Chapter Chatter 53e - RAF Regiment€¦ · Chapter Chatter Newsletter of the Canadian Chapter of the Royal Air Force Regiment Association 1 President’s Message As the year draws

Chapter Chatter Newsletter of the Canadian Chapter of the RoyalAir Force Regiment Association

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President’s Message

As the year draws to a close it is worth notingour accomplishments of this past year.

We had our Spring Luncheon on the 2nd

Mayat the Judge and Jester Pub in Grimsby, it was avery nice afternoon enjoyed by 16 in attendance.

On the 17th

May we were asked to parade aColour Guard for the opening ceremonies at theVeterans Park Ancaster for the Ancaster LittleLeague Baseball, we had on parade ourStandard Carried by Dave Jeffrey, the CanadianFlag carried by Roy Gourley, and the Union Flagcarried by Willie Wood, we also had the 447Wing RCAFA Standard carried by Wing memberKeith Clifford.We were led by a piper from the local Canadian

Legion. Iain acted as 2 I/C and I was the ParadeCommander, it was a very successful day.

We again participated in the Jim DennisonMemorial Car Rally on the 25

thJuly, this rally is

set up by Dave Jeffrey, this takes a lot ofDave’s time and hard work but he does anexcellent job, after the rally we always go toDave’s lady friend Vasso’s donut shop for anexcellent lunch laid on by Vasso.

This year we again participated in the WarriorsDay Parade on the 22

ndAugust, we had our

Standard on parade carried by Dave Jeffrey;also on parade were Iain Purves, Willie Wood,John Wreglesworth and Murdoch Ferguson, byall accounts our lads put on show worthy of ourRegiment.

On the 20th

Sept we again participated in theService and the Dressing of the Graves for the16 RAF Airmen who were killed during trainingat RAF Mount Hope for WW2. We also gave asalute at the graves for the Battle of Britain asone of the WW2 bombers from the CanadianWar Plane Heritage Museum flew over ourheads, this Service is very moving event.

On the 11th November we again participated inthe Remembrance Day Service at the CanadianWar Plane Heritage Museum, we laid our wreathin Remembrance

Some of our group of members who participatedin the Service

To Our Fallen Comrades, the MC Captain BillMcBride (Ret) always announces the RAFRegiment Association and always asks us tostand to a very loud and long applause, this is avery moving and memorable Service with over2500 in attendance,

We again had our Remembrance Luncheon onthe 28th November at the Judge and Jester Pubin Grimsby; we had 16 in attendance for thelunch .Mention might be made that Veronica andMurdoch Ferguson travelled over 100 mileseach way to attend. As you can see by thisreport we have had another busy year,

On a sad note, it is with deep regret that I haveto report the loss of two of our Chaptermembers, on the 7th February, we lost TerryScattergood, and on the 6

thDecember we lost

one of our Founder and Life members NormanHatch, we extend our deepest sympathy to theirfamilies. “We Will Remember Them “.

Finally on behalf of the Executive Committee Iwould like to wish you all a Very MerryChristmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.God Bless you all.

Per Ardua Frank Mills.

CHAPTER CHATTERThe Newsletter of the Canadian Chapter of

The Royal Air Force Regiment Association

Number 53 January 2016


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Treasurer’s Report

Our current membership details show thefollowing;

Full membership payments received to dateamount to $400.00, with the Associatemembership returning $195.00. The CanadianDollar is low at present versus the British Poundthe current amount due for our 19 full membersif submitted now would be in the order of$395.00. At the moment we have 12 paid fullmembers, with 2 Life members. The current costof the interbank rate is C$2.07 to the Britishpound.

Respectfully submitted Francis Finlay

Secretary’s Report

As you know I am sending you the ParishNotices. I wait until I receive about six before Iscan and send. You may notice that I only sendthe New Notices which include the passing ofold comrades which I feel is important as youmay remember those you served with. I hopethis finds you and your family well and I wish youall a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.Roy Gourley Secretary

Sick and Welfare

Our sick call for the past three months readslike a Who’s Who, at least of our easternmembership. Amongst members reporting inwere Roy Gourley,Tom Edwards, Iain Purves,Brian Patten, Nan Loughlin, Irene Mills, andDavid Jeffrey. Of the group most are eitherrecovering quite well, or are under doctor’sorders for further treatment .Winnipeg too seemsto be in good health! Out west the only reportwe had was from Bert Toon who informed usthat both he and wife Jean had had various testsconducted at their local hospital. Hopefully ourmembers in the British Columbia area arekeeping well in part we assume because of theirwet and mild climate!

Brian Patten/ICP Sick and Welfare

Ceremonial

Due to previously arranged requests for me tolay a wreath on behalf of my fellow Corps ofCommissionaire members I was unable toattend the Service of Remembrance at theWarplane Heritage Museum. A wreath layingand Memorial Mass for my immediate superiorled to my missing the Remembrance Luncheon.

David Jeffrey Ceremonial

Remembrance Day 2015

Our Remembrance Day this year started offwith great concern since so many of our regularattendees were either themselves on ‘sickparade’, or had been asked to perform a solemnduty in their own home town. It was with somerelief then that we had sixteen attendees, albeitthat some were guests to swell our number.

Unusual was the sight that greeted us thisyear, but none the less a moving tribute to ourFallen.

This patriotic truck was front and centre at theentrance to the Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum.

Not only was the truck parked strategically, butbehind it was a pick-up truck decorated with animage of a veteran complete with beret, capbadge, blazer and Regimental badge. This trucktoo supported encouraging words of tribute...Alongside these vehicles was a beautifullydecorated Harley Davidson motorcycle withmembers of the “1

stCAV” Motorcycle

organization who regardless of the weatherprovided an honour guard and escort of at least100 members on each Repatriation Ceremonyfor our Fallen as they returned to CFRB Trenton.

At the Eleventh Hour as is always the casewe stood in silence and exactly on the stroke ofthe last note of Reveille came the never to beforgotten roar of the Museum “Lancaster” as sheflew directly overhead!


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Only a partial grouping of our members,occupying two rows our small part of the morethan 2500 plus participant

Thanks to our members for their support

The Ceremony over we were again mademost welcome at a breakfast luncheon at 447Wing RCAFA.

In Praise of the “Last Post”

As a youngster I was encouraged to join ourcompany of the Boy’s Brigade silver band. Thefirst few lessons soon saw an improvement andwithin a year or so it was time for my test toobtain the coveted musician’s badge. I can stillremember the exam tunes, “Old Number One”and “Marching Through Georgia”, bandfavourites both, but my terror was always“Reveille” and “The Last Post”!

These memories came flooding back as Iwatched the trumpeter from the Salvation Armyplay the stirring notes at the Remembrance DayCeremony we attended on November 11th.

On “Google” I found that the Last Post wasoriginally a bugle call established to tell themilitary of that day that the Duty Officer waschecking the sentry posts. On reaching the endof his inspection, the bugler sounded the call“Last Post’ and the camp was secured untilmorning. Surprisingly this was the sole use of

the tune for many, many years. This was its onlyrecorded usage until in the late eighteenhundreds when the tune was put to a new use.

Military bands and musicians of that era werein the main civilians and when units wentoverseas these musicians usually stayed athome in the U.K. Being on foreign soil there wasno repatriation in those days ,and so began thepractice of having the regimental bugler soundthe “Last Post” over the fallen soldier’s finalresting place. This began the simple yeteffective way to honour the passing of theearthly life of a soldier, and now our tribute toour fallen warriors. A point to ponder when nextwe bow our heads in a moment of silent tribute!

The Good and the Bad

The Wing Gang under Orders

At a recent get together on our first Thursday(or is it “Thirst Day?) at the Wing, the talk gotround to who were the Good and who were theBad when it came to being put on a chargeduring our service days.

Roy Gourley chimed in first stating that despitetwelve years of service during postings fromSingapore to NATO HQ in Norway he had neveronce been put on a charge.

Willie Wood recalled being on a 252 for someinfraction, but noted that since he was anInstrument Fitter he somehow was excusedhaving to report to the guardroom but insteadwas relegated to the Officer’s Mess for 14 dayswashing dishes!

Iain Purves suggested he might qualify as‘bad’ since he really got into trouble! Told toreport to the Orderly Room he found that he wasto select a junior to accompany him on an escortprisoner detail to Maryhill Barracks, the home ofthe Highland Light Infantry in Glasgow.


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The wheels immediately began turning. “If weget off within the hour we can make the oneo’clock ’Talisman” train from Kings Cross toEdinburgh. We can spend the night with mygirlfriend and still be in Glasgow as if we hadcaught the overnight train to Glasgow” Howwrong could that plan have been?

The two errant guys danced the night awaywith Iain’s girlfriend and her pal. Next morningthey caught the six o’clock train from Edinburghto Glasgow secure as they thought in having putone over on the military. Wrong!! .Two huge“Red Caps’ and a Land Rover marked “MilitaryPolice” thought otherwise.

Off we went to Maryhill Barracks and foundourselves stripped of ties, belts, shoelaces etc.After a bath in about 2 inches of tepid water thecell doors clanged behind us.

I can’t recall how many duty NCO’s, dutyofficers or Regimental Sergeant Majors visitedus, Iain commented, but the duty officer set usstraight on our being where we were. It seemsthat we were gone to the station and well on ourway when our orderly room was advised by theGlasgow unit that the prisoner we were to escorthad licked the whitewash off the cell walls, hadbeen taken to a local hospital wherefrom he haddone a bunk!

We settled in to await an escort of a sergeant,a corporal and other rank to come for us. My cellmate and I were on “Jankers’ for 14 days forthat. Funnily enough two months later didn’t Iagain get sent to bring the prisoner back. If hewas seventy pounds soaking wet that put him onthe heavy side, but this time we went andreturned as we were supposed to!!!

Frank Mills capped that one with this tale of a‘barney’ he got into out at RAF Tengah,Singapore.

It was noted by the powers that be that in themiddle of the Regimental area stood a fairlysubstantial building which, if renovated properly;could be an ideal spot for the Squadron‘clubhouse’. Since there were a few lads on theflight ‘ex-tradespeople’ it was decided to pressthem into service renovating and repairing thebuilding. Our storyteller recounted that as a ‘tinbasher’ he was told to report to the stationworkshops to make the eaves and downspoutsfor this building.

All went well for a few days until late oneafternoon as our tired and sweaty tradesmanencountered his flight cleaning their weaponsbehind the Flight Offices.

A remark from one of the Flight SeniorAircraftsman, one SAC Vic Craggs that “Paddy”Mills was ‘skiving’ off as usual” was wordenough to start a real ‘Donnybrook’!“I will show you who is skiving,’ was Paddy’sresponse. So off the assailants went behind theFlight Offices and they got into a bruising fight.Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) a passingSergeant by the name of Dempsey heard theruckus and stepped in, put both of thecombatants (SAC’s Craggs and Mills) on acharge and had them up in front of the FlightCommander, Flight.Lt. Richard (Dickey) Avensin quick time.

Thank goodness that our Flight Sergeant Smithspoke really well for both of us SAC’s. After await outside the office we were both marched inand were told that they had been lucky this time,and t there would be no charges entered on theirservice records, but they had to accept the FlightCommander’s punishment! This was, that whereever Mills went he (Mr. Avens) had to seeCraggs shadow, and that where ever Craggswent he expected to see Mills shadow. Flt. Lt.Avens then went on to say, “If I see one of you, Iexpect to see the other!” Vic and I became goodfriends after this as can be seen in this picture.

Together in RAF Gan soon after theirpunishment

Frank added a postscript, “Vic, I hope youremember this incident, and I hope and pray thatyou and your family are all in good health! Bestwishes my friend!


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Our World Traveller

Once in a lifetime one gets the chance to gooff on a special vacation, but for our “kit Walla”Willie Wood it seems that our part of Canadawasn’t exciting enough! We first had word thatWillie would be absent from our usual ‘gettogether’ because he was going home to hisroots in the tea growing highlands of NorthernIndia. The purpose of his visit was to see familystill living in the area and generally visit thecountry of his birth.

Not long after he returned we were nextinformed that he would be gone for a few weeksto visit California, USA. We were regaled withhis visit to the venerable RMS “Queen Mary” tiedup but serving out a still useful life as a floatinghotel. Quietly however a picture emerged on ane-mail.

A Marilyn Munroe ‘look alike” and our Willie!

Guess you could say that he can still charmthe ladies in typical “Brylcreem Boy” fashion,although that company would have a hard jobselling him any nowadays!

I guess our globetrotting friend was not yetfinished with his travels for didn’t he come homeonly to set off again on a flight to Kelowna, B.C.?

Your editor might be forgiven if all this activitywasn’t causing confusion enough to his tiredbrain, when again out of the blue came anothere-mail. This one was entitled “Christian Brothers’and stated in a few carefully chosen words,”Thisis why our Regiment Association members lovethe Christian Brothers!” Attached was the reasonwhy!

The label is small but definitely made by the“Brothers”

Willie certainly knows how to nurse theproduct since as yet we have yet to be asked topartake of the content! Perhaps just as wellsince the last picture on the e-mail was of thelads enjoying a ‘brew, of some kind!

Not from a Squadron I am aware of!

Although the libation would appear to be a bitrich for most of the “Rocks” we know!

Ain’t This the Truth?


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Our friend Johnny Ballantyne in the U.K. sentthis over thinking it would make a good laugh forus on a page in “Chapter Chatter” !!!!!!!!!!!

Another year has passed and we’re a little bitolder.Last summer felt hotter and winter was colder!

.There was a time not long ago where life wasquite a blast,Now I fully understand about “Living in the Past”!

We used to go to weddings football games andlunches. Now we go to funerals and after-funeral brunches.

We used to have hangovers from parties thatwere gay. Now we suffer body aches and wilethe night away!

We used to go out dining and couldn’t get ourfill. Now we ask for ‘doggie bags and go homeand take a pill!

’We often used to travel to places near and far,now we get sore asses from riding in the car!

We used to go to nightclubs and drink a littlebooze, now we stay at home at night and watchthe evening news!

That my friend is how life is and now my tale istold. So enjoy each day and live it up!Before you’re too damned old!!!


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A Salute to the Bravest of the Brave

Our contributor Willie Wood, quite the historianon things pertaining to India submitted quite alengthy submission about our Sikh friends on thefrontier of what is now present day, Pakistan.

The following is a very brief summary accountof one of the most ferocious battles in militaryhistory where a small group of brave men foughtto the last breath to defend Queen and Empire!

These 21 Sikh soldiers were up againstferocious Afridis and Orakzai tribes of thePashtun, numbering in all some 10,000. Thestaggering ratio of 1 Sikh to 416 tribesmen isboth unmatched and unprecedented. Thusmaking their last stand at Saragarhi as probablythe greatest odds ever faced by any troops inthe history of war

Saragarhi was a communication relay postbetween Fort Lochaart and Fort Gulistan. Sinceneither fort is within visual sight range aheliograph station was set up to transmitmessages by means of mirrors flashing sunlightto transmit coded messages.

On the 12th

of September 1897 the tribesattacked Fort Gulistan and Sepoy GurmukhSingh heliographed Fort Lochart, “Enemyapproaching main gate, need reinforcement’

Lt. Colonel Haughton, CO of the 36th SikhBattalion rushed his troops to assist, but thePathan rebels had cut off his supply route andwere thus unable to send reinforcements. Hehad his signaller transmit “Unable to breakthrough…Hold Position” The reply flashed backinstantly simply said “Understood”!

Against such odds the 21 brave Sikh soldiershad no option and firing their Martini Henrybreech loading rifles they stood back to backfacing certain death. To a man they held theirground, while the bravery of both signallerscontinued transmitting until all were dead.

A full story of the bravery of these brave mencan be Googled at ‘Battle of Saragarhi 1897’

Willie Wood

In Memoriam

It is with a heavy heart that I start to pay tributeto a respected member of both our Chapter andthe Royal Air Force Regiment. On twooccasions in November I was informed by hisson Nicholas that one of our founding membersand Chapter Life member Norman Ìke` Hatchhad been hospitalized.

Norman “Ike” Hatch

Sadly on the morning of the Sixth of Decemberwe received word of Norm’s passing.

Thankfully Norm in his ever consideratewisdom had arranged to transcribe the memoirsof his service which thankfully are now availablefor all to see in the RAF Regiment HeritageCentre in RAF Honington.

What a career he had. Starting in the earlydays of World War Two Norm was one of theoriginal Ground Gunners who were assimilatedinto the RAF Regiment on its formation in 1942.He saw service in Palestine, North Africa,Greece and the Balkans, where during the lastfew days of the war saw him halt the Russianadvance by taking the German held airport atFragenfurt.

Perhaps the nicest remembrance of Normcomes from an e-mail, one of many sent to BillEspie after his posting of Norm’s passing on theCorps website. It was sent by a serving armedresponse policeman, and ex RAF RegimentVeteran, Bob Connor

“Many of you know I am proud of myassociation with the RAF Regiment and theHeritage Centre (Museum) at RAF HoningtonThe show piece of the displays is a SecondWorld War anti- aircraft gun nicknamed “CalliopeJane” Last year we had a visit from NormanHatch, a 94 year old ex-sergeant from theRegiment. He joined in 1942 when the Regiment


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was first formed, after having served on RAFArmoured car squadrons in the Middle East, andfought all the way through the war. (ManyRegiment units were attached to largerformations and fought in every major battle from1942 except Arnhem, but including the Battle ofthe Bulge).

“Calliope Jane” was his gun!! His Squadron’slast act was to make a mad dash across Austriato seize a strategic airfield before the Russiansgot there. When the Soviets came close theysaw that there were British troops already inplace, and they backed off! This action was amajor reason Austria did not become aCommunist Bloc country.

On his arrival at the Centre, Norm ignored thesenior officers there to meet him and jumpedstraight onto ‘His Gun’. He had a black eye, thisI believe due to a fall getting off the ‘plane fromCanada, in his excitement.

Norm with his beloved “Calliope Jane”Norm then kept everyone entranced with tales

and humour. At five foot two inches tall he wasthe biggest bloke in the place. I believe he hadbeen telling his son he wished to come back foranother visit. Norm sadly passed awayyesterday morning (December 6

th.)

Norm, I am so proud to be able to say I metyou, and that you enjoyed your visit. A veryproud day for the Centre and you gave life toone of our exhibits! You are one of my hero’sand I know a spirit like that can never die, andwill always be with us!Per Ardua, Sarge!!” Bob Connor

Our sincerest condolences are sent to Mrs.Joan Hatch who allowed Norm to travel, and tohis son Nicholas for being his guide andcompanion on Norm’s visit.Per Ardua Iain C. Purves

Frank Mills (905)-679-1952President [email protected]

98 Greentrail Drive’Mount Hope, On. L0R 1W0

Roy Gourley (289)-759-1536Secretary [email protected]

88, Sandollar Drive,Mount Hope, On. L0R 1W0

Iain Purves (905) 690-0506Chapter Chatter [email protected]

Box 1451,Waterdown, On. L0R 2H0

Dave Jeffrey (905) 938-2316Ceremonial [email protected]

1 Richelieu Drive,St Catharines, ON. L2M 2B5

Brian Patten (905)-388-8288Sick/Welfare Unit 21,

145, Rice Avenue,Hamilton, On. L9C 6R3

Marion Purves (905) 690-0506Membership [email protected]

Box 1451,Waterdown. ON L0R 2H0

William Wood (905)-538-3199Kit [email protected]

405 1165 Fennel Ave. EastHamilton, L8T 1S3

You are encouraged to address issues andsuggestions to any member of the Executive atany time. Our purpose is to serve your interests.

Per Ardua- We Are Bonded

Documents

Chapter Chatter 53e - RAF Regiment€¦ · Chapter Chatter Newsletter of the Canadian Chapter of the Royal Air Force Regiment Association 1 President’s Message As the year draws