for their sympathetic understanding of the reasons which prompt their
sons to become soldiers and the work they have to do.

All our officers and soldiers join the Regiment knowing that they will have to
take both the rough with the smooth side of a military career. Certainly, there are
no millionaires among soldiers but equally, there are countless thousands of men
and women who look back on their Army life as one that brought them much
comradeship-the kind of friends who would stand by them when times are hard
and dangerous . And when our soldiers marry, their wives quickly appreciate that
the rough and the smooth also applies to their family life . There are good and
not-so-good stations; there are times when all the amenities can be enjoyed
together to the full and, in stark contrast, there is the enforced separation caused
by unaccompanied tours- in particular, the anxieties which are felt during tours
of Northern Ireland. But all this adds up, in most cases, to why a man chooses an
Army career; he wants to get away from the comparatively humdrum nature of
civilian life . This motivation has attracted men to the Army in the past and will,
doubtless, continue to do so in the future .

The strength of a great Regiment like ours is that we stand together like a
lighthouse on a solid rock, both in the bad times as well as in the good. In my
visits to Regular and Territorial battalions and to our Cadets and branches of our
OCAs, I am always deeply impressed by the close involvement of the Families;
they run clubs, social events, help in clinics and canteens and a myriad of other
activities that go to make up a full and enjoyable Regimental life .

To the Wives, Mothers and Fathers of our officers and soldiers I say- I am
deeply appreciative of all the efforts and, indeed, sacrifices that you have to make;
much of this is behind the scenes but I can assure you, it does not go unnoticed.

ROWLEY MANS
Major-General

Colonel, The Queen's Regiment

6

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7

EDITORIAL

The best news must surely be the recent pay rises-in two
instalments-averaging 32.5o/o; and better still, the Government 's assurance that
"comparability" is to be maintained in the future.

In contrast, we have been saddened by two deaths in the Regiment : Maj .
Mike Kealy, DSO whilst on exercise in the Brecon Hills with the SAS on I Feb .;
and Pte. Peter Woolmore of 3 QUEENS, killed during a terrorist mortar attack
on a security post in South Armagh on 19 March. Indeed, the 3rd Bn. has, to
date, suffered a number of casualties (two seriously wounded but now recovering
well) during its tour in this sensitive area and we wish them all a safer passage
from now until their return to Dover in the middle of July .

The 1st Bn. are in the final year of their BAOR tour and we look forward to
having them in Howe Barracks next summer. From early Octooer '80 the
Battalion is to spend six months (unaccompanied) in Belize-a welcome break, no
doubt, after 41f2 years in Germany with only spells in Ulster providing a change
of scene . Completion (we hope) of the re-build in Howe Barracks during their
absence in Central America should afford them better facilities on their return .

On 11 July, C Coy . 1 QUEENS will spend ten days in Denmark with The
(Danish) Queen's Life Regt., during which time the Company
Commander-Maj. Charles Joint-has been granted an audience with H .M .
Queen Margarethe.

The 2nd Bn. will be in Colchester later this summer-a popular move after
two years of limited facilities and close confinement in Gibraltar. (How much
better it would be if this particular tour was reduced to twelve months). From 26
May to 23 June, the Battalion was able to welcome 6/7 QUEENS on the Rock
where the latter held their annual camp.

In Nov./Dec. '80 The 3rd Bn. hope to carry out a training exercise in Kenya
and, according to the latest Arms Plot, their move to BAOR has been postponed
until March '81 when, as a mechanised battalion in 1st Armd . Div ., they will be
relieving 3 RRF in Fallingbostel. 5 QUEENS spent the second half of June at
Oakhampton for their annual camp about which we shall hear more in the next
issue .

As mentioned elsewhere, Maj . Frank Waldron left RHQ on final retirement
in June and we welcome Maj . Dicky Waite-recently retired from 3
QUEENS-in his place.

The "Glorious First of June" was celebrated this year (1 - 3 June) in
Germany, when a naval party of 38 all ranks from HMS Excellent and The
Colonel of The Regiment joined the 1st Bn . for a memorable weekend which
included a Trooping of The Colour ceremony (attended by HE The British
Ambassador) as well as the traditional cricket match; on the previous Sunday, the
Battalion received the "Freedom" of Werl on behalf of The Regiment.

8 John W. Boston, who served in all three regular
battalions IS now Commumcat10ns Consultant, Arabian
Mainly About People Oil Co., Box No. 2675, Dahran, Saudi Arabia. In a letter
to the Editor (18 Dec. '78) he says he would welcome
It is with the deepest regret that we record the letters from old friends, and offers assistance to any who
following deaths : Maj. M. J. A. (Mike) Kealy, DSO are seeking employment in his part of the world.
on I Feb. '79, whilst on training in the Brecon Hills (see
Obituary); and Pte. P. L. Woolmore on 19 Mar. '79, Boxing
whilst on security duties with 3 QUEENS in South
Armagh. Ptes. McVey (under 19 Welter Weight), Golding
Honours and Awards (New Year's List) (Bantam) and Lewis (Heavyweight), all in I Queens,
won the !ltles shown m brackets in The Combined
We congratulate the following on their awards: Services Championships on 9 Mar . Ptes. Golding and
OBE: Lt.-Col. C. T. F. West; Lew1s now go forward to the ABA Championships.
MBE: Majs. V. C. Abplanalp and B. A. Carlston; Northern Ireland Award
BEM: Cpl. T . G. Wharram .
We congratulate Lt. A. J . Cooper (I Queens) on
GOC's Commendation: his award of a Mention in Despatches for Service in N.
We congratulate Pte. J. H. Hendry of I QUEENS Ireland.
Staff College
on being awarded, in Feb. '79, a GOC's Commendation
by GOC 3 Armd. Div. for his assistance to the police in The following have been nominated for Staff
Lewes, Sussex in Oct. '78. training in 1980:

Promotions (29 Dec. '78) Maj. R. M. McGhie, Capts. P. R. P . Howe, R.
Maj. to Lt.-Col: R. W. Acworth and M. R. D . McLelland, A. C. Mieville and D. R. Pollard.

Tarver. Lt.-Col. Keith Osborn, who retired last year,
Capt. to Maj: M . J. Ball and P. C. Cook. took up an R02 appointment at the MOD in May.

Reg. Commission HM The Sultan of Oman has awarded The Sultan's
Distinguished Service Medal to Col. K. Dodson,
Capt. A. N. Armitage Smith from SSC; to be OBE.
2/Lt. 18 Nov. '72. Training Awards

Appointments The following (all 2nd Bn.) received 'A' gradings on
Lt.-Col. (Kerry) Woodrow, R. ANGLIAN the Courses stated:

assumed Command of Depot, Queen 's Div. (vice Cpl. W. Arnold (RMA Class I); 2/Lt. D. P.
Lt.-Col. Hugh Lohan) on 17 Jan. '79. Noble (Service Funds Accounts); Bdsm. M .
Anderson (RMA Class 3); Capt. M. J. Flynn and
Col. G. G. Strong was appointed Col. GS/Int. at Capt. J. N. Pratten (Service Funds Accounts).
SHAPE on 10 Feb. '79.
TAVR Awards
Lt.-Col. R. H. Chappel, OBE was appointed
GSOI MOD SAASc on 9 Mar. ' 79. Maj. E. J. R . Ludlow (Ret'd.) and Capt.

Lt. R. R . (Richard) Madeley, RM is to be the (A/Maj.) E. R. Holmes have been awarded the
first Royal Marine Officer to serve with The Regt . Efficiency Decoration (TAVR).
under the recent Officer exchange arrangement. He has
served with both 41 and 42 Commandos and will begin Acknowledgements
his attachment with I QUEENS in July '79. Lt. T. J .
(Tim) Hurley (3 QUEENS) will reciprocate by serving The Editor acknowledges with thanks, receipt of the
with 40 Cdo from Oct. '79. following publications:

Maj. R. P. Murphy is to be our Regimental Owl Pie '78
Representative at Depot, Queen' Div. RBLJ Dec. '78 · May '79
Globe and Laurel Nov./Dec., '78 Jan ./Feb. and
Lt.-Col. C. T. F. West, OBE was appointed Mar ./Apr . '79
GS02 (Sy 3c) D Sy MOD in June '79. Legion (Canada) Nov. '78 · Apr. '79
Blesmag Jan . and Apr. '79
Lt.-Col. G . B. Bateman was appointed GSOI 2/4 Queens (1914/18) Old Comrades Journal, Apr.
DIS (NI) MOD on 11 Jun . '79. ' 79
The Silver Bugle, Spring '79
For Staff Training The Queen's Div. Newsletter, Apr. '79
Queen's Surreys Assn . Newsletter May '79
The following officers passed the 1978 PQS2 The Rousillon Plume
written Examination at Staff level:

A/Maj. P. R. P . Swanson, Capts. D. R.
Pollard, J. N. Myles and J. R. Partridge.

Maj . Peter Broadbent, formally I QUEENS,
called at RHQ on 27 Feb. to tell us about his sparkling
wine . He says that prices would be very reasonable (from
£20 per case) for such occasions as wedding receptions
etc . and invites readers who may be interested to contact
him at 4 Portland Square, Old Heathfield, E. Sussex
TM21 9AB.

Forecast of Events 9

July October
2 Middx . G. S. Autumn Meeting, North Hants
4 Regt. Golf Match v. RMAS, AGC G .C.
Aldershot. 4/5 Queen's Surrey's G.S. Autumn M eeting and
AGM, Richmond.
15 Queen's Own Buffs Assn . Reunion and Service Royal Sussex Assn . Officers' Dinner, Arundel
of Remembrance, Maidstone. Castle.
617 ACF Officers Weekend (provisional).
31/ 12 Queen's Surreys Office rs' C lub Ladie s
4 Aug. Royal Sussex Assn . Main Goodwood Races. Luncheon, London .

August 19 Officers' Club Reunion , Haberdash ers
Hall.
I 3 QUEENS Royal Guard of Honour (HM
Queen Mother-installation as Lord Warden of 20 E Surrey Regt. Assn . Reunion, Clapham .
4 The Cinque PortS).
14 Queen's Own Buffs Assn . Reunion and Service November
11 -17 of Remembrance, Canterbury. 2 Queen's Surreys Assn . Annual Reunion,
Queen's Own Buffs Officer's Luncheon,
21 Ca nt erbu ry. London.
Canterbury Cricket Week. 10 Middx . Assn . Service at Field of Remembrance,
24 Regt. Golf Match v. Queen's Own Buffs
GS,Epsom. Westminster.
Annual Meeting, Regtl. Golf'mg Society, 10 Lord Mayor' s Procession.
AGC Aldershot. !I Middx . Assn. Service of Remembrance, Inglis

September Bks, Mill Hill.
1/8 2nd Bn. leaves Gibraltar (for Colchester). !I Queen's Surrey's Assn . Remembrance Day
8 Sevastopol Day-2nd Bn.
9 Salemo Day-1st Bn. Parades, Guildford and Kingston .
16 6/7 QUEENS Officers Cocktail Party ,
13 Quebec Day-3rd Bn.
Haberdashers Hall.

December
13 3 QUEENS-"Spearhead".

~ntish ~aztttt

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10

OFFICERS LOCATION LIST

(as at I Jun., '79)

REGULAR OFFICERS

D. R. Bishop, MBE BRIGADIERS P. D. J. Clarke Att . 7 Armd . Hde . (Student , G erman
H. C. Millman, OBE
DA Ankara P. j . Collman1 MBE S.C .)
B. A. M . Pielow Div. Brig., HQ Queen 's Div. M . R. I. Constantine
M . F. Reynolds DA Paris P. C. Cook QM IJLB
DAG, HQ BAOR A. B. Cowing 3 QUEENS
P. P. Critchley GS02 DS, Jun ., Div., SC
K. j . Carter COLONELS W . G . A. Crumley
K. Dodson, OBE A. C . Dawson 5UDR
BDLS Canberra (retires Aug . '79') HQ LF Cyprus
M . J. Doyle, MBE D .Adv . to British High Commissioner, D . ] . C. Dickins Inf. Demo Bn., Sch. of Inf.
Si nga pore GS02 (lnt./Sy.) HQ I Armd . Div. HQ
M . V. Hayward, OBE D.Adv. 10 Brit ish High Commissioner, S. M . Dowse and Sig. Regt .
P. D. j ohnson Cyprus D. M . Falcke BM 39 lnf. Bde . (for CO I QUEENS
A. G . ]ones Comdt. Sp. Wpns . Wing, Sch. of lnf. A. B. S. Faris
N . B. Knocker, OBE AAG MS(A) MOD R. Gancz Jan . '80)
B. H . Marciandi, OBE Col. A, LS2 Log Ex(A) H. R. Gatehouse, MBE I QUEENS
R. R. McNish DA Muscat J . A. George
G. G. Strong SHAPE M . E. Gi rling IJLB
C. L. Tarver, MBE AAG , PS4(A) MOD F. K. Gladden GS02(W), RARDE
SHAPE I QUEENS
AAG Oar I MOD (A) D. C. F. Gouda 4 Comms Unit (10)
R. H . G raharn PPCM HQ UKLF
LIEUT. COLONELS P . A. Gray MS,MOD(A)
C. ] . Griffin Brit Liaison Instr. St. Cyr. att . Brit.
R. W. Acworth GSOI (lnt.) HQ SOLF C. M . M . Grove
P. A. Gwilliam Embassy, Paris
S. T . W. Anderson, OBE, RCO RHQ QUEENS
M C GSOI (BLO) US Army lnf. Centre P. ]. G ybbon-Monypenny
C . M . Hamilton 3 QUEENS
P. de S. Barrow CO 2 QUEENS N . P.Harris Trg. Maj. 10 UDR
Housing Comdt. HQ UKLF
S. M . Boucher CO 5 QUEENS P. J. Huben, MBE GS02 (Defence) ADP Trg. Centre
N. S. Hunter DAAG(2) HQ Queen 's Div. (21C JS Bn.
G . Bulloch, MBE CO 3 QUEENS T . jackson Jun . ' 79)
21C 3 QUEENS
C. G . Champion GSOI (TAVRfTrg.) HQ N I M . 1- Jarratt OC Sp Wpns . Wing, Sch. of lnf.
GS02 (PR) 4 Armd . Div. HQ & Sig.
R. H. Chappell, OBE GSO I SAASc MOD R. A. Jennings
C. M . joint Reg .
P. H. Courtenay GSO I (SDrfrg.) HQ DAAC I. R. )ones 21C I QUEENS
). D . Jonklaas GS02(W) GS OR5 ACGS (OR)
j. G . W. Davidson GSOI Cabinet Offtce j . Langhorne 8 Fit. 7 Rgt. , AAC
C. L. Lawrence, MC Depot (PS)
M . P. St F. Dracopoli, OBEGSOl 21 Liaison HQ (French Forces) M . D . Legg QM 3 QUEENS
A. F. S. Ling
R. D . Fisher, MBE BR!XM!S l. M. E. Lloyd I QUEENS
R. M . M . Low 5 CTT
J. W. Francis AMS 1/2, MOD P. Mallalieu
G. Mason, MBE I QUEENS
J. M . Hewson, MC Depot (HS) (HQ West Mid . Dist. 28 R. T . W. Mellotte 744 TACP (FAC)
M . B. Montgomery GS02 (lnd . Trg. (B)) HQ UKLF
Aug.) R. E . B. Morris GS02 DS7a, MOD
R. P. Murphy
P. Hiscoc k OC Frontier Force Regt , SOLF N. J. D. McCully Depot (HS)
R. M . McGhie DA (Mans) Guildford
j . C. Holman CO I QUEENS A. E. McManus GS02 AT!a OAT MOD
DAQMG HQ UKLF
R. Lea , MBE Depot (HS) (GSOI lnt. /Sy. Gp . NI in R. W. Neve, MC HQ NORTHAG
P. A. Newman GS02 (Ex. Br.) HQ BALTAP
July) P. F. Packham, MBE
P. V. Panton 2 QUEENS
H . M . du V. Lohan GSOI (Ex ./Plans) UKC!CC J . D . W . Reid SCQ HQ Berlin lnf. Bde.
D . H . A. Sheppard
M . R. M . Newall GSO! (Cl) DNBC Sch. C. H . St. John Perry Depot (PS)
P. R. P. Swanson Trg. Maj. 5 QUEENS
J. S. B. Pollard, MBE AAG HQ Queen 's Div. H. C. L. Tennent Canadia n SC (HQ NE Dist. in Jul. '79)
S. C. Thorpe Brit. Embassy Warsaw (GS02(W)
M . E. C. Rixon GSOI SCPL 6, MOD P. G. Truman RSAF, Enfield in Jul. '79)
A. C. Ward
J. N . Shephard GSOI HQ West Mid. Dist . M . j . Williams DPS(A) MOD
R. T . P. Williams
B. D . 0 . Smith, MVO BR!XM!S L. M . B. Witson QM Depot
P. A. S. Wollocombe SNCOs Div., Sch. of Inf.
H. N. Tarver CO 5 UDR D. J. Wright
K. Yonwin I QUEENS
T . L. Trotman CO 10 UDR H . A. P. Yorke
S02 RM CS
M . W. Ward GSOI (W) DCAE, MOD RAC Centre

C. T . F. West , OBE AAG IMRO (North); (GS02 Sy3a(A) 2 QUEENS
2 RBMR
MOD 15 Jun .)
3 QUEENS
J. J. White GSO I 1 of E (A), MOD GS02 Cadets HQ E. Dist.

R. M . Arnold MAJORS 2 QUEENS
I. G . Baillie OITrs. Wing, Sch of Inf.
M . J . Ball DAQMG Q (Org ./Div.) MOD DAA & QMG HQ UKLF
R. A. Bartlett 2 QUEENS Team Offr. A Man SG(WS)
G . B. Batcman 3 QUEENS QM I QUEENS
R. j . Benson AAC Arborfleld DAAG HQ l(Br) Corps
D. A. Beveridge NDC (GSOI Dis(Nl) MOD in July ' 79)
G . C. Brown QM 3RRF RAEC Depot
B. A. Carlston , MBE HQ HOhne Gar. QM 5 QUEENS
P . V. Chcesman 3 QUEENS
E. L. Christian 2 QUEENS RBMR
R. A. M . Christmas Depot (PS)
Trg. Maj. 6/7 QUEENS

IJLB

11

CAPTAINS Special Regular Comm issions

j . C. Acworth GS03 (Trg./Liaison) HQLF, Cyprus P. Bishop MAJ O R S
M . W. Allington I QUEENS GS02 (PR) HQ 3 Armd . D1v.
A. N . Arm1tage-Smith NCOs Tac Wing, Sch. of lnf.
M . ] . Ayling QM I RRF A. H . Carter CAPTAINS
A. W. Barran BATU Suffield D . S. Carter
K. E. Beale ASLO E. Dist. (Depot (HS)) HQ Osnab riick Gar.
A. A. A. Beattie I QUEENS j . C. Dawson I QUEENS
S. W. Billet! QM 2 QUEENS M . ] . Flynn I)LB
N. C. G. Cann GS03 (SD/Co-ord) HQ Norwcst Dist. K. ]. Haley 2 QUEENS
N . H. Carter LWTC Canangra (Au st.) j . M . Harcus GS03 (SD) HQ UKLF
C. G. F. Charter ]. P. S. Mills 3 QUEENS
]. E. Ewart SC. Camberley 3 QUEENS
N. ] . Grant 3 QUEENS A. P. O'Gorman I QUEENS
L. H. Hart 3 QUEENS N . F. Russell RBMR
P. R. Hitchcock QM Trg . Depot Bde . of Gurkhas B. D. Thompson 2 QUEENS
P. R. P. Howe GS03 (ops./Mob.) HQ NE Dist.
j . F. Huskisson GS03 (lnt./Sy.) HQ 3 Armd. Div. Lt. M . ]. Coope r SUBALTE R NS
R. M . jackson 2 QUEENS
A. M. F. )elf RMAS (Rcgtl. Rep.) Lt. K. S. Hames 3 QUEENS
j . N . M . Kearns GS03 (Ops.) HQ I (Br.) Corps Lt. R. M. Hook I QUEENS
W. Knight-Hughes Depot RAPC Lt. M . P. Rayner Depot (PS)
M . P. Lawson 2 QUEENS 2/Lt. j . j . Turk 3 QUEENS
A. C. Mihille SCTT Lt. R. Walker 2 QUEENS
]. N. C. Myles SC AG (LSP), MOD Lt. N. A. M . Wright I QUEENS
T . N. McDermott l nf. D isplay Team , Sch. of lnf. RMAS (l]LB, Jul y '79)
P. M . H. McGill I QUEENS (Retires Aug. '79)
SC AMF(L) & Amphib. Force HQ Short Service Commissions
P. D. McLelland UKLF
j . G. MacWilliam GS03 lnt. (B) HQ N.l. M . j . Featherstone CAPTAINS
A. C. N . Marston Depot (PS) j. C. Rogerson
E. S. Pa rker Depot (PS) G . A. Simmons I QUEENS
]. R. C. Palmer QM I QUEENS 3 QUEENS
j . R. Partridge 7 Regt . AAC OC RIT
M . F. Pearson 2 QUEENS
F. j . Pe rry Depot (PS) Lt. H. Beeston SUBALT ERNS
D. R. Pollard QM 3 QUEENS Lt. j . A. Bullock
j . N . Prattt~n Adjt. I QUEENS Lt. j . P. Castle I QUEENS
2 QUEENS (7 Fd. Fore< HQ & Sig. Lt. ]. W. Collingndg< 2 QUEENS
M. S. Quinn Sqn. in Ju ne '79) Lt. A. J. Cooper 3 QUEENS
A. W. Russell 3 QUEENS Lt. M . E. Cowan-Aston RMAS
]. D. K. Russell I QUEENS Lt. M . F. G . I QUEENS
]. A. B. Salmon I) LB I QUEENS
R. Scott Adjt. 3 QUEENS Orummond-Brad y
j . B. Stirling QM 2 QUEENS 2/Lt. M. S. Glenister 3 QUEENS
D. ] . Wake N IT AT (UKLF) Sch. of lnf. 2 QUEENS
R. F. Whitehouse Adjt. 5 QUEENS Lt. A. M . Goulden Depot (PS)
M . C. Willis 2 QUEENS Lt. R. W. de L. Harper RMAS
RMCS 2/Lt. N. P. L. Keyes I QUEENS
3RRF
SUBALTERN S Lt. R. H . Kitson 3 QUEENS
Lt. C. G. Lambert 2 QUEENS
Lt . j . Barr Depot (PS) 2fLL P. j . Lenanton RMAS
Lt. j . A. Bickerdike I QUEENS I QUEENS
2/Lt. G . W. Cross 2 QUEENS 2/Lt. J. C. Mahman 2 QUEENS
Lt. H. W. R. Eagan I QUEENS Lt. W. D . Marshall Dtpot (PS)
Lt. L. R. Edwards 2/Lt. R. E. Moody 3 QUEENS
Lt. P. A. Edward s IJL B Lt. W. R. Morris 2 QUEENS
Lt. j . C. F. Gamli n 3 QUEENS 2/Lt. I. D . Raynes 3 QUEENS
Lt. J. S. Graham 2 QUEENS 3 QUEENS
Lt. W. R. Ha rber 3 QUEENS 2/Lt. M . W. St1llwell
Lt. j . j . B. Hiscock 2 QUEENS 2/Lt. R. W. C. Sumner
Lt. T . ]. Hurley Depot (PS) Lt. D . V. Watson
Lt. R. ]. Knight I)LB (att . 40 Cdo. Gp. RM , Sep. '79)
Lt. M . D . Maloney, BEM 3 QUEENS Short Service Limited Commissions
Lt . L. S. P. Mans 3 QUEENS
2/Lt. C. A. Newell I QUEENS 2/Lt. A. M . Clement I QUEENS
Lt. P. j . Newman 2 QUEENS 2/Lt. B. M . L<~ghton 2 QUEENS
Southampton Univ. (2 QUEENS, 29
2/Lt. ]. P. Noble Short Service Volunte er Comm issions
Lt. S. j . Parker Jun . '79)
Lt. N . M . Peckham 2 QUEENS Lt. A. D. Ch1ss<ll I QUEENS (SSVC to 28 Jun.)
Lt. A. D. ] . Ray Oxford Univ. (3 QUEENS, July, '79)
Lt . j . P. Ri ley Lt. P. A. D. Stone-Pugh I QUEENS
Lt. A. j . Roberts Univ. of Wales
2/Lt. N . Sharp les
L1. G . A. Wailer 2 QUEENS
Lt. R. W. Wi lby London Univ. (I QUEENS, Jul. '79)
2 QUEENS
3 QUEENS

lnstr . CTC, RM

3 QUEENS

12 On

TA VR OFFICERS Smart.That's the word for Moss Bros.
In and ou t of uniform.
Lt. -Col. M . j. Dudding CO 6/7 QUEENS
just inspect o ur ranks of immaculately
G . G . Andn~w MAJORS tailored sui ts, our files of very individual casual
E. L. Chrisua n clothes. They make an impressive array.
OC C Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
R. C. B. Dixon , TO Trg. Maj . 6/7 QUEENS You'll be happy to take any of them into
A. P. Ha1gh 2lC 5 QUEENS active service. For leisure or pleasure.
R. A. Hall OC E Coy. 5 QUEENS
E. R. Holmes Trg. Offr. 6/7 QUEENS Moss Bros also sells, hires and buys Army,
OC A Coy. 5 QUEENS Naval and R.A.F. swords, saddlery, ski
R. I. Hopper, TO OC D Coy. 6/7 QUEENS equipment and golf clubs.
T . B. Latham OC B CoJ. 5 QUEENS
R. G. Lucas, MBE QM 6/7 QUEENS Go places.Go to Moss Bros
OC B Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
M. Mercer Adj. 6/7 QUEENS Bedford Street.Coven! Garden LondonWC2
OC C Coy. 5 QUEENS (near Lercester Square Station)
R. j . S. Morgan, MC 2lC 6/7 QUEENS
OC HQ Coy. 5 QUEENS And branches throughout the country
C. F. G. Parkinson Adm. Offr. B Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
). R. G. Putnam, TD OC A Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
A. j . D. Salter
F. Webb
A. j . Wilkin

) . R. Bass CAPTAINS
C. M. Bellingham
A. j . Cannon Adm. Offr. 5 QUEENS
W. P. T . Ha rper 2IC HQ Coy. 5 QUEENS
C. K. Hurd !0 6/7 QUEENS
N. ). Kelly OC Mor. PI. 5 QUEENS
2!C C Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
S. j . Manchip 2lC B Coy. 5 QUEENS
A. A. Marchant 2!C E Coy. 5 QUEENS
A.) . Meldrum RSO HQ Coy. 5 QUEENS
D. A. Mirams (QM) OC HQ Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
A. W. Prior MTO 5 QUEENS
P. I. Robens 2lC D Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
R. G. C. Thornton 2!C B Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
I. Thomas 2lC A Coy. 5 QUEENS
A Coy. 5 QUEENS
S. E. Wooles 2IC C Coy. 5 QUEENS

SUBALTERNS

Lt. T . B!!nson !0 5 QUEENS
HQ Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
2fLt. $. A. Blausten Admin. Offr. C Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
PI. Comd. A Coy. 5 QUEENS
Lt. P. J. Chapman Admin. Offr. A Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
HQ Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
2/Lt. R. F. Cordell B Coy. 5 QUEENS
Lt. ) . Day D Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
2/Lt. P. Gabson C Coy. 5 QUEENS
Admin. Offr. B Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
2/Lt. N . D. Green E Coy. 5 QUEENS
2/Lt. A. C. Gregory D Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
2/Lt. B. G. Gregory A Coy. 5 QUEENS
LL D. Harwood B Coy. 5 QUEENS
Lt. 1'. H. Legg HQ 6/7 QUEENS
E Coy. 5 QUEENS
L1. A. J. Leonard C Coy. 5 QUEENS
2/Lt. P. Metiuk C Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
A Coy. 6/7 QUEENS
Lt. W. D. Milne B Coy. 5 QUEENS
C Coy. 5 QUEENS
Lt. J. Morters (WRAC) D Coy. 6/7 QUEENS

Lt. M. P. H. Mortimer
2/Lt. M. S. Rurnsey
Lt. N . K . L. Scott

Ll . j . Scnven
Lt. S. j . C. Thompson
2/Lt. P. D. Ward
2/LI. R. M. Wlison

13

The 1st Battalion

SINCE OUR RETURN FROM Ulster last spectaculars. A Coy., dressed in the fashionable white
winter warfare uniforms, descended on the Royal
October, we have, in true BAOR style, been Hussars on an icy morning in early February-an event
duly recorded in "splash" headlines by the Daily Mail.
trying to fit a year's worth of work and play A fortnight later it was our turn to be deployed in the
middle of the night in thick snow into an out of bounds
into six months (and all for just six months area in a forest we had never been to before. However,
after an inspection from the air, we were deemed to have
pay, too). shown ourselves up to the mark.

Thoroughly refreshed by post-Op Banner March brought a thoroughly international look to
our barracks; for a week we hosted HQ Northag on their
leave (and doing all the chores our wives had annual exercise and on one evening we had 40 "stars" in
camp. (Small wonder the subalterns wondered wistfully
been saving for our return) we paid a fleeting if a quick coup might ease their promotion!) At the end
of the month the Officers' Mess marked a visit from a
and snowy visit to Soltau to get us back into syndicate of the German Staff College by a truly multi·
national dinner including sixteen Germans, two
the BAOR mood and to put a layer of Soltau Belgians, and one American; six toasts later all felt it had
been a great success.
dust over thoughts of searches, VCPs and
Mention should be made of the Band 's recently·
bomb scares. made record which, apart from boosting their funds will,
we hope, be well received.
Business was tempered by a lot of sport during the
winter. Our "Snow Queen" hut flourished and made a Ahead of us is a very busy final year in BAOR with
number of converts amongst reluctant skiers. It also Field Firing at Sennelager, during which we are to show
provided a valuable base for our ski team to prepare for those aspiring Generals and Air Marshalls from the Staff
the 3rd Armoured Div. meeting. Under the guidance of Colle~es what we do and how we do it; " The Glorious
Lt. Ken Hames and W02 Paddy Ryan, our A team won First' , when we will troop our Colour before indulging
the Infantry Cup and were runners-up in the German in a little cricket with HMS Excellent; a visit to Canada
Biathlon. In the hopes that they can improve on this in by HQ and B Coys. in September, and the Divisional
1979/80, arrangements have already been made for the FTX in November. After that, a hand over to The Black
team to train in Norway in the coming November. Watch; our return to Canterbury (next Spring), and a
Caribbean trip the following October.
Pride of place must, however, be given to Maj. Les
Wilson and our boxing team under their trainers W02 OUR BOXING TEAM
Brazier and SI Greef who have secured the Armr trophr,
for the second year in succession, making "l 1..1ueens ' by Maj. Les Wilson
and "Boxing" synonymous. Since the start of the season
last October, the team's awe-inspiring training schedules On return from N . Ireland last year, we held our
have been rewarded by a run of successes culminating in Annual Novices Boxing Championships in the week
the retaining of the Army trophy and the success of three prior to going on leave.
individuals as Combined Services Champions. Our only
regret was that, at the Army Individual Championships On 17 October the Finals were held-18 finalists
at Aldershot, we found members of our team competing from 104 entries; at the Semi-final stage of the
againsr individuals from 2 Queens! competition, all Coys. were running neck and neck, with
D (l..luebec) just one point ahead from C (Sobraon) and
Whilst Boxing and Skiing have been very much at HQ (Albuhera), and two points ahead from A (Tangier)
the front of our thoughts, the routine of BAOR and
training have not been neglected: Sgt. Gurr and the G and B (Holland).
Cell effectively scattered the Battalion on a welter of
courses and cadres. Company muster parades were The ultimate winners of the Inter-Coy Shield
reduced to a bakers dozen, with the Company (which counts towards our Kirke's Competition) were
Commanders wearing all the hats-commanding the Quebec Coy. with 33 points; Sobraon were runners-up
company and platoon; writing the training programme; with 27 and a very creditable performance by Albuhera
running the ranges; setting up the NCOs Cadre, and Coy. (23 points) brought them into third place, with
juggling with the nominations for courses (and yet more Holland and Tangier Coys. bringing up the rear .
courses.)
Final winners were: Bantam: Pte. Rozario (D Coy.);
Both support weapon platoons have had a very Feather: Pte. Loblack (C Coy.): Lightweight: Pte.
active spring. The Mortars, under the now-departed Powell (D Coy.); Light Welter: L/Cpl. Stockwell (B
Capt. Barrett, carried out a number of shoots at Coy.); Welter: Pte. Gordan (HQ Coy.); Light Middle:
Miinsterlager for armoured regiments culminating in Pte. Thomas (D Coy.); Middle: Pte. Tilling (HQ Coy.);
the 3 Armoured Div. Mortar Concentration when Capt. Light Heavy: Pte. QUlrke (C Coy.); Heavy: Pte. Sullivan
Dave Carter assumed command. The Anti-Tank PI., (A Coy.).
under Capt. Tony Russell, had a profitable visit to
Sennelager with a bonus of 252 rounds of l20mm to be
fired in just six hours.

The New Year is obviously a period for
Commanders to try out all their bright ideas with ARU

14

The best bout of the competition was adjudged to be and the following became BAOR Boxing Champions: -
between Pte. Biddlecombe ofC Coy. and L/Cpl. Wicker Pte. Golding, Bantamweight; Pte. Geddes, Light
of B Coy. The best loser was Pte. Boyce of HQ Coy. Welterweight; Cpl. Coley, Middleweight; Pte. Lewis,
who left his typewriter for the day to give a very good Heavyweight.
performance against a better boxer.
The Army Individual Championships at Aldershot
Whilst the Novices was taking place in Germany, followed and Ptes. Golding, Geddes, Lewis and Cpl.
back in Aldershot, (home of the British Army and Army Coley entered, with Pte. McVey entering the "Under
Boxing), the Army Intermediate Championships were 19" at Light Welter. Pte. Golding finished as the Army
taking place. The Battalion entered 6 boxers and of Bantamweight Champion; and Pte. Lewis as Army
these, 5 were in the finals with boxers from 2 Queens Heavyweight Champion and Pte. McVey as the Under
making a total of no less than 7 boxers from The 19 Light Welter Champion. In the Combined Services,
Regiment. At Light Welter, L/Cpl. Harrison beat L/Sgt. Lewis, Golding and McVey emerged as Combined
Harper of the Guards Depot to become the Intermediate Services Champions in their weights.
Champion; Pte. Hills of 2 QUEENS stopped L/Cpl.
Scott of 1 QUEENS in the Welterweight division; At the time of writing, Pte. Golding was beaten in
L/Cpl. Worrell at Light Middle, beat K . G . N. Harrison the Quarter-Finals of the ABA Championships whilst
from 1 Kings to become Light Middleweight Pte. Lewis won and went on to the Semi-Finals which
Champion; and Pte. Walker lost to Pte. Magloire of 1 took place at Gloucester on 4th April; he was beaten on a
Glosters. majority verdict in this competition.

We then turned our eyes to BAOR and our major Our APTC Instructor S. I. Greef has left us on a
team in preparation for defending our BAOR and Army posting (with Promotion to S/Sgt.) to the AAC
titles. The BAOR Final was held at Catterick Barracks Harrogate; during his stay we convinced him that
Bielefeld, home of 10 Corps Regt. RCT, whom we were boxing was the answer to a muscle man's prayer, and he
to meet in the finals. 10 Regt. had held the title for 4 represented the Battalion in the Novices and was a 4th
years (previous to our gaining it in 1978) and remain a D1v. Intermediate Novice Champion. He has fully
very good Boxing Unit with a string of both team and supported the Battalion in all activities but particularly
Individual successes to their credit; they were in boxing, where he has worked closely with W02 Brian
undoubtedly favourites although they had not competed Brazier; we thank him for all his hard work and wish
the previous year due to Op Banner commitments. At him and his wife every success for the future .
the end of the third bout, 10 RCT were 3 up, but the
'rot' was stopped by L/Cpl. Harrison who beat Dvr. Finally, we must/ay tribute again to W02 Brian
Fields very convincingly. This was followed by another Brazier for all his har work and devotion to his boxers
win for us when L/Cpl. Smith stopped Dvr. Hufton but which has resulted in another win for the Regiment and
when Davis was beaten by L/Cpl. Lawton, this put our individuals goinjl on to win in individual contests. He is
opponents 2 bouts ahead at the interval. L/Cpl. Worrell, devoted to boJUDg and his skills and expertise have
Cpl. Coley, Ptes. Walker and Lewis then followed with resulted in the Regiment's splendid achievements.
wins for the Battalion but the final bout was a classic one
between two first class boxers-both Army SO YOU WANNA BE A SKIER
Champions-Cpl. Jean-Pierre and Dvr. Stephens; a
majority verdict for 10 Regt. left the final score at 6-5. by W02 P. Ryan

We had retained the BAOR Title for the second If the word Langlauf (cross-country skiing) was a
year. recipe-then you would need five ingredients-absolute
fitness, a good helpinf of sheer guts, stamina, team spirit
Our opponents for the Army Finals were our old and a bowlful of dedication to the job in hand. Mix all
adversaries from 4 Div. Novice Boxing Days-2nd Bn. these up and the result is a place in what must be one of
The Light Infantry who had beaten 1 Para in the UK the most gruelling sporu in the Army!
Finals. In our own Gymnasium at Albuhera Barracks,
before a capacity crowd of over 700, the Finals were held When we discovered, very rudely, what we were up
on 20 Dec. against Jut year, competing as pure novices in the 4
Armoured Div. Cross Country ski meeting, we decided
Our team (the same as for our BAOR it was time to get away from the usual 5 day pre-training
Championships) consisted of: Pte. Golding, Bantam; "amateur" bracket. It was quite a shock then to be
Cpl. Leefmans, Featherweight; Pte. Geddes, competing against superb skiers who had been training
Lightweight; L/Cpl. Harrison, Lt. Welter (2nd String); for most of the vear! We decided to change the situation.
L/Cpl. Smith, Lt. Welter (1st String); Pte. Davis, Welter
(2nd String); L/Cpl. Worrell, Light Middle; Cpl. Coley, (cominued on page 16)
Middle; Pte. Walker, Light Heavy; Pte. Lew1s,
Heavyweight; Cpl. Jean-Pierre, Welter (1st String). y1. The Winners of The Army Final, with Mr. Harry
Carpenter of the BBC.
The "bout of the night" was between Cpl. Coley 2. The Battalion Novices Boxing Team.
and Sgt. Waites, who had met twice previously with a 3. SI Greef, team captain, receives the BAOR
verdict each; this contest, therefore, was a decider. After
a punishing fight, Cpl. Coley emerged the winner and trophy.
the final score of the evening was 8 bouts to 3 in our
favour. We had retained the Army Championships 4. Lt. Mans (right) breaks away from the base of the
for the second year. scrum during the match against 2 R.lrish. (Won
14 nU).
After Christmas leave the team entered for the
BAOR Individuals Championships, held in Berlin. The
Battalion entered seven contestants; six actually boxed



16 downhill! That race brought us back to reality with a
jolt. We had grown, understandably, a little conceited
(cO>llinued f rom page 14) with our Divisional results but the Army course was
something different. The sheer ice runs were too much
We gathered together a nucleus of 9 soldiers-four for us and we "bombed out" many a time, cartwheeling
of whom had never been on Langlauf skis for more than off the tracks only to stagger up and carry on. Oxygen
a day-and began training during our N. Ireland tour. debit had affected us as well so we were really up against
So began hard workouts in the various location multi- it . I know that, as I struggled into the finish, even the
gyms and running in ever decreasing circles through British Biathlon team were ruefully inspecting ice burns
lines of parked landrovers and pigs. Motivation was . a on arms and legs . What a race though-what a course,
hard, relentless factor; to have to work on your own, m but you cannot believe the exhileration of knowing that
between long periods of duty, was soul destroying . you have raced against the cream of Great Britain's
langlaufers .
But the tour over and with backing from the
Comanding Officer, it was all systems GO! We fought our way through to finish I7th out of 29
in the 4xl0; reached 14th out of 30 teams in the 4x!O
Next we managed to gain 9 places on the first-ever Biathlon relay; 6th out of 21 teams in the 30km.; went
Langlauf Racing Technique course, held in Sjujsoen, on to gain 21st place out of 42 teams in the 15km. race
Norway. After three weeks of intensive pre-training in and 14th out of 22 in the Patrol race . We suffered one
Werl (which meant 8 mile runs each day) linked with casualty in the gruelling patrol race with Cpl. Hurman
workouts in the gym, roller skiing and frantic cracking his head open and stabbing his ankle with his
preparation of ski kit-we were off. ski stick!

BOBC in Norway is staffed by APTC; this means It had been a hard season but one in which we
being pronounced pathetically unfit at the beginning of hauled ourselves up by sheer hard work from novice to
the course, then skiing in temperatures of 30° below for Army level in one season-no mean feat . In all that time
over 5 hours a day. Absolutely exhausted at the end of the team spirit was superb.
each session, we found that we had to increase our
workload during the next. Driving one aching leg after Knowing what we are capable of, we are not
the other over 30kms. in blinding snow, knowing that stopping there; it 's straight into training for next season
you had to carry on to reach the ski hut, was the only in a sport we regard as the most rewarding! We gained
way to su~vive . the Infantry Cup and runners up in the German
Biathlon at DivisiOnal level and 6th place in the Army
And survive we did! The sheer physical effor't began 30km. race, 4 silver badges, 2 instructor certificates and
to pay off; breathing was easier, arms were far stronger, 3 bronze badges. Our teams consisted of: 'A' Team: Lt.
driving in ski sticks with a rhythm we had lacked Ken Hames, W02 Paddy Ryan, Cpl. Mick Hurman,
before-30kms. became the rule and we were doing the Pte. John Rutherford, Pte. T1ch Quarmby; '8' Team:
distances at speed. 1 Queens has arrived on the ski L/Cpl. Lofty Bryett (ACC), Cfn. Martin Alien (REME),
scene. Dmr. John Masters.

With Norway over we pushed straight on to Bavaria INVASION
where we trained on throughout Christmas, piling miles
under our belts and shooting each night. We were now "100 White Devils turn Top Brass Visit into a
fully fledged 'Smellies'. Battle". Such was the Daily Mail headline on 13th
February after A Coy. had 'assisted' Task Force E in the
The time had arrived to actually race and we moved ARU on the Royal Hussars in Paderborn.
once again, this time to Zwiesel, a small mountain town
in the Ober Bayernwald. We had entered two teams for The Company, lead by Maj. Roger Gancz, was
the 3 Armoured Div./4 Jager Div. ski meeting. With all given the ammunition compound of the "Royal
systems go, we fought our way up through the seeding Hussars' Camp as a target to seize and defend until
hsts against the best that the German and the Division defeated by gallant if cavalier counter-attack.
had to offer, taking 2nd place in the !Okm. German Unfortunately that unit was unable to return the
Biathlon, 5th out of 32 teams in the 15km. race and 2nd comrany's impressive rate of fire (having only SMGs)
in the patrol race. We had arrived with a bang on the unti a few strategically chosen Queensmen were deemed
Divisional ski scene. At last peor.le were sa.Ying, "I dead and their weapons commandeered by their
Queens are doing well" instead of' Who are I Queens?" attackers.

We took the coveted Infantry Nordic Cup and Clad in Arctic white, almost 100 men of A Coy. and
received trophies for runners-up in the German Biathlon a section of the Drums (commanded by Cpl. De-Warren-
enabling us to compete in the Army Championships at Wailer) were airlifted in 8 Wessex support helicopters,
Oberjoch. Once more we climbed into battered vehicles first of' all from Werl to a small LZ a few miles outside
and drove back to Bavaria. Paderborn and then in two waves, into the Royal
Hussars perimeter. The only disturbing aspect was that
When we arrived we had completed 7 weeks of the flight path on the assault took the helicopters directly
constant, hard, race-standard skiing; it now meant past an ammunition site where guards are reported to
throwing ourselves in at the deep end against the best of become perilously 'trigger happy' at the sight of more
the Three Services and the British Biathlon team. The than one aircraft, regardless of nationality.
organisers were extremely pleased that, at last, the
Infantry were represented at Army level, the only three Fortunately, briefing had obviously paid off and the
Infantry teams being us, the Royal Anglians and the assault was completed in two minutes without
very professional Duke of Wellington Regt. The DWR misadventure. Each helicopter carried its own supply of
had been skiing since 1965 and had fielded British Team wire to seal off any gaps and the Company awa1ted
members.

We clipped into our skis once more, racing in the
4x!Om. relay with a field of 29 other teams. The going
was terrifyingly fast with iced runs of over a kilometre

17

counter-attack; Cpl. McCulloch even went as far as to
direct the 'invisible' Brigadier away from the scene of his
last-ditch stand, assuming that all Cavalry were enemy.

Altogether it was thoroughly worthwhile, enjoyed
particularly by A Coy. many of whom had never seen as
many as 8 helicopters workmg together; it also provided
a pleasant change from the mechanised attack.

Perhaps even more satisfying was the fact that our
efforts were publicized in some newspaper as far away as
the USA. Pte. Rose, who was followed by an eager bevy
of press photographers, has been much encouraged by
his likeness in several papers before he was 'billed' as an
'umpire'.

SOLTAU

Post-Op Banner always presents the problem of
virtual retraining for the BAOR role; to achieve this, the
battalion moved to Soltau for Ex. "Shake Out" (17-30
Nov.)

All attached arms participated which, when added to
a completely new orbat in Battlegroup HQ except for
the CO and RSO, created an atmosphere of organised
chaos and not a few amusing incidents.

The purpose of the exercise was to refresh everyone
in BAOR tactics at all arm levels; this was achieved by
moving from Platoon through to full Battlegroup
training, with supporting arms being fed in as required.
It was also an opportunity to test our new SOPs in time
for Canada later this year.

A notable "first" was achieved when our MO, Capt.
Johnathan Mumford, was at last tempted into the field;
not only did his RAP attend but also a collecting section
of field ambulance. Excellent medical cover? Well
no-the "medics" soon discovered that they simply
could not read a map! OJ?S. Offr. (Capt. Martin
Allington) even put vehicles m front and behind their
column on one move and it was 9 hours before we found
them. Another occasion, on which Bdsm. Raggio was
sent to an RV in his ambulance, will linger forever; after
hearing nothing of him for 4 hours, a voice was heard on
the command net: "Hallo, Anyway, this is 83A ... I am
lost" . Not that the companies were going to be outdone,
for instance: OC B Coy. (Maj . Paddy Panton) has set
views on the value of close recce troops having had his
dog lead him through a minefield in daylightf (It took
the CO a long chase in fme foxhunting style to bring the
culprit to heel).

And, after much muttering and beating of company
signallers, OC C Coy. (Maj. Charles Joint) had to adm1t
" ... maybe I don't understand MAPCO as well as I
thought I did . .."!

Nevertheless, at the end of the exercise, the battalion
was once again "thinking Germany" -the pleasures of
snow, shed tracks and paying the penalty of telling your
crew what you thought of "the plan". It certainly put
Ireland far m the background and restored the Battalion
to mechanised efficiency in double-quick time in an
enjoyable way .

(Top) Bn. HQ looking fit at the end of the March &

r\Shoot Competition.
y
(Centre) An intense Pte. Clarke at Soltau.

(Lower) Pte. Boyce taming the Drums on our ARU.

18 his boot on the deck and then held his arm above my
head to give me a helping hand! The houses drifted
QUEENSMAN PARACHUTES slowly by, 1200 feet below, as we flew over a spruce
WITH THE GERMANS plantation, round the Schongau Horn, over the River
Egre and into the run-in. (I wish I knew the German for
by Lt. Piers Storie-Pugh
"I've changed my mind, I want to get ofP'!)
"Each of us, as he receives his private trouncing at the
hand of fate, is kept in good heart by the moth in his There was no need for that helping hand - I was
brother's parachute....."- (Simpson 1919) shot out of the door by the shocking blast of a claxon
horn . The despatcher's last words of advice faded above
For some years now, BAOR has had anarrangment me as I was whipped and spun by the slip-stream with
with the German Parachute School m Bavana, by which
qualified English parachutists attend a two-week course my heart in my mouth and my stomach in my chest, (as
and earn German wings. There are 3 classes of German
wings; bronze for 5 descents, silver for 20 and gold for usual for, though every jump IS the same, yet it seems so
50. (Incidentally, we are the only country to wear wings different and the risk is always there). At last, with the
on the arm; all other armies wear them on the right customary swoosh and thump which knocks the wind
chest). out of me (thank God is has opened), the lift webs tugged
hard on the crotch and, spinning round trice to free the
I was accepted on a Despatchers Course which rigging, I looked above . It was, as always, wonderful - a
ended two days before I was due to take over our Snow great Khaki mushroom in a beautiful sea of blue. Life
Queen Hut in Bavaria. I arrived at Schongau after a long seems to stand still; there is no sound and only a faint
train journey, (spent practising my German on fellow fresh breeze as one swings gently down to the snow-
travellers), and was met by a young German Corporal covered DZ. Parachuting has the magical effect of
who showed me my 'nissen hut' and said we were to binding people together, regardless of nationality and
jump the next morning! I was not sure whether to there is a sense of achievement after every landing. We
protest or to practise my landing drills! I did neither; bundled up our 'chutes and walked back to the school
mstead, I joined my colleagues for a few rounds of joking at someones bad exit or on the drills of the
Ravensberger Apfel and Bavarian Paulaner Weissbier. despatcher.

The next morning, after a 0600 hrs breakfast, I met On the first two days I made four descents and
the head instructor, Hauptfeldwebel Eder (equiv. CSM), needed only one more to earn my bronze wings.
and found, somewhat to my surprise, that not only was I However, bad weather and especially low cloud set in
the sole Englishman, but also the only foreigner. The and despite superhuman efforts by the school, using
German Parachute Regt. is larger (and wealthier) than other planes and the Bell helicopter, it was impossible to
our own and allocates a number of jumps to external jump for 7 days. On the following Wednesday, Met.
parachutists, who quality each year for their pay and I gave us the go-ahead and I made two more jumps and on
was grateful to gain a place. the next day (my last), 120 parachutists boarded,
jumping in st1cks of 10 either side. The instructors made
Hpvebel. Eder and I ("Der Englander" was how I the nice gesture of despatching me alone on the first run-
was addressed) went to Met. Centre from where, after a in - a rather moving last jump which was fitting to
rromise of good weather' we picked up the course, drew what had been a most enjoyable two weeks. During
chutes, reserves and helmets and boarded the bus for periods of bad weather I had learned to Langlauf and
Pensin~;, an aerodrome 30 km away. On arrival, we visited our ski hut near Sonthofen.
immediately began fitting parachutes; the Germans use
the American and British TlO 'chute so I was saved any Parachuting is a wonderful method of delivery and
embarrassment. Meanwhile the runway and our plane (a my fortnight added a new dimension to the 'sport'. I
Cl60) were being cleared of snow. (The C160 IS twin- recommend this course to anyone who is fortunate
engined and not unlike our Hercules). enough to be accepted. My own ambition to parachute
with the Germans began three years ago whilst visiting
A thorough check of harness; the static line thrust 172 Jaegerbatallion in the Harz Mountains; fortunately,
into my hand, and we were off across the snow covered the idea was fully supported by my CO and everyone m
tarmac to the waiting Cl60. We placed our hands on our the battalion went to great lengths on my behalf (thanks,
helmets to indicate a 'clean fatigue' descent (without a too to Rosemary for acting as interpreter). I am also
container), entered the aircraft and took our seats. We grateful to the German Parachute School for not only
were always accompanied by two instructors, a trainee accepting me but also for giving me such an enjoyable
despatcher on either door and sometimes by the and successful time.
Commandant, a keen parachutist himself. The rear
ramp snapped shut and after a quick taxi we were ** *
airborne. No matter how experienced a parachutist, one
always gets the 'butterflies before a jump; I was no RUGBY, 1978-79
exception, particularly as I did not always understand
what was being said between despatcher and pilot. After The Battalion side has managed to play 11 games
being airbourne for 5 minutes, 'Action Stations' (including one in N.Ireland) despite exercises and a
(German style) was ordered by the despatcher, severe winter, the latter preventing play from 2 Dec. to 7
accompanied by germanic military songs, clapping of
hands and stamping of feet . Feb .
Some 29 players have represented the Battalion,
The despatcher tugged twice and then pushed hard
upwards the large side exit door of the C 160 and which reflects the problem of availability but also the
beckoned me forward: I was No . 1 port side. To indicate increasing depth of talent available.
the one minute interval before my descent, he thumped

We have had several good wins, the overall record 19
being:
GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE
Played 11, Won 8; Points for- 194; against- 111. CELEBRATIONS 1 - 3 JUNE
Besides Queen's-badged players, the LADs have
proved a valuable source of strength with (amongst Includ ed:
others) Cpl. Harries who has played regularly in the
centre for REME's BAOR side. Trooping The Colour
Lts. Lance Mans and Ken Hames have gained An excellent Parade on Fri. 1 Jun.-salute taken by
representative honours with the BAOR side, Hames
playing against Holland, the Army, and the Army under HE The British Ambassador, Sir Oliver Wright. Dinner
19; he was joined by Mans in the last match . at Le Club Bayard (Officers) and parties in the WOs'
and Sgts' Mess and Cpls' Club .
Plans for the Autumn tour in our Regimental area
are well advanced, fiXtures having been confirmed with Cricket Match (2 Jun .)
Canterbury, Chichester and Mill Hill. Are there any Won by HMS Excellent in an exciting fini sh
other Regimental Players who would like to join
the tour? (The dates are 1-10 Sept.). followed by a-

A NEW RECORDING Ball
The Band has recently produced a new record At Wickede, sponsored by the WOs' and Sgts'

entitled "A Tribute to Werl" which, in addition to its Mess.
repertoire of music, includes a brief history of the
Battalion in English and German. A wonderful weekend (I know-! was there).
Details and pictures will appear in the December
number-Ed.

If it moves,Salute it.

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20

The 2nd Battalion

Editorial was the Presentation of Honours Ceremony on 15 Feb.

THE pace of Battalion life in Gibraltar when H.E. The Governor (Gen. YSeira.rsWHilolinaomurJAacwkasrodn~'
tends to be fairly busy and the past six GBE, KCB, MC) presented New

months have been no exception. The weather on behalf of Her Majesty: This occasion had a strong 2

has not come up to expectations, although it Queens flavour as, m add1t10n to the Band, we provided

has certainly not been as bad as that the Port Sgt. - C/Sgt. Daw and a Drummer, as well as
experienced by our sister battalions in UK two recipients, Maj . Carlston MBE and Cpl. Wharram

and Germany. BEM.

We are now well into Exercise "Rock Sand/Marble The poor weather in UK provided inducement for a
Tor", during which each of our companies and a Cadre large number of visitors and amongst the more
group return to England (Salisbu').' Plain) for 3-weeks
trainmg, being replaced in G1braltar by TAVR Important, were the PUS Army, (Mr. R. C . Brown) on 3
companies from UK. The exercises run from March to
June and, in view of the limited training facilities Jan.; Maj .-Gen. J. D. F. Mostyn CBE (DPS (A)) on 112
available on the Rock, are the highlight of our training
year. Needless to say, the movement and administration Feb.; Lt.-Gen. Sir Richard Worsley KCB, OlJE (QMG
of five of our own companies and six TAVR companies
to and from UK keeps procedures in Bn. HQ (in (Des)) on 6/7 Feb.; MaJ .-Gen. M . T . Tomlinson OBE
particular, our movements section) well oiled. Now we
are particularly looking forward to having with us two (DM (A)) on 26 March; an " Editors abroad" visit of
companies of 6/7 Queens.
seven representatives from various Home Counties
One of the more pleasant aspects of a tour on the
Rock is the close relationship between the battalion and Newspapers and R:adio Medway; two IJLB cpaadrettie/ys~uanndg
the Royal Navy, particularly when ships visit; for the various CCF/ACF parties and officer
second time during our tour, our affiliated ship, HMS
Kent VISited us-for ten days in March. Having learned officer attachments. We were also particularly pleased to
our lessons from last year, we were prepared and, the se~ that well known personality, our Divisional
Battalions first priority was Kent. A list of reciprocal
events undertaken would be endless; suffice to say that Bngad1er, Bng. H. C. Millman OBE for three days in
Ship and Umt mtegrated to the extent that it was
difficult to establish whether Kent was a marine-based March. In addition, Maj .-Gen. A. Orly of the Israel
naval establishment, or the Battalion a shore-based naval Defenc~ Force came W lunch on 4 April; until recently,
establishment. (Epitomized by the Colonel constantly
referring to " his ship" and the Captain "his soldiers, he was m charge .of M1htary and Government operations
and h•s band" !)
m the Golan He1ghts, Judea, Summatia, Gaza Strip and
The only moment of regret was when Captain
" Shorty" Turner handed over command of the ship. Sinai Peninsular, and after lunch, he gave an extremely
Very much a character, the Captain will be sadly missed
by both Sh1p and the Battalion. We wish him well in his frank and interesting talk on the Israel Defence Force
next appointment as Commodore Naval Intelligence and
also wish his successor, Captain Gunning, a good trip to and Defence Policy generally.
South America in company with L/Cpl. Hayes of the
Drums and Pte. Churchfield from the Catering PI. Our Invicta inter-company competition is in full
swing; the gruelling March and Shoot competition took
Amongst Naval ships from other NATO countries, place in two phases on 2 and 16 Feb. A Coy. were the
three were from the Netherlands and, in recognition of worthy winners over an extremely arduous course,
our ties with HM Queen Juliana, our Band (and on one despite mutterings about the excellent weather during
occaswn, our Drums) played them into harbour. A the second phase. C Coy., notwithstanding a hoarse
re~lar occurence whenever a H NL M Ship visits CSM, just won a high standard Drill Competition on 6
Gibraltar, th1s has had the effect of publicismg our Apr . and this, together with the fact that they are the
tradmonal connection, as well as resulting in a number proud holders of the Brian Morris Basketball Cup and
of 2 Queens/Dutch social occasions; the most memorable the Orienteering Shield, puts them in the lead of the
of these was a splendid cocktail party in the bowels of Invicta table. (Whether they keep ahead remains to be
the submarine H NL MS Doljijn. seen). Another of the more pleasant features of service
life in Gibraltar is that it affords us more time in which
The Band continues to play an important part in our to involve our families in Battalion activities; we have a
contnbutlon to hfe m Gibraltar and, under the expert number of extremely active wives and " ladies sport" has
gu•dance of the Band Master, WOI Francis, has become an established feature in our weekly programme.
acqUired a tremendous reputation for the excellent An "Open" evening on 7 Feb. was well attended when
standard of its performances. An important engagement the lad1es received a guided tour of the Officers' Mess
Silver; a visit to the training theatre (including a
d1splay), and a talk on our weapons and roles. The ladies
then decided that it wasn't enough to be told about what
their husbands did-they wanted to participate!
Accordingly, on a sunny Saturday in March, we were
bese1ged by a large number of (admittedly) well·
disciplined, albeit noisy ladies, who fired all our infantry
weapons on the ETR Range; took part in a FIBUA
exercise \" own troops" being under command of a
remarkab y cool Cpl. Lemare), and even carried out a
team race on the assault course. A little dubious about
the latter, the hierarchy were forced to give way to the
determination of the ladies to complete the course. (After
all, who are we to argue with our better halves?) The
mornmg ended with a lunch of traditional all-in stew

served from hubby's mess tins!

21

The reader may be forgiven for assuming that life in ADVENTUROUS TRAINING IN
Gibraltar is one long jolly. Sadly, this is not so and the MOROCCO
more serious aspects of soldiering have continued apace:
a number of cadres have been run by our Training Wing by CSM J. A. Frost, BEM
including a thorough and demanding JNCO's Cadre led
by Lt. Morris and W02 Blanchette; a Methods of The A Coy Adventurous Training fortnight gave a
Instruction Cadre; a Snipers Cadre, Driving Cadres, welcome chance for 2/Lt. Matthew Stilwell to lead nine
Asslt. Pnr. Cadres and a Mortar and Anti-Tank Cadre. members on a ten days expedition into North Africa .
B Coy. provided the enemy for an IS exercise for 19 The aim of the trip was to travel south through Morocco
ships of the Royal Navy during Op "Awkward" and the as far as Agadir; set up a base camp, and then travel
whole Battalion was called out during exercise further south, as far as possible, (before being turned
"Wintex". Adventure training expeditions have been back or, in the worst case, arrested .)
mounted almost every two weeks and more are planned.
So far this year we have sent 56 soldiers on external The Monday (5 March) before our departure was a
courses and a further 65 will go before September. busy day as most of our equipment could only then be
(Divisional Brigadier please note!) Spare a thought also, drawn and sorted but, by the evening, 2/Lt. Stilwell
for our normal day-to-day tasks for, with 42 soldiers on (Expedition Commander), the CSM (2IC, later demoted
duty every night, they are not light. to driver of 2nd landrover), L/Cpl. Kit (Dog) Wiltshire

Our move to Colchester in early September is now !driver of the command landrover), L/Cpl. John Moran
looming on the h<-.tzon but in the immediate future, we
are faced with two "Keys Ceremonies" and the Queen's our resident "letive-boneham"), Ptes. Richard Solley
Birthday Parade. navigator), Bob Wilson (our French phrase-book
Interlude 1. expert), Andy Twiner (our "keep others ftt" coach),
Ginge Saunders (our leather expert) and Mark
Rumour has it that the two pound wrasse, with O'Connor (our photographic and " how not to gamble
which the Commanding Officer won the Bn. HQ v~. with an Arab" expert), were all ready for the move next
Band Fishing Competition, came from the fishmonger. day .

Pte. Mahoney on the Jacobs Ladder during the The Mons Calpe Ferry, faithful as always, took us
March and Shoot Competition. to Tangier, arriving by midday; we then encountered
our first delay-one of the landrovers needed insurance
cover for Morocco. After waiting three hours outside the
"Bureau de Sonscription" in Tangier harbour, we
fmally headed for Fes, (said to be the centre of Islamic
cultural influence) and by 8 p.m., having travelled some
350 kms . south through Tetouen, Chechaouen and
Ouezzane (all small settlements), we arrived eager for
some food and rest.

As Fes had a good camp site, we were able to check
our equipment and organise our landrovers for the
journey ahead, most of our problems centering around
the erection of both tents and safe storage of compo
rations. Having completed this task (in two days!) we
spent some time arranging a football match for later in
the year to be pla(ed between a local team and our own
Company footbal team; the invitation came about after
the locals had witnessed Ptes. Andy Twiner's and Bob
(Stumpy) Wilson's talent on the camp site!

At midday on Thursday we continued our journey
south west through the hills and forests of Azran
heading for Marrakesh.

This part of the journey was by far the most
demanding on our drivers; the change in the terrain
from forest to flat open country needed a high degree of
concentration and their problems were aggravated by
bad weather. By 1800 hrs. we were in the middle of a
thunderstorm and spent the next hour making slow
progress for Marrakesh.

Our practice and organisation in Fes paid off and
within an hour of arriving at Marrakesh, both tents had
been erected and L/Cpl. John Moran and Pte. Ginge
Saunders had cooked us a most welcome meal. The
CSM gave a lesson in the fme art oflighting HPP lamps
and by 2200 hrs . all members of the expedition were
asleep .

Marrakesh was our first opportunity to have a rest
from travelling and we spent some time on foot ,
experiencing the never-to-be-forgotten atmosphere of

Morocco! In the centre is the "Medma" , satd to be the other place we visited.
best market in Morocco. Whilst 2/Lt. Stilwell showed
no outward signs of fear when a lengthr, ·cobra was Having set up our base camp at what is considered
wrapped around his neck, Pte. Mark 0 Connor dtd to be the best camp site in Morocco, the expedition then
show astonishment when an Arab reheved him of 50 split into two groups; one remaining at the base camp,
dirihm (about £6) in a simple rope trick lasting about the other moving further south the following day. 2/Lt.
eight seconds; as the CSM commented afterwards, Stilwell led one party (heading as far south as possible)
"that's what it's all about son". whilst the CSM led the remainder north along the coast
road, checking the many small beaches for rare shells
The second day in Marrakesh was spent touring the and other marine life.
more select areas and, in Pte. Bob Wilsons' case, getting
to know tl.e locals; his vast (?) knowledge of French The southern group managed to reach the area of
brought only looks of amazement from most of the Goulimime, one of the last settlements before the Sahara
young ladies, and he eventually ended up bargammg for desert and the border areas of Spanish Sahara, Algeria
modern weapons such as swords, knives, da~gers and and Mauritania. This is a sensittve area and the party
other similar niceties offered at outrageous pnces. 2/Lt. was warned by local tribesmen not to go any further
Stilwell and L/Cpl. Moran managed to purchase a because of troop movements in the area .
blanket each at a good price and the youngest member of
the team, Pte. Ginge Saunders, spent £25 on a pure Sunday and Monday were spent relaxing on the vast
leather jacket. beach at Agadir with the odd game of football to keep us
all in trim. Light refreshment, purchased at a local
By 0915 on the IOth, both landrovers were heading supermarket was taken; it passed under the name of
for Agadir; our route-south on the secondary road SSOJ " Super Bock" which, as always, brought out a few old
to Asui, heading south west through the Tt.zt·n·test pass war stories.
(a most demanding route), JOmmg the maJor road P32
West of Tafinegoult and then on to Agadir. On Tuesday we were busy making preparations for
the journey north to Casablanca. By thts stage, we had
Driving through the Atlas mountains demanded made a number of collections of assorted minerals and
skill in the use of gears and steering but, at the same useful keepsakes; cash was short, therefore, and with the
time presents some breathtaking views from heights up bulk of the travelling behind us, all were anxious to be
to 4000 ft . We stopped several times to study these, the on the move again .
rocks on the sides of the road leading to the pass, and the
snow covered mountains. We broke the long drive by One very interesting experience, was the total
having lunch on the side of the road; having climbed for eclipse of the moon; it occured at 2130 hrs. and, with a
four hours through the pass, we were now over the full moon and good visibility, it was a memorable sight.
hardest part of the journey.
The weather had changed by Wednesday and so,
Agadir, on the south west coast of Morocco, is 600 with an overcast sky and a change of drivers, 2/Lt.
miles from Tangier; by local standards it is an ultra· Stilwell and Pte. Solley headed for Mohammedia, a town
modern town, the old town having been destroyed by an just north of Casablanca. This was our longest trip in a
earthquake in I 962. Life is concentrated on and near the single day, with drivers at the wheel for eight hours ov_er
beaches; whilst in the town, prices are double that of any
(continued on page 23)

?t; .. J

(Left) 2/Lt. Stillwell's close encounter with a Cobra Coy's Adventure Training.

(the Medina, Marrakesh).

(Centre) "Watch pot ...." L/Cpl. Morran during A (Right) Pte. Wilson: "But I already HAVE a pencil

sharpener"! (Bargaining in Marrakesh).

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promote from within. Alwa ys. So that no
th e chance of finding a job in the town to yo ur
outs id ers lea pfrog over th e man or woman , choice, when you leave the Service.
on the s pot-a nd the goo d peopl e in th e
Write to: Securicor Limited, Vigilant
organi satio n always get their chance. No t House, Room 203, 24/ 30 Gillingham
that we need all our s taff to be ambitiou s for Street, London SWlV 1HZ (Tel: 01-834 5411)
management duties, we also have many or if you're stationed in Britain, find your
oth er vaca ncies fo r men and women who nearest bra nch in Yellow Pages. And, when
wa nt a s tea dy, sec ure, sa ti sfying job, doing a you write, let us kn ow where you're planning
respons ibl e day's work for a very fa ir wage.
to settl e-a nd we'll see what we ca n do.

SECURICOR AJOB WITH SECURITY.

SUPPLfMENT No. I-PAGE TWO Printe d in Great Britain

23

(continued from page 22) Camping on the outskirts of Tangier, our remaining
task was to purchase fruit and vegetables for our fnends
the distance of 500 kms. The coast road had little to offer and families in Gibraltar from the Kasbah; havmg done
and it was a great relief to arrive at Casablanca and on to this and taking a last look around the market, we
Mohammedia, to the camp site; here we arrived at 1700 prepared to spend our last night in Morocco.
hrs., only to find that the conditions were not up to the
standard one would expect. However, as the long drive So, after driving some 2700 kms . (1700 miles);
had left us all listless, within 20 minutes our tent was up spending up to 8 hours at a time at the wheel and
and the CSM had produced a special "all-in" which was visiting five major towns in Morocco, what had we
most welcome; by 2000 hrs. we were all in our sleeping accomplished? Apart from reaching a point as far south
bags listening to the rain falling on the outside of the as was possible, seven of our members, new to the
tent . Battalion, had the chance to see something of the other
side of military life; they were able to en joy an
The weather had cleared by morning and the last leg experience not normally available outside the Services.
of the journey was from Mohammedia through Rabat Each member of the expedition, whether commander,
(Capital City of Morocco) and then north to Tangier, driver, cook or HPP expert, will retain happy memones
our original starting point, which we aimed to reach of his expedition into North Mrica.
before nightfall .
.. -·-
A WIFE'S VIEW OF GIBRALTAR
-~ ~
By Mrs. C. A. Bailes
"Sun, Sea and Sand, and where a Pound is still a ~:• n4 .·r .
Pound" -that's what the advertisements for tourists sar.; , ,JI#> ~
but there is more to Gibraltar than this, as anyone w1ll - .. •....
tell you if they had to spend a winter here; and a pound -'"
is nearer 50pf -
Gibraltar is some 4 miles long by 1112 miles wide and
1,100 ft. high with a population of some 30,000
including the Services and their families. Although not
an island, it is termed as such due to the border
restrictions imposed by Spain; as a result, all goods have
to either be flown in or come by sea. It is mainly because
of this expensive means of transportation (which
includes Imr.ort Duty and Tax), that the majority of
articles in G1braltar cost nearly double the UK prices (a
copy of the Dail)' Mirror costs 25p!) Unfortunately the
LOA (under rev1ew at this time) is not nearly sufficient
to meet the needs of a family With two children and the
newly-married junior ranks find it extremely difficult to
make ends meet.
Having expounded rather briefly on the gloomier
side of life in Gibraltar, it is fair to say that on balance, it
has an equally attractive side. Summers are
fantastic-four to five months of non-stop sunshine,
rising to a high (in August) of 90° guaranteeing the
residents a tan. There are beaches on the Eastern and
Western sides of the Rock which are invariably packed;
and there is also a Families swimming pool for Forces
personnel. Thus Summer brings with it beach parties,
barbeques and a never-ending desire to quench ones
thirst. (There are some 250 bars in Gibraltar!) The
Gibraltarians idea of night-life is confined to boozing so
there are no night clubs although there are a number of
Discos; or one can stay at home and watch
TV-Gibraltar has its own TV station (GBC) and
broadcasts all programmes in English. Although small,
Gibraltar has an interesting history and evidence of this

(continued on next page )

OUR WIVES GO OVER THE ASSAULT COURSE.
(Top) The 6ft wall presents no problems!

(Centre) Some DID make the water jump....

(Lower) ....and some didn't!

24 captained by Chris Bell; the Ladies Darts Team
captained by Maureen Wells, and the Ladies Netball
can be seen by doing the normal tourist visits to the Team captamed by Joyce Still. Marian Cornick teaches
caves and tunnels. If one gets bored with this (and one female non-swimmers during the summer months and
often does), it is easy and cheap enough to take a Jean Smith organises various activities such as " keep fit "
weekend trip to Morocco, either by using the Bland classes. There is a thrift shop run by the wives, and the
Ferry (£9 return) or the Royal Navy Fleet Tender (£5 Education Centre runs various classes including
return), or by catching another ferry from Morocco to dressmaking, typing and language.
Spain .
All in all, Gibraltar is not too bad and although we
As life on the Rock can get extremely boring at sometimes complain about the lack of facilities, I am
times, it is necessary-mainly for the wives-to involve certain that we shall miss the sun and sea once we are
oneself in various activities. The Wives Club holds experiencing a winter in Colchester!
coffee mornings, dinners in hotels and trips away from
the Rock. There are a number of sporting activities too,
such as the ladies Hockey Team (The "Rock Follies")

***

(Left) Brig. Charles Millman, Divisional Brigadier (Right) Cpl. Wharram hears of his award of the BEM
and Deptuy Colonel of The Regt., presents the LS & in the New Year's Honours List. (The Chief Clerk
GC medal to Cpl. Goodayle. Other recipients were stands by with the Champagne!)
Cpls. Arnot and Cockram, L/Cpl. Pearce and Pte.

Lowther.

EXERCISE "ROCKSAND 1" 25

by The exercise proved to be a successful period of training
Capt. Knight-Hughes for D Coy.; it trained and exercised the men in all the
key appOintments they will be required to fill on our
Following Mortar and Anti-Tank cadres in return to UK in September.
February, D Coy. flew to the UK on 3 March for
"Rocksand I", predictably, the weather was poor, but Interlude 2.
shooting went ahead with only a few range days being Who was the CSM who, when moving from one
lost . Rollestone Camp provided a comfortable base and,
although there was little free time during the training building to another, went for a unscheduled swim in a
period, everyone enjoyed himself. water tank at midnight at Westdown Camp during Ex.
"Great Delight"? (No prizes for guessing).
The Drums PI. teamed up with W02 Munday to do
some very worthwhile battle shooting and, despite the Interlude 3
weather, several marksman badges were won. Maj. Truman and Capt. Bullock sailed our yacht

The Anti-Tank PI. was probably most affected br, Levancer to Spain during the Easter Weekend; the aim
was to check the yacht before the Summer season. Bad
the weather, low cloud making for "Blast-Forces ' weather forced them to extend their stay in Spain and, as
conditions on several days but they were able to obtain they had problems with the radio, they were unable to
soine extra live ammunitiOn which mcreased the value of mform the Battalion of their impending late return . As a
the actual shooting carried out. At the end of the result they were posted "Missing", resulting in a mixed
exercise, an outside unit (I LI) was invited to carry out reaction from the remainder of the Battalion . Certainly,
the Platoon's annual proficiency test which resulted in I! was the boat the AWTC was mostly worried about!
the award of Anti-Tank Gunner badges to all members.
Interlude 4.
The Mortar's programme built up to a Part 3 shoot A certain CSM lost his pacestick during the
which also successfully qualified all the Mortar Cadre as
either Class One or Class Two Mortar men. rehearsals for the Drill Competition; he had to retrieve it
the next day from the Officers' Mess where it was in the
Coy. HQ personnel were very busy during the process of becoming a trophy.
whole exercise; the tight training programme meant that
there were few men left to carry out the many tasks at Interlude 5.
camp but despite this, two Company exercises were We are told by one Rifle Company that OC B only
held. The Company returned to Gibraltar on 26 March
following a well-deserved and enjoyable long weekend. finds out what his Company has done the previous week
when he listens to the Battalion weekly report on BFBS
on Mondays.

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27

The 3rd Battalion

Editorial It would not be trite to say that we are the " hot
spot" of the moment in N. Ireland for it is along the
The six months covered by this edition were border with the South where most of the action is now
taking place. We are under command 3 Inf. Bde. and
dominated by our roulement tour to South Armagh occupy the fiercely Republican enclave of South Armagh
which, at the time of writing, we have half completed which we inherited from 1 GREN GDS. Bn. HQ, and
but which will be over by the time you read this. Last C Coys are housed in an old quaker linen mill in the
November, the Battalion concentrated on cadres and village of Bessbrook (near Newry), while the other three
general preparations for Ex. "Great Delight" on rifle companies are entrenched in the small frontier
Salisbury Plain in the first ten days of Decembe~; the villages of Crossmaglen (A Coy), Forkhill (B) and
exercise was des1gned to test 6th F1eld Force m 1ts Newtonhamilton (D), all within a few hundred metres of
priority role for general war in NW Europe, and the notorious border. So far - in two months - the
mcluded a particularly uncomfortable oxime trial which Battalion has experienced four major incidents,
involved B Coy weanng NBC sul!s for 5 days. including two serious bomb attacks; a train hijacking on
the infamous Belfast to Dublin railway line; and a
On 3 Jan. in deep snow, we began our Op Banner mortar attack on Newtonhamilton in which Pte. Peter
training in earnest. Most remained in Dover but many Woolmore of the Mortar PI. was, tragically, killed. The
went on specialist courses until, on 4 Feb. we all moved articles which follow describe life in South Armagh
to Lydd to conduct the specialist shooting and patrol
traimng under the expert tutelage of the N. Ireland more fully.
Training Team. It was at this point that Lt. Col. Stuart In July we return to Dover to prepare for the
Anderson, who led the Battalion at Catterick, Belize,
Liverpool, Dover, Canada and Schleswig Holstein, installation ofHM The Queen Mother as Lord Warden
handed over command to Lt. Col. Gavin Bulloch and of The Cinque Ports at the Castle beside our Barracks .
moved to the US Infantry School at Fort Benning. Col. And after that, leave!
Anderson was a dynam1c and popular CO while his
charming wife, Diana, earned the Battalion's gratitude
for her support to the families, particularly during our

Belize tour.
England was still deep in snow when we moved to

Stanford PTA in mid-February to complete preparations
for the summer in South Armagh. The training was
useful, particularly as it practiced the rifle companies in
the procedures and techniques required to deal with the
sort of incidents experienced along the border between
Ulster and the Republic, but it was marred by persistent
fog which kept our helicopters on the ground .

At the beginning of March the Battalion moved
across the water, 563 strong, leaving a small rear party

and The Band under Capt. John Perry in Dover.
We also left behind an old friend, Maj . Dick Waite,

who was about to retire after 33 years service. Dicky
joined the Royal Sussex Regt. in 1946 and spent almost
all his service either with that Regt. or with 3 QUEENS.
He was commissioned in 1966 and has been with us ever
since, commanding Command, Administrative and
Headquarter Coys; he was PRI for his last five years
with us and Families Officer for three of those. He has
just taken up a new career as an RO at RHQ with the

aim of serving us for another 33 years?!

1. Crosamaglen Base, South Armagh Lt. Col. Stuart Anderson, OBE, MC, (right) hands
2. Maj. Graham & Cpl. Smith of A Coy on patrol over command on 29 Jan . 1979 to Lt. Col. Gavin

near Crosamaglen. Bulloch, MBE.
3. Preparing for a patrol at Forkhill - Ptes.

Rashid, Harriaon and Slmpson and Lt. Knight of

BCoy.
4. In rural South Armagh - L/Cpl. Newman and

Cpl. Smith of A Coy.
5. B Coy'• ac:c:omodation at Forkhill.
6. Besabroolt Mill.

A COY. TRAINING AT STANFORD PTA S cene 4: A snow covered field.

"Grounded but not Aground (or seeing the Philbert: " You know, Super Soldier, what really

brighter side)" thnlls me about lymg here in the
(Author Unattributable)
freezing snow for I0 hours as a select

Scene 1: A railway carriage between K ent and member of a cordon is that you learn
Norfolk.
some pretty deep truths about

yourself-like, you can' t walk if your

C hin : "What I admire about these BR specials feet drop off wllh the cold; I just tried
is the thought and planning which must
Spot: go into getting 12 men and their kit into it."
H ypo : 6 seats with such little fuss; the social
Turkey: spin·offs are mind-blowing, too . I Prof: "Yeh, Honey Monster had the same
mean, where else would we have the
chance to play 12 man chess in such trouble; he tripped over a bit of thin
peace and harmony? Your move Spot."
" I felt the same way about the coach wire over there."
trip from Lydd to Folkes tone.
Balancing on my pick-axe handle and Ralph Mouth : " Then found out it was Ricky Rat all
propping the roof up with my head was
a beautiful and humbling experience. cammed up. "

Your move Hypo." Taff: " Ricky thought he'd been attacked by a
" Hey Turkey, please take your
foresight out of my left ear; I'm trying shaggy sheep."
to listen to this Mozart string quartet on
Radio 4. " Trunk: "And Budgie reported it as a controlled
" It 's not my foresight Hypo it's the
Grecian's kiss curl; he starched it at explosion."

Lydd. " Kermit : " T ell you what, Jug Ears, war is fun

but sometimes I find it confusing."

Scwe 2: A hut in Stanford. A COY. (Crossmaglen)-Maj. R. H. Graham
Club:
" What I like about emptying this coke There are two difficulties in writing about
Camel: stove for the lOth time today, Camel, is Crossmaglen: the first lies in deciding how much readers
that it makes me realise how lucky I am will not already know of this infamous little town which
Fruit Bat: not to be a professional fire-eater like nestles among the lakes and hills and bogs of South
Bar low: my Dad. " Armagh's border country. Almost certainly most
Spide r : " Yes, you learn a lot being on members of the British public whose horizons extend
QRF-but it can be tricky sometimes. beyond Crossroads and Reveille will have registered the
The CO asked Iguana Head what name as Ulster 's most troublesome trouble-spot, the true
Anemic's blood group was. Told him heart of ' Bandit Country', a name which regularly and
you can't have a blood group if you endlessly seems to flash on the television news map of
don't have any blood. Wasn't amused." Ulster.
"Oh look, Maggot H ead has made
another model." The second difficulty is to avoid painting too
"What is it?-looks awful." depressing a picture and at the same time describe it as it
"We'll tell you when you 're 21 and not is. Sadly, a British Soldier has been murdered or
before." seriously injured in and around Crossmaglen on average
every month for the past seven years; the town is
Scene 3: A RAF helicopter less rotor blades but hemmed in closely on two sides by the border with the
with 4 wheels and the word BEDFORD Irish Republic, a constant haven for terrorists and a real
prominently displayed. obstacle to our hopes for success.

Ticker: "What I like about pretending to be Here there are no cups of tea from the local
population and no grateful donations of money and
airborne in the back of a skidding, cakes to British soldiers. A friendly greeting in the street
from an A Cot,. soldier is met, at best, with a secretive
sliding, lurching 4 tanner is that the icy and guarded hello ', sometimes with a non-committal
grunt, but most often with a total lack of
blast which comes whistling from the acknowledgement. Not all citizens here are hostile; true,
they are all fervent Republicans but undoubtedly some
back not only gives me piles but also would respond in kind to the respectful and considerate
approach we make to our task here. However, fear of the
stops me puking from the petrol fumes terrorist is rife in C rossmaglen where two elderly
citizens have recently been brutally murdered for daring
that come in from the front. " to speak to British soldiers . Such fear combines with
traditional Republican sympathies and ensures
Radar: "Good point Ticker, but Peanut is Provisional IRA support in plenty.

looking distinctly roasted ." If you add to this generally hostile environment the
long and dangerous hours which all soldiers have to
Rupert : 'That's only because Shark Eye has work plus cramped living conditions (18 living and
sleeping in a room 20ft. long by 10 wide), then you
been staring at him for 10 minutes with might expect us to be depressed. You would be wrong;
for we, in A Coy. , are in high spirits and in very good
his switch on." form, which only goes to show what special people
soldiers are.
Ronnie (The

Train Specialist): " I hear that Tea Bone, Heather, and

Potsey have fa llen out. They all wanted

to use C rustacean as a pull through ."

C loud Nine: " Don 't hang your Dubloon out the

side, Matsy. Could be nasty."

29

SOUTH ARMAGH- BANDIT COUNTRY consisted of Lt. Paul Edwards (21C), Platoon
AB Coy. Point of view Commanders Lt. Mike Cooper (from A Coy.), Lt.
by Maj. Constantine Johnny Castle (from C) and 2fLt. Rex Sumner from (B),
ably supported by CSM John Catt from HQ Company
The first (and as yet, only) bandit I have and CQMS Jack Homer from HQ & B Coys
encountered was the one who sold me a vacuum flask respectively. The ' Indians' were drawn from all three
which later turned out to be a container full of silver companies.
mosaics! (I hope the early morning tea in Pirbright is
forever cold). However, I will not malign our We were nominated to carry out trials on a NBC
predecessors as we had a very good handover from the 'pill ' throughout the exercise and this required us to
Grenadier Guards and we were almost tempted to wear our 'Noddy' suits full-time . This wasn't as bad as it
sympathise with them when their move home was could have been because the weather was foul but
delayed by a day! The Company slipped smoothly into unfortunately, the pill had side effects; you had to get
the rouune of Forkhtll and found to Its surprise that, out of your suit in a great hurry and a few nasty little
contrary to popular belief, not every person in South accidents were experienced by those who were not quick
Armagh is a card-carrying, gun-toting member of a enough!
terrorist organisation; in fact, the locals are friendly and
quite willing to pass the time of day, or at least grunt in As usual we had to dig our trenches through mud
recognition of the fact that one is trying to be civil. and chalk and, once completed, we gave the 'Fantasians'
the usual treatment by beating off repeated attacks, with-
The Forkhill base is an old RUC station surrounded drawing by night and surprising them by finding
by a mass of garden sheds, huts and 'portacabins', all somewhere else to dig . We eventually ended up on a well
seemingly tied together with a perimeter fence of crinkly known Salisbury Plain feature, Sidbury Hill, only to be
tin; the only thing missing is a large blue and orange attacked by 3000 screaming Army Cadets gallantly led
bow . This is _' Home ' and everything (and everybody) has by their teaching staff. Despite our withering fife, they
to be flown In by helicopter. We are verr. conscious of overran us and promptly lost themselves in the close
the weather as low cloud and bad visibility sever the country behind our positions. We continued taking our
tenuous air link with Bessbrook. pills with forbearance.

Within the confines of the base are a strange mixture During the exercise Ptes. Figges and C larke tried to
of capbadges: apart from B Coy., the largest group by far cement infantry/armour relationships by inviting a Fox
are the sappers although, strictly speaking, one doesn't armoured car into their slit trench; it half buried them as
see their cap badges as they tend to wear battered tin it did so and they were lucky to be unscathed . The
hats. They make mud, dig holes (and fill them in again) Company Commander lost his voice, inhibiting normal
and tell us how luxurious the new base will be once they communications and, for this, he blamed the pill. "Great
have cracked the problems caused by the mud! We are Delight" will be long remembered by some who
also lucky to have four volunteers from our affiliated believed that they were suffering from certain anti-social
battery-88 (Aracan) Bty.-and we hope they will be side effects caused by the pill (others thought that the
able to spread the 'infantry word' once they get back. In cause was more likely to be attributed to the corned
addition, there are a sprinkling of RCT, RAMC, ACC beef1)
and RPC.
BESSBROOK-GATEWAY TO THE SOUTH
If our camp seems strange, the surrounding by Lt. C. G. Lambert
countryside is even more so. Only in Ireland could one
find such a village which is 98o/o Catholic and yet where The village of Bessbrook lies about 5 miles north of
the only church-an imposing monument guarded by a the border and about two miles west of Newry; it is a
thousand rooks-is Protestant! And surely nowhere else quiet and pleasant little village and, due to its Quaker
could you climb to the top of one of the highest hills in origin, has no pubs, clubs, or cinemas. The population is
the area and find yourself thigh deep in a bog . In truth, small and, for the most part, families have lived here for
it is very picturesque in early spring and could easily lull generations even though new estates are springing up on
us into believing it to be entirely peaceful. Yet, on a the outskirts. The people themselves tend to be
country lane by a farm at the edge of the village on a reserved, but friendly.
sleepy Saturday in April, a grassy bank erupted in a
VIOlent explosion which injured our attached medical The most dominating feature of the village is the
NCO, Pte. Murdr. . We dare not drop our guard for a " Mill", with its lOO foot high chimney; once a linen
moment in Forkhtll. mill, it is now shared by civilians involved in various
cottage industries and, for the past ten years, by units of
EXERCISE "GREAT DELIGHT" the British Army. On the ground floor we find, in a
(OR THE GREAT TRIAL) honeycomb of corridors, the nerve centre of 3 Queens,
in the form of BHQ plus its various attachments.
by Lt. M. J. Cooper Tucked away on part of the second floor is the centre of
operations for C Coy. with its role as Battalion reserve.
On a clear, sharp November day, a composite
Company group commanded by Maj . Mike Constantine Our rifle platoons find their time divided between
left Connaught Barracks en route for Salisbury Plain and patrolling the village, duties within the mill itself, and
Ex. "Great Delight". It was composite in the true sense rural patrols in the countryside surrounding the mill
of the word, for since so many people had managed to down as far as the border, with 9 PI. having the
find vacancies on courses (connected with our formidable task of patrolling the border itself.
forthcoming Op. Banner tour) those who remained had
little chance of escaping the drag net. The 'chiefs' So far, the tour has been reasonably quiet in our area
(especially so after the rigours of Lydd, Hythe and

Stanford training), though it did seem, on 19 March, Indeed, in order to perform their task at all, they are
that the Company had been largely def>leted, when a
large proportion were deployed to N ewtownhamilton (D forced to rely on the loyalties of tamed Celtish tribesmen
Coy.), to add extra patrolling strength and security after
the mortar attack on that location. from 1 RRW and 2 UDR, our neighbouring units . Also
their ranks are occasionally swelled by small groups of
Within the Company's area, we've had our moments
too: Sgt. Farrow's (8 PI.) patrol was landed by helicopter lotus-eating sy barites from base camp at
on top of the border itself; and L/Cpl. Ellams (7 PI.), in
his enthusiasm, thought that he had discovered two Bessbrook- known as the 'Acapulco of South Armagh" ·
command wires leading to an explosive device but on these cannot stand the pace and return inevitably to th~
further examination, these were found to be the roots of comforts of fitted carpets, saunas and coffee pots
large plants! without which they would soon pine away .
'
THE RYPE WAY AHEAD
Every nerve is stretched, every sense keyed up to
by Lt. J. P. Casde fever pitch as they patrol the alien streets and alleyways
of Newtownhamilton . Foreign accents assault theiT ears
Going on a tour in Northern lreland?-then a two- in the bustling market place; strange faces leer at them
day stint in Rype village is as inevitable to ·most as the from bar windows and from the dark, mysterious
Battle Fitness Test is to many; and almost as terrifYing. doorway of the butcher's shop on the corner. And
C Coy's turn arrived, and into Fort Richmond we during the long night, solitude overwhelms them as they
moved. pad along in the unnatural silence of the housing estate
and the backyards of the derelict buildings.
It soon became quite apparent what the next two
days held in store for us . The incidents came hard and On rural patrol, they struggle with the untamed
fast with Patrol Commanders keeping a wary eye on the countryside-forcing their way through bogs that could
movements of the CCTV monitor cameras trying to get suck a man to his death in minutes; fording raging
onto the scenes of incidents almost before they torrents and battling through veritable forests of almost
happened, admittedly with only limited success. impenetrable blackthorn and barbed wire. But still they
fight on, knowing their cause is just and that right will
For Lt. Lambert and the men of 8 PI., it seemed triumph in the end . Their feet swell with pride as they
they only had to step outside the Fort gates and they pound out the lonely miles for the glory of ... Empire?
were guaranteed a shooting or bomb 'incident' of some
kind. LIFE IN BESSBROOK MILL

The NITAT debriefs always brought out some by W02 Whalley
amusing points, as was seen on 9 PI's first incident when
a patrol moving to a cut-off position to corner two Approximately 4112 km. north west of Newry
'gunmen' ran right into one of them who had stopped (between the 28th and 29th parallel) can be found a
dead in his tracks, put up his hands and turned to face pleasant little town with a population of some 6000
the wall. As one of the soldiers approached the man, he souls-Bessbrook. In pre-1970 days it was a busy little
was called back by his commander and a very surprised community with a thriving linen industry conducted
'gunman ' was able to slink away. from the Mill but since the IRA decided to demonstrate
its own ideas of devolution, the romance of Irish
Another amusing incident involved a woman trying linening has been replaced by a sinister austerity.
to place a bomb outside the chip shop at mght.
Watching her on CCTV playback trying to take out the As one approaches on a winter's morning a great
package from her coat as people milled around the chip grey shape looms up out of the mist like an aircraft
shop was like a forward-reverse film of a politician carrier at anchor, floating on a patch-work of green. It is
waving or getting in and out of his car. the Mill. This great building was 'commissioned' on 16
Aug . '71 and 'crewed' by 14/19 Hussars; since then it
C/Sgt. Charman and his team were responsible for has had some 26 further crews. This 'command ship' has
evolving a new type of radio report: the Company ate so its 'frigates' at Crossmaglen (protecting our south
much 'clacky' that a clack recognition became as much a western flank), Forkhill-almost due south and
feature of our lives as contact reports and "clackreps" providing us with a constant barrage of flak-and
are still made regularly on the tour. Newtownhamilton, shortly to be re-classed a
' Battlecruiser,' due to the constant demands for war
By the time we finish in South Armagh we should stores.
be fully equipped to face the rigours of Rype again;
perhaps we will have to before long . On entering the Bessbrook quadrangle, one is
confronted with a staggering array of expensive
NEWTOWNHAMILTON-OUTPOST OF equipment. Apart from support and light helicopters,
EMPIRE there are great lumbering armoured ambulances, live
dogs (which the Charwallah has taken an interest in
by 2/Lt. I. D. Raynes since they _put on weight) and a whole fleet of brightly
coloured 'Q' cars!
In the far western reaches of South Armagh there
lies the tiny outpost ofNewtownhamilton where a small On entering the Mill, it is not long before one
band of resolute men are determined to defend, to the forgets its likeness to an aircraft carrier and very quickly
last drop, the vestigial remnants of a fading Empire . likens it to a principality with more Empires than we
Their task is desperate indeed for numbers, never large, British ever had; no less than 13, with confusing titles
are constantly being diminished both by attacks from such as TAC, RESA, ATO, LINCO, RULCO-not
local tribesmen, and the periodic ravages of the dreaded forgetting INT, with its mine of vital C3 information.
native disease known as R & R.
The personnel of the various empires can be easily
identified by their departmental gait and the answers one
gets to simple questions . The sort of thing one can

(continued on page 31)

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31

(continued f rom page 30) In Civilian Life

encounter might be: a group of men with black laces Enjoy
running around like chickens with their heads cut off Service and
shouting " Stand Too the ARF" can only be C
Company; that tall unflapable glide with a trotting ~omradeship
companion could be mistaken for the Captain and first
mate but are actually ATO and RESA, while the well- m
fed sergeant scattering 1033's like confetti must be from
the technical stores working for the biggest empire of THE ROYAL
them all, The Quartermaster's Department. The BRITISH LEGION
1dventurous determination of some can be summed up
by the answer I got when I asked (on 4 April) if it was Your service to Queen and Country
raining outside-"Well it wasn't on the 20th March". needn't stop when you leave the Forces.
The Royal British Legion has much interest
The extramural activities provided are numerous in and responsibility for young ex-servicemen
and range from CSE shows, multigyms, darts, sauna and women of today as it has for those of
baths, S-a-side football, films and half-price telephones, two world wars and looks to them for its
better known as rumour control. leaders of the future .

I have been very impressed by the high standard of THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION
cuisine, which actually extends to kippers for breakfast, 49 PALL MALL SWlY SJY
but the real piece de resistance of the entire ediface is the
new £10,000 operations room; just a glimpse is 0
experience enough but to do time as a watchkeeper in it
is like a pilgrimage to Mecca.

This vast centre which cost the equivalent of a new
two-bedroomed house on a Wimpy estate in Ashford is
where the Battalion watchkeepers, varying in rank from
the senior Major to the lonely doomwatch Sergeant, sit
with their fingers on the pulse. Sitting to the left side of
the consol they can see right into enemy territory and
sitting on the right side, into Carlingford Lough. Here
they wait, undaunted by not being able to see the top of
the map or by having to use a step ladder to plot that
suspect car in some unpronounceable spot. They soldier
on, drawing mushrooms and wishing the SOP Packing
list had included 3-dimensional glasses so they could
read the vital information on the boards flanking the
master map.

(Left) Sgt. Thayre receivin~ his LS & GC medal from (Right) Maj. Dickie Waite, a few days before leaving
the GOC - Lt. Gen. Sll' Timothy Creasey, at the Battalion in Mar. 1979.

Bessbrook on 17 Apr. 1979.



33

A LETTER TO SIR FREDDY LAKER- We will have flown our 600th underslung load to
by Max Maloney locations before handover and all will have been hooked
up by Cpl. McEwan and his team-L!Cpls . Chapman,

2 Dear Fred, Carter and Dodd.
I am the owner of one of Britain's most successful
airlines-Max's firing circus-our slogan being 'The Our remedy for the trouble-making customers (and
Airline that Dares . there are a few) is to simply drop them at the wrong £ield
We work on the same principles as your free location, the trick being, to convince them that we have
enterprise airline and offer a march on-run off-no dropped them at the right location . This makes the
thrills-first class service, with an unlimited hand return pick-up even easier because we return to the
baggage allowance for all, to limited places. correct location to collect them.

We have just successfully negotiated (against stiff All this super organisation and administrative
competition from other state airlines) new routes which tasking has been carried out by our small group of Duty
cut deep into native Ulster to far away places such as Buzzards-W02 Tonks, C/Sgt. Arey and C/Sgt. Bull,
Crossmaglen, Forkhill, and Newtownhamilton. We also who have aged much in these last few months and have
offer the occasional unscheduled flight to Southern sworn they will never even think about helicopters for a
Ireland which is not always appreciated by some of our long time after this tour.
ungrateful passengers (and, of course never by the foe on
the other side). The Airline is to be handed over to new
management in early July. I understand the new lot have
Those on the shop floor (Airhead Storemen) work had great success in the oil world and are branching out
on the pnnc1ple that they pack It and we, the middle- mto new fields; even the name of the Airline is to
management1 fly it. Our hook-it-underneath Air Cargo change.
department IS a most profitable and successful service
particularly since no road vehicle movement is permitted Sadly the flying circus will break up on return to
below the 30th parallel which means that every England, with some of us going back into the road
commodity must be flown in, underslung, to all haulage industry and all its problems, whilst others
locations from Bessbrook. These commodities include return to the communication, packaging and personnel
anything from ice cream to fruit machines with the world.

One thing, Fred: how did you manage to make
£million, dealing with aircraft, when we only made

occasional soldier thrown in for good measure, to 24%? Yours romantically,
balance the load. Max

...for personal service...

* * * ...in COLOURS

1. Mortar attack on Newtonhamilton, 19 Mar. 79. MANY by official appointm~nt to tht
Ptes. Searle and Hamilton of the Close REGIMENTAL
Observation PI. and L/Cpl. Small of D Coy Queen's
survey the damage. TIES Regiment
IN
2. Cpl. Clements of C Coy on patrol in S. Armagh. CRIMPLENE MATT
STOCK TIE £3 .25
A 3. Bessbrook • the busiest heliport in Europe (Uncreasable
(according to the Guinness Book of Records). Weave)

\ ( 4. L/Cpl. Shales of C Coy chatting-up one of the
locals.

5. Ptes. Kame and Ridpath relax during a break in LE WINEST. Phont:
patrolling; Pte. Haselden (right) remains alert.

6. A patrol of A Coy by the Baruki Sangar,
Crossmaglen Square.

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Cpl. " Budgie" Avery of the Corps of Drums 3 Queens by

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wife and mother were flown over from England to visit him.

J. DEGE & SONS LTD.

Incorporating

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35

The 5th (Volunteer) Battalion

GENERAL Personalities
We welcome Maj. Douglas McCull y as Training
THE last six months have been unusually
busy for the battalion; the period is one Major in place of Maj. !an Lloyd who is now G2 Co-ord
DWS(A) at Guildford: Capt. Rod Turner as Paymaster;
normally associated with consolidation and 2/Lt. Peter Metuik (from the ACF), and 2/Lt. Steven
Thorpe on commissioning.
"interior economy" but the demands of
Other recent arrivals were WO I John Catt (as
membership of a Field Force have kept up the RSM), C/Sgt. Brian Barratt, C/Sgt. Dave Harding (as
Chiet Clerk, ex R.Anglian), and Sgt. McCleave; we are
pressure . Despite the appalling winter weather, a also fortunate to have with us on their last six months in
the Army, C/Sgt. McManus and Sgt. Lindsay from the
lot of work has been achieved. 1st Bn.

In December, the battalion took part in Exercise Our congratulations are extended to Maj. Richard
"Great Delight" on Salisbury Plain, an account of Holmes and Capt. Richard Thornton, on their award of
which appears elsewhere. Immediately after this, the the Territorial Decoration; and to W02 Croxford,
Lord Lieutenant of Kent visited Canterbury to present C/Sgt. Hoad, Sgt. Davis (ACC), Cpl. Healey and Bdsm.
Territorial Efficiency Medals, Territorial Decorations Coppendale, on their award of the Territorial Efficiency
and Meritorious Certificates to a number of our Medal.
stalwarts, notably Majors Dennis Houghton, Peter
Harrington and Tony Salter. This particular evening We said farewell to Maj . Dennis Houghton (see
was the prelude to a welter of social functions in all profile), Maj . Tony Salter, C/Sgt. Nick Bullen and Sgt.
locations over Christmas. Dick Akehurst. Finally we wish a speedy recove ry to
L/Cpl. Bernie Watt who, as we write, is recovering from
In January, an Officers' study weekend was held at yet another operation on his leg.
Canterbury followed by a dinner night when a number
of distinguished guests were entertained and some old Maj. D. G. HOUGHTON, T.D.
friends, leaving the Battalion, were dined out. The
officers also spent a weekend at Aldershot on another
study weekend sponsored by HQ 6 Field Force which
included discussions on TAVR training and wastage and
a TEWT on Anti-Tank defence. It proved a useful
sounding board and provided an opportunity to meet
other TAVR officers from the many TA units in the
Force .

All companies have been extremely busy and the
cadre programme has included a Recruit Cadre at
Bassingbourn; a Signals Cadre, and one on NBC. On
top of this, the companies have all been engaged in a
very successful recruiting campaign and to date, over 70
recruits have been enlisted.

A Coy. had a busy time organising the Surrey CCF
SAM at Henley Park, which went extremely well and,
despite this, they managed to get a party of skiers away,
under Capt. Richard Thornton. B and C Coys. and the
Anti-Tank Pl. took part in a new concept on Lydd
Ranges called the "David" package, designed to practice
all aspects of anti-tank warfare within the battalion. C
Coy. also organized a ski party of 20 over Easter, led by
Maj . Chris Parkinson-a successful venture despite the
efforts of British Rail to starve the skiers into
submission, by conspiring to lose their rations en route!
As with all companies, E have done a lot of shooting, the
emphasis throughout the period being on individual and
section training. The Mortar Pl. has had a busy time
too, going twice to Larkhill for live ftring.

In April the battalion held a CPX which involved all
the Company HQs and Bn . TAC HQ. A Lot of Valuable
lessons were learned, not least the importance of the
Training Major's travelling bar, which provided liquid
sustenance through the night.

36 WHAT DYOU ME.AN

EXERCISE "GREAT DELIGHT" ·NOT SEEN. ?fl - -

by Lt.-Col. S. M. Boucher

As a climax to a busy year and their third Field
Force exercise, the battalion, together with 10 Para (V)
deployed over the weekend of 9/10 December last on the
UKMF test exercise, "Great Delight". It had started on
5 Dec. with the regular elements of 6 Field Force
deploying to positions on or near to the west of the River
Avon; from there, the enemy, 7th Mechanized Division
(alias 7 Field Force)-slowly forced them back. Night
ambushes by I Para, dogged defence by 3 QUEENS and
I R Irish slowed down the advance but inexorably they
steam-rollered to the Avon and established a bridgehead
across it (This by our " treacherous" 2nd Bn., flown in
from Gibraltar).

It was at this stage that the T AVR battalions arrived
to aid the hard-pressed UKMF. The battalion mobilised
at our Drill Halls and motored to the edge of Salisbury
Plain where the advance party met and briefed them .
Quietly the battalion occupied a defensive position just
after first light on the Saturday morning, with 10 Para
expecting to jump in at the same time to the Everleigh
DZ. The aircraft circled overhead only to have the jump
aborted due to high winds and RAF Helicopters had to
be employed to ferry a frustrated battalion from airfield
to the Plain.

Positions were completed to the accompanying
sounds of battle forward . With the arrival of the T AVR
battalions and the establishment of a firm defensive
position, 6 Field Force Commander seized the
opportunity to counter-attack and harry the enemy .
During the Saturday night, the battalion patrolled and
manned it's defensive position and as dawn broke, the
long-awaited attack came in; tanks, APC's and
Infantrymen rolled over the battalion's position. Before
the fog of war completely clamped down on the
battlefield, we recogmsed familiar faces confronting
us-it was the 2nd Bn. again!

To summarise on a more serious note, this exercise
was a very practical demonstration of the "one Army"
concept, since two regular and one TAVR battalion of
the Queen's Regt. took part together.

VISIT TO HQ NO. 1 GROUP, Cartoons by
ROYAL OBSERVER CORPS Lt. Peter McCardle

by Lt. T. Benson nuclear explosions and radiation readings to Gruup HQ .
The latter then plots these and calculates likely fallout
The Volunteer Forces are always thought of, by patterns which are then passed to a Regional HQ and the
soldiers, as purely those serving with the T AVR. This of civilian population warned. They are also responsible
course is not the case and I was recently fortunate for receiving warnings from places like Fylingdale and
enough to pay a visit to one of the other setting off warning sirens.
organisations-The Royal Observer Corps. When I
arrived I had only a vague idea of what they did (based
solely on World War 11 films) and how wrong I was!

The ROC is a uniformed organisation controlled
jointly by the Home Office and the Royal Air Force and
is commanded by a serving RAF Air Commodore. The
Corps is organised in Groups spread around the UK and
the one I visited was HQ No. I Group based at
Maidstone. All groups have a similar organization which
consists of a HQ w1th a number of small underground
posts spread widely over their area of responsibility . The
posts are responsible for sending back informatiOn on

37

The volunteers I met were in the middle of an He joined the Regular Army in May '40 and went to
exercise laid on for us and it reminded me of an RAF The Royal Sussex Regt. He transferred to the Glider
Operations Room with balconies, display boards, people Pilot Regt . in '42, took part in the D-Day landings at
talking into headsets and teleprinters clattering away . Ranville and subsequently the glider landings at
The operators looked remarkably competent and put m Arnhem . Here Denms was taken prisoner, but along
many hours of training (like us); however I was with a fellow glider filot, he managed to escape, dressed
astounded to discover that they receive no pay (unlike
us) and do it for all the reasons thought so unfashionable as a chimney sweep.
these days.
In 1949, he returned to The Royal Sussex as a
It strikes me that this is a volunteer organisation Colour Sergeant, and was promoted to W02 in 1950; he
where many of our age-barred soldiers could fmd a became RSM of the 1st Bn. in 1956, serving in Egypt,
worthwhile hobby; certainly anyone lucky enough to get Germany, Korea and a multitude of other places,
the opportunity to meet and v1sit these people, should including Gibraltar. He was RSM of 4/5th Bn. The
take it. Royal Sussex Regt. from '59-'63 and then left the

WHAT A WAY TO SPEND EASTER! Regular Army.

-(or C Coy. Plankbound) He immediately joined the TA, serving as MTO
with 4/5 Royal Sussex. On the reorganization of the TA
by W02 A. J. Kiff in 1967, he was in 9 Queens (T) and in Dec. '68 he
joined 5 QUEENS as Paymaster. He was awarded his
"Shock Ski Trrops in Platoon attack on Cairngorm
Restaurant!" -that was the dream as 20 men from C Territorial Decoration in 1977.
Coy. went skiing at Aviemore over Easter. The reality
was slightly different. Dennis' unllappable character and his fund of
amusing anecdotes have endeared him to all. His depth
It started with the journey up-converted by British of experience has been of great value to the battalion; not
Rail into a survival exercise (Inter-City adverts on TV solely confined to matters of pay and accounting, for his
don't show the cattle train). A 10-hr. journey without a counsel has been sought by many on a variety of
drink of water and the corridors and toilets packed with subjects. His patience and humour will be long
sleeping bodies! Our reserved seats were all occupied
and it was only after holding up the train for 20 minutes remembered . *
that "Quasimodo," the Station Master, was enticed from
his bells in his ivory tower; eventually our seats were TAVR-WHAT'S THAT?
found and early on a Friday morning we arrived at
Aviemore. by

Our rations, which had been sent by British Rail 3 W02 B. M. Wright
weeks previously were presumably still on an "Away
Day" tour, and had not arrived. In July 1976 I was told that I was to move from the
Record Office at Exeter and assume the appointment of
As to the skiing, three of the party could ski, but the Chief Clerk of 5 Queens (V) by the 26th of that month .
rest were still trying to master the art of walking .
However, after Cpl. Hyland's expert tuition, the group It was not without considerable apprehension that I
soon had plenty of forward gears but very little brakes or entered the gates of Leros T AVR Centre that sunny
steering. The nursery slopes rapidly looked like a test morning during the 1976 drought, for I had been
track for demented robots, as men of C Coy. careered brought up in the school that taught-"on posting to the
down them, crashing blindly into anyone and anything TAVR you are being put out to grass"-so at 29112 years
in their way. what was I doing there?

By the third day all had turned into Kamikaze Having just completed my tour of 21f, years, I
skiers, swooping down from the mountain top to cries of should like to put paid to that line of thought as of this
"Geronimo!, moment .

All members of the party took it in turn (in teams of It has been a very interesting, and at times extremely
3) to cook the meals, do all the serving and clearing busy period, which has seen the battalion finally
away. Even breakfast, which Maj. Parkinson and 2/Lt. accepted into a regular army Field Force as part of the
Ward were responsible for, was superb and we are now UKMF. For my own part, I shall never cease to be
wondering why it takes 3 cooks and 10 fatigue men a amazed by the abundant enthusiasm and desire to learn
whole day to cook for 30 men! shown by the volunteer soldier. One must always
remember that they are primarily civilians, the majority
The trip was voted "a fantastic success" by all of whom have full time jobs. Therefore, any time they
participants and a long list of names has already been spend on T AVR training is time they would normally
entered for the next occasion. spend with their wives and families .

MAJ. DENNIS HOUGHTON,TD Training now occupies at least 2 weekends a month
and every Thursday evening of the year. Annual camp is
* A Prome, by Maj. R. C. B. Dixon for 14 days each year and now the cycle would appear to
(See picture on page 35) be every other one on exercise overseas, as part of the
Field Force within the UKMF concept, and the other a
Dennis Houghton has been such a regular feature of "domestic" camp in UK. The latter is not only desirable
to adJuSt to h1s but essential in order for unit cadres to take place; to
battalion hlaivfei~gthbaetenit will be dlflicult December 1968. replenish the specialists within the battalion, and for
absence, with the Bn. since essential administration in the shape of medicals,
inoculations, blood grouping, documentation etc. to be
updated .

It will have become apparent from this that the days For a Personal
of two weeks on Salisbury Plain, bending the elpow (and Insurance Service
probably the ear of everybody in the Mess) and re-living
the bar-room experiences of the preceding ten camps, &Imparti~_!Lvice
are a thing of the distant past. The effect of this is
unquestionably reflected in internal recruiting and the Consult Gieves...
subsequent annual turnover in manpower, currently Free, independent advice from
around 40o/o, which is experienced in the TAVR. an Insurance Broker who can place
business with any Company ensures
Of course, service with an organisation such as the you obtain a policy best suited to
TAVR has its lighter moments . For example, one's wife your personal needs. It will also most
hurriedly sewing some 14 or 15 sets of loops onto SDs certainly mean you'll save on
five minutes before a medals presentation parade is premiums too.
about to commence! Or the sight of the Admin. Officer
and Chief Clerk with their hands immersed in washing Gieves offer you that advice,
up, the morning after a midweek curry supper-a sight without any obligation whatsoever.
which, I hasten to add, became a regular feature oflife in Try them by writing or telephoning
Canterbury! without delay ...... .

Then there were the rehearsals for the Laying Up of
Colours in 1977: we provided a Guard of 90, but the
only representatives of 5 Queens guard at the rehearsals
were the RSM and Chief Clerk, who must have gone up
and down Chaucer Hill at least two dozen times behind
the Band-the other 2 guards being supplied by the 2nd
Bn!

Lastly, on the lighter side, mention must be made of
the soldier who, at camp in BAOR in 1978, when asked
by a certain Warrant Officer where his hat was replied
"I can 't seem to find it, do you mind if! borrow yours"!

I will not go as far as to say that I enjoyed every
moment of my service with the T AVR but all in all, It
was an experience that I am glad I did not miss, and one
which I believe I undertook at the right age. I left it a
better man having matured during that 2112 years, and
learned to accept that there are such things as "grey
areas" . All too often in the regular army everything is
black or white, but this understandably cannot be so in
an organisation which mixes civilian and military life, to
a very great degree, successfully.

In conclusion then, and without wishing to sound
pompous, let me commend a two-year tour with the
T AVR to any C/Sgt./W02 around the age of 29/30 who
would like to see his knowledge and experience gainfully
employed.

Editor's No:e: W02 Wright is currently serving with
HQ Royal Brunei Regt.

See our TAVR Gieves
Ad. on the Insurance Brokers
back cover
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Telephone 0705-21351

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39

The 6th/7th (Volunteer) Battalion

Mainly about People PRESENTATION OF BANNER BY GLC TO
LONDON TAVRA.
Maj. A. G. H. Stocks, TD has been posted to the
Watchkeepers Pool RA; Maj. G. G . Andrew has been (Top) 2/Lt. Gregory and his detachment outside
County Hall.
fromoted to that rank and appointed OC C Coy; Capt.
(Centre) Members of B & D Coys marching across
. Cannon has been appointed Intelligence Officer at Bn. Whitehall.
HQ, Horsham; W02 D. Harwood and W02 ]. Day
have been commissioned; W02 E. Hensby RAPC has (Lower) The March past (County Hall).
been awarded the Efficiency Medal (TAVR); C/Sgt. G .
D. Laine (PSI B Coy) has been awarded the Long
Service and Good Conduct Medal.

Our D Coy HQ has left the T AVR Centre at
Wandsworth and is now located at Farringdon House,
Stonecot Hill, Sutton.

The traditional cry throughout any T AVR Battalion
during the first three months of every year is Recruiting,
Publicity, Recruiting ... and so it has been for us; never
more so this year with Coys. giving their all to build up
to full strength for our Presentation of Colours in 1981.
Although we have not been to Annual Camp during the
last six months, a lot of water has flowed under the
proverbial bridge and the battalion is now well into its
stride in the new training cycle.

Before Christmas, almost every Coy and Mess dined
out our former CO -Col. Foster, and RSM Max
Maloney who left us to be commissioned and join the

lucky 3rd Bn. WO 1 J. A. C. Burr took over as RSM and,

in true tradition, he has already made his own mark; we
look forward to his tour and wish him well.

The Annual Officers Cocktail Party in
Haberdashers Hall (November last) was, as always a
popular event in our calendar; over 100 guests were
welcomed by the Commanding Officer and our
Honorary Colonel, Col. David Sime. We were
particularly pleased to welcome the Colonel of the
Regiment and the Divisional Brigadier who must have
been reasonably impressed for we have now been asked
to assist with the Regimental Officers' Club Reunion in
October which is also to be held in the Haberdashers
Hall . (We have already bought in the drink for this
function at a favourable price!).

We have been pleased to welcome a number of
Visitors to the Battalion over recent months led, as
always, by the Colonel . of the Regiment who,
accompanied by Maj. David Gouda, from RHQ, visited
our B Coy (based at the TAVR Centre, Deansbrook
Road, Edgware,) on 6 March. Gen. Rowley was received
by the OC, MaJ. Mike Mercer and a Quarter Guard of
Honour and, following the inspection of the Guard, the
General toured the drill hall and spoke to almost every
man in the Coy; he concluded his visit with
refreshments in the Officers Mess. On 23 Nov., Brig.
Webster, Chief of Staff S.E. Dist. carried out his annual
inspection of C & HQ Coys. and took this opportunity
to present the LS & GC Medal to C/Sgt. Saunders, PSI
C Coy (now back with the 3rd Bn.) and the Territorial
Efficiency Medal to Cpl. Stobbart (ACC} also ofC Coy.

40 The weekend of 25/26 Nov. last saw A, D & HQ
Coys. on exerc1se on Salisbury Plain whilst C suffered
.. The Brigadiers' successor, Brig. David Woodford, the delights of Hankley Common. With temperatures
VISited Bn. HQ on 15 Feb., the coldest night of the year droppmg to - 5°C, the cold affected several things
With extreme depths of snow. At the time the Brigadier mcludmg compass needles; the turning of maps upside
was due to arrive, no soldiers had turned up; the CO down, and an Icicles breakfast. It is understood that the
could not get out of his road at Dulwich; the 2IC only casualty of the weekend was Sgt. Dunkley of D Coy
staggered 12 miles up the road to be told "the CO is not who yawned h1mself a d1slocated jaw but spent a warm
coming and you are to meet the Brigadier" who had just and pleasant night in hospital!
telephoned to say his driver has 'phoned him to say the
staff car was in a ditch somewhere near Guildford and he On 20/21 January, 11 & 12 platoons from D Coy
didn't know when he would be arriving! Furthermore battled f?r the coveted "Saddlers Trophy", an annual
there was a special supper for 18 people and only 3 to eat competition for a superb cup given by the Worshipful
it! Eventually a small number of brave Volunteers got Compant of Saddlers of the City of London for the best
into Horsham, including CSM Dale who had spent 5 platoon in D Coy over a series of tests on a particular
hours getting down from London. Brig. Woodford weekend. The trophy was retained this year by 12 PI.
managed to reach the Drill Hall where he was who were kept under strong pressure by the others. The
entertained by Bn. HQ Staff and he later presented the first phase was on the Assault Course at the Guards
TAVR Efficiency Medal to W02 Eric Hensby (RAPC) Depot, P1rbnght (all the obstacles on which were
who had just completed 26 years service with the pers?nally inspected and tested by CSM Bowen in 1960)
Volunteers beginning in 1953 when he enlisted in 56 and m th~ afternoon, tests in a Section in Defence Ex.;
Div. Sig. Regt . Prior to the presentation, the Brigadier NBC Dnlls; Duties of a Sentry etc. On the sunday
inspected a small guard and spoke to every man on morning the result was decided on the ranges with Cpl.
parade. It was a memorable night for a variety of reasons Mundy and Pte. Byrne shooting 12 PI. to victory.
and we are grateful to the Chief of Staff for getting Unfortunately D Coy's prowess at shooting was not
through to Horsham and making the evening a good enough for them to retain the "Wandsworth
memorable one for those who did manage to get there. Trophy" (17/18 March), an annual competition fired
between units in the London Borough of Wandsworth
Another presentation parade took place on 7 April at and which this year we lost to the Royal Regt. of
our Hornsey Drill Hall when Brig. Ghika, Chief of Fusiliers for the first time in four years.
Staff, London Dist. inspected an excellent Guard of
Honour and presented the LS & GC Medal to C/Sgt. A Coy have been on several good exercises including
Lame, (PSI B Coy), and the T AVR Efficiency Medal to one with the Oxford University OTC Armour Troop
Sgt .. B. Williams also of B Coy; the latter is the original when weather conditions made the training area look
terner - for many years he has commuted from his like the Somme battlefield. Both B & C have had some
home in Northampton to the B Coy Drill Hall in valuable training on a variety of training areas and we
Edgware! Now living in Southend he finds life much have also been busy on the ceremonial front (hardly 6
simpler! B Coy held their annual dinner after the parade mont~s goes by these days when we are not on parade in
which was also attended by the Master of The the City). On 3 March, the Greater London Council
Worshipful Company of Cutlers - a splendid night presented a Banner to the London TAVR at County
which was well organised by Lt. Derek Harwood . Hall when the Battalion provided a contingent of 30
. Our new Commanding Officer was in the 'hot seat' commanded by 2/Lt. Alan Gregory. Amongst those on
m January and a letter from him to every man in the parade were Ptes. Hilton, Byrne, Warner, Marshall and
Battalion spelt out a clear series of targets to be achieved Garner from D Coy who had all seen less than one year's
in the coming training year, a popular move which TAVR service.
certamly made all ranks feel very much involved. At the
same time a number of articles appeared in local . In February and March, all Coys participated in the
newspapers covering our wide geographical area natiOnal T AVR Recruiting Campaign which was
detailing Col. Dudding's appointment. In all 14 such supported th1s year by some comy,rehensive TV and
articles were published and only the Edgware and Mill natiOnal newspaper advertising. n support of the
Hrll Trmes got 1t wrong with banner headline national programme, all Coys carried out an amazing
proclaiming "New Commander for British Legion's vanety oflocal campaigns aimed at varying sectors of the
Sixesand Sev,c;ns"! And in the succeeding story we were unsuspecting public and which have proved remarkably
descnbed as The SIX and Seven (Volunteer) Battalion successful. C Coy held a most popular function at their
Royal British Legion:'! (We hasten to add that they have Crawley T AVR Centre to open their campaign to which
smce repeated the article m correcc format with profound
apologies!) . (concinued on page 42)

During January, all Coys were on the ranges Ex " Greac Delighc"
completmg the var1ous range courses. The Battalion
Shooting Team has also been hard at work on a 1. Ptes. Jones and Goddard (C Coy).
succession of weekends and, apart from its first weekend 2. Cpl. Noble (right) and Ptea. Sullivan and
m January when visibility was restricted to 25 yards
because of fog, the team has improved all round. It is Anderaon.
very heartening to see young soldiers and NCOs such as 3. Maj. Salter receiving his TD from The Lord
L!Cpls . Sm1th a~d Jones, Cpl. Martin and Pte. Thomas
1mprovmg steadily and the team is beginning to add Ueutenant, Lord Aator of Hever.
some_real depth to its skills and ability. In the first
practice on the "Roupell," six shots gained a score of30 Ex. "Red Toad"
or more and, as we go to press, we look forward to our
first competition this year- the joint London and South 4. L/Cpl. Bailey of C Coy.
East Districts Skill at Arms Meeting at Ash Ranges in 5. 2/Lt. Barry Gregory (right) in the CP.
May. 6. Officer Cadets, 10 PI. and 11 PI. on an exercise.



42 units usually train for the event for about 2 months!)
Undaunted, our team, headed by Maj. Ashley Wilkin
(comi>med from page 40) OC A Coy, and comprising Lt. John Day, Lt. Joh~
Scriven, W02 Bill White and C/Sgt. Richard Bicker
all employers, and many local youth organisations and found themselves at Gatwick Airport on Friday, 30
the general public were invited. A comprehensive range March accompanied by Col. D. S. Strong, TAVR Col.
of stands had been prepared to show off the T AYR to its COord HQ SE District and Maj. Wright, GS02 HQ SE
best advantage. C and other Coys ran a very large D1stnct. The fhght was delayed for about 6 hours which
Circulation to all youth in their respective areas off the meant the team arrived at the Charles de Gaulle Airport
local Electoral Rolls whilst other Coys held a series of in Paris at 0200 hrs . on the morning of Sat. 31 March
Recruiting Stands in various town centres. All appears where they settled in their sleeping bags to get what
to have been successful with a large number of serious sleep they could - somewhat disturbed by the sight of
enquiries being converted to enlistments; at the time of John Scnven who changed into his pyjamas in the foyer
writing, about 100 recruits are coming through the pipe of the airport. One or two Frenchmen also found the
line. sight somewhat unusual and passed by with a perfectly
clear gesticulation.
Cpl. Everard (A Coy) attended a Rodent Control
Course at the RAMC Training Centre, Ash Vale, where Eventually the team arrived complete at Vernon
he obtained a B Grading. Ptes. Boarer, Garner and (between Paris and Rouen) at about 0800hrs. which was
Talboys were at The Depot, Bassingbourn from 6-20 lollowed by three intensive hours of weapon training on
Jan. on the TAVR Recruit Course No. 60 which they all the vanous strange weapons they would be required to
passed. On 27/28 Jan . we had the first weekend of three use and fire during the competition. This was succeeded
for about 50 JNCOs at Crowborough Training Camp. by instruction on 2 types of radio leaving 30 minutes to
Newly-promoted W02 Dennis Cadywould of B Coy p~epare for the competition which consisted of a march
who had been detailed to deliver a lecture on " Planning wllh full kll of about 30 km broken down mto various
and Preparation of Lessons ", on arrival at Crowborough stages during which an operational type mission had to
from North London, discovered he had left his be performed.
notes behind!
The first phase was an NBC test; the team donned
A Childrens Party was organised by B Coy at french-type respirators which we felt had been designed
Hornsey on I0 ·February when nearly lOO children for suic1de missions. With chests bursting, eyepieces all
attended including 50 from homes in the Borough of steamed up and one hand inside the mask to ensure
Haringay. The Mayor of Haringay attended which survival the team marched along a track to a range where
resulted in much good publicity for the Coy and each they had to fire the standard french rifle; the results were
child received a present. The driving force behind the not good! Not to be beaten, they set off on a long patrol
organisation was Cpl. and Mrs. Bonner to whom must through woodland which ended with an assault on a
go much thanks for a job well done. By appealing for tented camp. Full marks were awarded to the team on
sponsorship by local firms the event was more than self- this phase which was not helped by a party of
financing, making a profit of £37.00 which was given to Frenchmen armed with shotguns who tried to persuade
local charity. The Cpls. mess held a dinner night on 10 the team that they were off course. After the assault they
March at Sutton Drill Hall; the PMC was Cpl. Young moved down a patrol valley to a demolition on a concrete
who did much of the organising and an excellent evening pylon. John Day, the teams demolition expert had little
was enjoyed by about lOO people including the difficulty sorting out the kit with all its french
Commanding Officer and the RSM . L/Cpls. Raper and instrucnons but eventually he made up his ring main .
Lucas of 10 PI. (Camberwell) arrived at the drill hall However, the French Colonel DS exclaimed that such a
with their wives in a hired chauffer-driven Rolls Royce. circuit would never work- "jamais"! When offered to
10 PI held a Dinner in their own exclusive surroundmgs put it under the Col's. car, judging by the volume of
at Camberwell (the oldest TAVR Drill Hall in the words (and movement of the hands) he had made his
country) when Vanessa Gregory, wife of the Platoon point!
Commander, had baked and iced a huge cake with 6/7
QUEENS inscribed on it; this was cut by the CO at The next test phase was a timed march over a 2 mile
m1dmght to mark four years of amalgamation. Give the course -mostly up hill . The task time was 12 minutes
TA a chance and they will celebrate anything! and the team were deli~hted to achieve the 2nd fastest
time of the competinon - especially so since two
Our Annual Camp this year will be in Gibraltar members were over 40 years of age. At the end of this
when we are sending two parties, each of 130, to the course there was an observation stand from which 3
Rock on Exercises "Marble Tor 6 & 7" and we look vehicles had to be idenified and their positions plotted
forward to meeting our regular colleagues in the 2nd Bn. onto air photograhs - no real problems here. A march to
On 19 April the inter Coy .22 Shoot Competition final a rented rest area followed where a typical french snack
was fired at Horsham and the overall winners were D of bread and beer was provided. After this Ashley
Coy with Cpl. Blockley from that Coy also winning th Wilkin and Geoffrey Salvetti had to identify a number of
prize for the highest scoring individual. mines and the rest of the team were taken into a small
enclosure where they found five weapons, one of which
RALLYE MILITAIRE 1979 they had never seen before, all stripped down and were
given 5 minutes to reassemble all into full working
This is an annual competition between teams of 6 order. They managed to complete three satisfactorily.
from various French Reserve Units in the Normandy
District of Northern France. The French Organising A long night march followed through a series of
District this year invited an English unit from the South manned positions and fina lly they came out of the
East District to compete and due to lack of response
from elsewhere five members of A Coy based at (commued on page 44)
Farnham, together with Capt. Geoffrey Salvetti from
383 Cdo. PI. RAOC(V) found themselves selected to
take part about two weeks before the event. (The French

-

RALLYE MILITAIRE ' 79. 4. Lt. Day places his charge watched by the
French DS.
1. The Team (I to r standing): W02 White, C/Sgt. The Courage Trophy
Bicker, Lt. Day (kneeling): Lt. Scriven, Maj.
Wilkin, Capt. Salvetti. 5. D Coy prepare to launch.
6. Launched and going strong.
2. Lt. Day (and others) struggle with French small

arms.
3. Maj. Wilkin, Capt. Salvetti & Lt. Day line up for

prizes at Vernon.

(continued from page 42) In J~n. '60, Gerry was promoted to WO! and joined
woodland, passed through a town and onto a railway at the 5 Middlesex (TA) as RSM. On amalgamation of the
about 0300hrs where the next task was to blow up a 7th 8th & 9th Bns. he took over as RSM of the new! .
secuon of the line . John Day, our intrepid explosives formed 8 Middlesex Bn. In 1963 he was back again, (stfil
man, was pushed forward and duly comrleted his task as RSM), wnh 1 Royal Sussex at Shorncliffe _ a
only to find the same French Colone as OS! The p~rucularly busy year w~th training in Cyprus, Street
Colonel was still thinking of his car and could still not Lmmg and Pubhc Duties m London at the Royal
agree with John's ring main principle of demolitions! Palaces, The Tower and The Bank of England
The hardest task of the entire competition then faced - before the Bn. was off agam on another overseas
them which was a river crossing of the Seine in full tour - th1s ume to Malta, for. garrison duties; here he
spate. The task started off on the wrong foot when John conducted the last Queen s Birthday Parade at Floriana
Day pulled out the bung as he clambered into the boat before Malta received independence. Aden was the next
but with that problem solved, they paddled upstream stop and 11 was here that Gerry received The Gold
and let the current take them down and across only to Medal ,of Honour of the House of Orange in Queen
get tangled up with the safety rope. A nasty moment for Juhana s Birthday Honours List of 1965.
Geoffrey Salvetti when he was forced backwards out of
the boat with his feet caught; but having inspected the Then came a posting_as Garrison Sergeant Major in
underside, he managed to get safely back albeit a little Benghaz1 where, on arnval, he heard the welcoming
waterlogged! Leaving the river bank the next task was sound of the Royal Sussex marches which had been
clearing a minefield which they accomplished well - they adopted by 14/20 Hussars who were practising for the
then faced a long haul through several deserted villages Queen's Birthday Parade. He returned to the Depot at
and up many hills to an ambush test which seemed to go Canterbury in . October '66 and took charge of the
well with everyone opening fire on the agreed signal. It adventure trammg for young soldiers. In early '67 Gerry
was not until the OS conducted the debrief that it was was back wllh 10 Queens (Middlesex), his last Regular
discovered that W02 Bill White had been on the wrong Army postmg; h1s_ compleuon o( regular service
s1de of the track! A final march of three miles followed comCided wnh the disbandment of this TA Battalion.
when they met a vehicle and were driven back to a
welcome shower and clean up before prizegiving. The On leavmg the Army, Gerry joined OSRAM (GEC)
team were awarded a fine gold challice and each member Ltd. and rose steadily up the1r ladder of promotion; he is
was given a gold-plated medallion . The prizegiving was now the Headquarters Personnel and Training Officer.
followed by a most generous party with much excellent Wllhm a few months ofleavmg regular service he joined
wme and food . the T AVR and was granted a Quartermaster's
CommiSSIOn wllh 10 Queens Cadre. In 1971 the 6th (V)
A long (and once again, much delayed) journey back Bn. was formed; Gerry JOmed them and on
to Gatw1ck followed but the general opinion was that it amalgamati<?n with 7 Queens in April '75, he stayed with
proved a tough but exciting competition and the team us, servmg m a vanety of ways, particularly on the 'Q'
were unanimous that they would return next year - at s1de _where he assisted our own QM. MaJ . Ron Lucas, in
their own expense if necessary! lookmg after the northern end of our world in North
London. He has been a most efficient Messing Officer at
* PROFILE Annual Camps - always an onerous burden - and lately
MAJOR F. WEBB he has also taken on the training of all the Bn. cooks,
both ACC and Regimental.
Gerry Webb is due to hang up his hat for the last
time in August at the close of a remarkable military . Gerry married Charlotte in 1949 and they have two
career which spans 37 years of unbroken service. It all children - Gerald, who IS a Regular Army Captain in
started in December 1942 when he joined 17 Infantry the RCT, and Anona who is in personnel management.
Trammg Centre at Colchester; following basic training, Charlotte, who found hfe m the army varied and
he was posted to the Royal Sussex Regt. at Colchester mterestmg, hved m 21 marned quarters in 20 years .
and during this period, he played soccer for the Training Always a tower of strength, she has assisted and
Centre. encouraged many a _young wife to adjust to military life.
Gerry, too, has msp1red all of us m the Battalion with his
Gerry was posted to 6 R. Sussex in May '4 3 where encouragement and assistance to young Officers and
he represented the Battalion soccer and boxing until Semor NCOs . Altogether, Gerry's record is a fine one
March '44 when he was posted to the 1st Bn. in Italy;
stayed wnh that Bn. for the next twelve years, serving m *and we are proud to have served with him.
Greece, Austria, Egypt, Palestine, Germany and Jordan, . We wish him God Speed and look forward to
and took part in the Presentation of Colours Parade at enJoymg h1s company at all our social events.
Arundel in '53. During this time he represented his
battalion in seven sports and was selected for both FIRST WRAC SGT.IN THE WOs' & SGTs' MESS
the4th Indian Div. and The Army (Canal Zone) soccer
teams. Sgt. Pauline Trower has just joined the WOs' & Sgts' .
Mess and is based with HQ Coy at the Norfolk TA
In early ' 56 Gerry was introduced for the first time Centre, Horsham. Sgt. Trower joined the T AVR in '76
to the TA as a W02 (PSI) to the 4/5th Royal Sussex at as a private soldier and is now employed as Coy Clerk
Brighton and he was conducting Warrant Officer for where her typing and administrative skills are much
HRH Prince Philip at Shoreham-by-Sea in that year. appreciated .
ReJOining 1 Royal Sussex m Gibraltar in ' 58, he was
CSM B Coy in Malta, Cyrenaica, England and Belfast By day Pauline is a housewife, married to Robert
where he was promoted to RQMS. who is a Senior Analyst with an international firm of
Insurance Brokers; they have two children and when she
attends training evenings and weekends, her husband
minds both the children and the home! Whenever she