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Royal Artillery Gunner Mag for April 2010
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April 2010
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Diary Prizes
February competition winnersQUIZ
Mr A Skinner, HampshireSPOT THE DIFFERENCE
Mark Williams, North Wales
April13 - An exhibition of fans, Firepower28 June
14 Royal Artillery Historical Society, spring meeting, Larkhill
15 Piano night, Firepower
17-18 Sharpe weekend, Firepower
21 Royal Salute, Hyde Park, The King’s Troop RHA and RA Band
22 Changing of the Guard, St James’ Palace, RA Band
22 Quiz night, Firepower
24 Band Festival, Echo Arena, Liverpool, RA Band
25 Gunner Sunday, Royal Hospital, Chelsea
25 Jazz sessions, Firepower
28 Ballroom orchestral concert, Woolwich, RA Band
28 McIllwaine and MacKenzie Cups, Larkhill
29 Piano night, Firepower
30 Changing of the Guard, Windsor Castle, RA Band
May
1 Army versus Navy, Twickenham
Here is the Larkhill-based team that brings you The Gunner every month, The RA Journal twice a year and The Blue List annually.
The Regimental Secretary Col (Retd) NG Quarrelle oversees all publications
EditorMaj (Retd) Mike Shawcan be reached on:(Civ) 01980 84 5652(mil) 94322 5652
Deputy EditorMiss Kate Knowlescan be reached on:(Civ) 01980 84 5241(Mil) 94322 5241
Blue ListMiss Lucy Neatecan be reached on:(Civ) 01980 63 4204(Mil) 94322 2204
Gunner PublicationsHQ DRA, Royal Artillery Barracks,Larkhill, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 8QT
Fax: 01980 84 5210Email: [email protected]/artillery
Please note: Emails over 5MB will NOT get through to us. Please send photos as original jpegs, NOT in Word documents. Many thanks!
Cover
Bdr Dormer and LBdr Ulagoo, 16 Regt RA, enjoy the view. Full story
on page 14.
Win this pewter fi gure, kindly donated by GarrisonPRI.co.uk. Simply enter the spot the difference competition on page 42.
Win Gunners on Tour by Maurice Court. Simply enter the codeword competition on page 42.
The views expresses in this publication do not necessarily refl ect offi cial opinion in any way. All articles and photographs published in The Gunner become copyright of Gunner Publications and must not be reproduced without permission from the editor.
Royal Artillery ERE Convention
The RA ERE Convention will take place in the Newcome Hall at Larkhill on Tuesday, 8 June, starting at 1000 hours and lasting all day. The aim of the convention is to update those Gunners serving at ERE as SO1s, SO2s and
SO3s on current and future regimental issues, and to gather ideas, opinions and feedback from the Gunner diaspora.
The lead staff offi cer at HQ DRA is the SO2 Ops/O&D, Maj Alastair Oates, who can be contacted on Larkhill Mil 94322 5920.
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Editorial April 2010Registered Charity Number 244656
(4) Regimental news
In action(6) 1 RHA get it together on Op Moshtarak. (8) 39 Regt RA keep on their toes in Helmand.
Up front(9) 4/73 Special OP Bty RA hasten towards Herrick 12. (10) Falklands visit by 101 Regt RA (V). (10) 101 Regt RA (V) update. (11) A glimpse back at 27 Calibration Troop RA in 1946. (12) The King’s Troop RHA pull out all the stops for the Army Benevolent Fund. (13) A world of opportunities at the RA Adventure Training Centre. (14) 16 Regt RA see the rain, in Spain. (15) 47 Regt RA limber up in Lima. (16) The Veterans’ Enterprise Scheme. (16) The Master Wheelwrights’ Cadet of the Year. (16) Bristol UTOC celebrate 100 years. (17) 7 Para RHA fall in line in the States. (17) GCC 26 visit Selex. (18) End of mission for the Rotunda. (20) The Royal Artillery Historical Society winter meeting report. (21) Ex Far East prisoners of war reunite in Liverpool. (21) Remembering the Troubles. (22) Changes to the State Pension. (22) An extract from A life in the day of a CRA, by Brig Mountford. (24) The Army Knowledge Exchange.
(26) Ubique. (28) Postings and promotions. (30) Regimental Family round up. (31) In memoriam.
Sport(36) 29 Cdo Regt RA skate to success. (38) 40 Regt RA dig out their moon boots. (38) Tug of War round up. (39) The Holloway Trophy.
(40) Notices. (42) Competitions. (43) A Neate ending.
It’s an old saying, but true, that the only constant in life is change, not all of it welcome or even necessary. Happily some things never change,
among them the humour, resilience, doggedness and sheer raw courage of our officers and soldiers who continue to do an outstanding job in difficult conditions in Afghanistan. In this regard, another Operational Honours List was published last month and as you would expect of a regiment making up some nine per cent of the deployed force, several Gunners are honoured, among them LBdr Gary Prout, 27, of 19 Regt RA and Gnr Steven Gadsby, 25, of 40 Regt RA, both of whom were awarded a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, second only to the Victoria Cross in terms of bravery in the face of the enemy. An outstanding effort by two truly inspirational young men.
LBdr Prout, a member of a fire support team, won his award when taking part in a foot patrol to probe the Taliban’s defences during which the patrol came under effective and sustained insurgent attack. Inter alia his citation says: “For the duration of this event Prout consciously risked his life, on three separate occasions, and it was a miracle he himself was not killed. He displayed the most incredible courage which goes beyond that expected of a non-commissioned officer in the face of the enemy and surpassed the actions of any other soldier on that day…”
Gnr Gadsby won his award serving as a signaller, also in a fire support team, on a routine foot patrol that sustained two casualties. “His decision to collect and carry them individually across a bridge in view of the enemy rather than to cross the canal in cover, gave the two casualties the very best chance of survival by getting them to medical aid as quickly as possible.” The full citations for both soldiers resonate with decisive action and courage beyond praise.
Elsewhere on the list there were Mentions in Dispatches for Maj Richard Wallwork of 19 Regt RA and Capt Owen Candy also of 19 Regt RA but now serving with 7 Para RHA (whose picture appeared on the front cover of the October 2009 edition of The Gunner); the courage and professionalism shown by these two officers in the early stages of Operation Panchai Palang (Panther’s Claw), when both were in the thick of the action, was exceptional. There were also Queen’s Commendations for Valuable Service for Maj John Oldroyd of 19 Regt RA (now serving with HQ RA 3 (UK) Div) and Lt Col Karl Ford, the latter for services in Iraq as the CO of 26 Regt RA. Four other Gunners, Capt Catherine Lowder (who worked in Afghanistan as a TA officer with the Military Stabilisation Support Group), Lt Oliver Hale (40 Regt RA), Bdr Gareth Carr (19 Regt RA) and LBdr Christopher Tipton (40 Regt RA) have received Joint Commanders’ Commendations. We congratulate all these outstanding Gunners on their various awards and thank them for bringing fresh distinction and honour to the regiment that they serve.
Sadly we cannot publish a full report on how these awards were won because the pictures sent to illustrate the article do not meet the new requirements for standards of dress in pictures that we publish, something COs and RSMs may care to note for the future.
Talking of change, the new Director Royal Artillery has written a fascinating article to be published in this spring’s edition of The Journal of the Royal Artillery entitled The State of the Nation, in which he describes what is going on in the serving regiment and how things are shaping up for the future. Among other things I learned that 47 Regt RA is to cease being a close air defence regiment equipped with High Velocity Missiles, and is to reorganise to the unmanned aerial vehicle role with two equipment batteries with effect 1 April. 32 Regt RA, our existing UAV regiment, will continue in that role with three equipment batteries and in due course these two regiments will produce five mirror-image batteries, each with a mini and tactical UAV capability. The DRA writes in his article, “As a regiment we are highly regarded for our professionalism and adaptability.” So this sort of change, adapting to meet operational requirements, is surely to be welcomed.
Maj Clarke performing a perfect jump at the Army Telemark championships. See page 36 for the full story
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04 regimental news
The Welfare Secretary of the Royal Artillery Charitable Fund is pleased to receive calls for assistance from the serving and retired regiment at any time. If you need assistance or you know of someone who does, please telephone him on (01980) 63 4309 or (Mil) 94322 2309.
DisbursementsIn August the RACF disbursed the sum of £65,867 (10 per cent more than the same period last year) on 157 individual cases (eight per cent more). From all sources the sum of £201,938 was disbursed on those cases, making an average grant of £1,286 for the month.
From an 87-year-old widow of a World War II
GunnerI would like to express my sincere thanks for your help when I recently found myself needing to repair my flat roof and replace a door.
At 87 and having had a couple of strokes I am sadly now unable to pen this letter myself, but I am still able to live independently in my own home, and I do appreciate the freedom it provides.
Once again, many thanks for your help and God bless.
From the widow of a retired Gunner
I would like to say thank you so much for your help towards the cost of the funeral for my late husband. Without your help I do not know how I would have managed. In the past you had helped my husband obtain different scooters, which meant he was able to get out to meet his friends, for which he was very grateful.
He always talked about the regiment and his time in Palestine.
Thank you once again for all your help.
RHQ RA, Artillery House, Artillery Centre, Royal Artillery Barracks, Larkhill, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 8QT
RA
CF
Royal Artillery Historical Society
The spring meeting of the RAHS will be a battery history presentation on
17 (Corunna) Bty RAWednesday, 14 April
The presentation will be held in the Newcome Hall, Royal Artillery Barracks, Larkhill at 1100 hours. Coffee will be served from 1030 hours and lunch will be served afterwards
in the Horne Barracks Officers’ Mess, due to the temporary closure of the RA Mess. Those wishing to attend the meeting should inform the secretary, Lt Col W A H Townend at Priory Cottage, Tidworth Road, Boscombe, Salisbury, Wilts SP4 0AB, telephone: 01980 611603. Email: [email protected] Please inform Lt Col Townend before Thursday, 8 April indicating whether you wish to bring a guest, whether you require lunch (£15 per person) and giving the registration number of your car. The AGM will follow lunch.
Gunner SundayRoyal Hospital Chelsea, 25 April
Gunner Sunday at the Royal Hospital Chelsea will take place on Sunday, 25 April. Branches and regiments are most welcome to send parties or representatives, and spouses are most welcome to attend as well. In order to gain an idea of numbers please inform the RAA Membership Secretary on 01980 845362.
1000 hours Assemble and meet in the Octagen Colonnade by the chapel.1030 hours Latest arrival time.1040 hours Pensioners form up. Salute to be taken by the Governor or his deputy, Royal Hospital.1100 hours Service begins. After the service the club will be open to meet and chat to the pensioners
over a drink.Dress: Suit or blazer and Gunner tie. Only Standard bearers should wear their medals.
While all Standard bearers are welcome please note that owing to the limited space at the altar in the chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the Hospital Chairman has requested that only two RAA Standards are paraded in the chapel on Gunner Sunday. Branch Standards are welcome and encouraged to attend at Gunner Sunday.
RAA events RA Assembly, Blackpool, 21-23 May
RAA Service at National Memorial Arboretum, 3 JulySt Barbara’s Day Service at Larkhill, 5 December
Hail and Farewell Dinner
The next Hail and Farewell Dinner will be held on Thursday, 23 September at the Horne Barracks Officers’ Mess, Larkhill. The purpose of the dinner is to ‘dine in’ recently-
commissioned late entry officers and to ‘dine out’ all majors and above who are leaving the Army but who will not be dined out by either the RSA Larkhill or in another Gunner mess. The dinner, presided over by the Director Royal Artillery, takes the form of a ladies’ guest night and the dress is black tie. Once the guest list is confirmed, commanding officers, or their representatives, of the present and future units of those being dined in and the friends of those being dined out are encouraged to attend.
A proposed list of hails and farewells will be published in subsequent editions of The Gunner. Details can be obtained from Maj EO Ellis Jones MBE, SO2 Regt Pol, HQ DRA on 01980 845929 or email: [email protected]
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regimental news
• Combat Stress is the leading UK charity specialising in the care of veterans’ mental health.
• It celebrated its 90th anniversary on 12 May 2009 – and has supported almost 100,000 ex-service men and women from every campaign that British Forces have been involved in since the First World War.
• They have a current caseload of approximately 4,300 veterans. This includes over 400 who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Their youngest veteran is 20 and the oldest, 103.
• The majority are ex-Army: 81.9 per cent
• On average, it takes over 14 years from service discharge for veterans to make the first-step approach to Combat Stress for help, by which time their condition is often chronic.
• Approximately 60 per cent of their total caseload suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. However, clinical audits of more recent referrals show a range of between 71 and 81 per cent.
• Other and co-existing mental health conditions include: depression, alcohol and/or drug abuse, anxiety and phobic disorders.
• To help veterans rebuild their lives, they provide two integrated services:
Short-stay clinical treatment – within a peer-group setting – at one of their specialist centres in Ayrshire, Shropshire and Surrey.
Community outreach – delivered through an expanding network of mental health practitioners, community psychiatric nurses, and regional welfare officers.
• Last year alone, Combat Stress received 1,257 new referrals – up 66 per cent since 2005. Over 42 per cent of these veterans self-referred.
• The Enemy Within Appeal was launched in March by HRH The Prince of Wales. It seeks to raise £30m to develop further mental health services for veterans and raise awareness of their plight.
As Prince Charles said at the launch of the appeal, “14 years is a very long time to suffer.”
In the words of James, “That’s where my recovery began, literally, as soon as I walked through the doorof Tyrwhitt House.”www.combatstress.org.uk • 01372 841600
James’s storyJames in the First Gulf War, 1991
James joined the Army in 1987 when he was 17. After basic training he joined the Royal Artillery and was posted to Germany.In September 1990 he took part in Operation DESERT STORM. As a
young soldier he was excited and enthusiastic about going and doing the job he’d spent many years training for. While he was in the Gulf, during the time before the actual ground assault, he completed his promotion course successfully and on his return at the end of the war in 1991, he was promoted to lance bombardier.
However, while he was still serving in the Gulf, he was involved in a friendly fire situation, finding himself being engaged by Challenger tanks: it is etched into his memory.
“There are many other images burned into my mind too – the Basra Road and the burning oil fields are just a couple to mention.”
Although these incidents did not appear to affect him at the time, shortly after his return from active service things started to go wrong, things he did not understand, and his behaviour changed markedly.
“At the time I didn’t realise what was happening to me. By the time realisation kicked in, things had spiralled totally out of control and my love for the Army and myself had disappeared.”
If anybody did notice changes in James’s behaviour, it was never discussed. “One of the main problems I suffered towards the end of my army career was that it wasn’t talked about. This is why I didn’t get in as much trouble as I should have done for my actions, because people recognised the changes, and would give me a wide berth. Eventually, after a short spell at Colchester MCTC for being AWOL, I finally ‘regrettably’ left the Army in 1993.”
After joining civvy street things went from bad to worse. He became very isolated, self-destructive and lost all confidence and belief in himself. Also he was slowly moving towards criminal behaviour and was losing a battle with drink and drugs. He suffered with bouts of depression, aggressive behaviour and had problems with sleep and night sweats. In 1994 things came to a head and his behaviour and activities got him sentenced to prison.
Upon his release he struggled to re-educate himself and re-train in a real effort to get his life back on track. He sought help from various bodies – clinical, medical and charitable – but to no avail; no one seemed to have the understanding or expertise to help.
Fortunately for James, 14 years after the First Gulf War, a friend intervened and referred him to Combat Stress. “At first I was sceptical and uncomfortable about attending Tyrwhitt House (Surrey treatment centre) and sharing my deepest thoughts and fears with strangers. But my fears were unfounded and I was made to feel very welcome and at ease by staff and other veterans alike.
“This was the beginning of a new era in my life, a place of understanding, a place of safety and a place that has enabled me to move forward: in essence, a lifeline that I never thought I’d find. It has enabled me to understand my condition, has given me an outlet to express myself in a positive way and make progress. While certain symptoms still prevail, I have an understanding of the causes and how to manage them.
“While my journey is far from complete, I feel the progress I’ve made is down to the hard work, expertise, facilities and compassion that Combat Stress has provided me. It is a lifeline that I have come to rely on in my rehabilitation. Knowing that there is now always somewhere to turn brings relief and peace of mind.”
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06 in action
According to the visitors that the Showal ‘heliport’ has hosted in the
past three weeks Op MOSHTARAK (Dari for ‘together’) will ‘go down in history as the pivotal moment of the Afghanistan campaign’.
The aim of MOSHTARAK was simple – to bring central Helmand under the control of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and away from that of the insurgents. The decisive phase began on 13 February at 0400 hours with the largest helicopter insertion since troops arrived in Afghanistan. Over 1,300 troops from four nations landed on 17 helicopter landing sites in two-and-a-half hours, using British, American and Canadian helicopters. The British involvement focused on the area between Nad-e-Ali and Babaji, known as the Chah-e-Anjir Triangle and the Babaji Pear. My team, Witchcraft (WT) 63, a fire support team from B Bty, 1 RHA, was attached to Alpha Coy, 1 Royal Welsh as part of Combined Force (CF) 31 who were tasked with clearing and holding the area of Showal, widely believed to be the seat of the Taliban shadow government.
Shortly after Christmas, ‘shaping’ for Op MOSHTARAK began with reconnaissance in force, disruption and diversionary operations in order to shape, feel and understand an area which was commonly referred to as the ‘heart of darkness’. All of these operations were behind the leading edge of the insurgent fighters and in the main were helicopter-borne operations.
Our aim was to find and understand the insurgents’ make up, defences and more importantly the local national appetite for the national government and the international security forces. My company saw some fierce fighting as probes into the insurgent defensive lines proved that the insurgents held the area as vital ground and would not relinquish it without a fight – clearly demonstrated by the fact that all bar one of our helicopter landing sites were under fire.
From a joint fires perspective lethal force had to be used on a number of occasions but, with a densely populated and sprawling green zone and an air-aware enemy, it proved extremely difficult to identify the enemy, track them and then strike them with zero expectation of collateral damage. With a clear understanding that the population was the prize, and the fact that collateral damage and civilian casualties were to be minimised, correct weapon-to-target matching was critical. An example of this application of force was during a shaping operation in the Chah-e-Anjir Triangle when a 360-degree ambush was broken with high explosive from Light Guns, directed not into compounds, which contained civilians, but in open ground between firing points to create shock and enable friendly forces to extract.
Time and again the Apache attack helicopter proved to be the weapon platform of choice, with its accuracy and superb targeting system. It was able to deter attacks with its presence alone and, when necessary defeated them with the accuracy of its weapon systems. So-called ‘murder holes’ in compound walls and small out buildings could be engaged precisely with 30mm cannon or a pin-point Hellfire missile, thereby considerably reducing the risk to local people while still winning intense fire fights.
In the build up to MOSHTARAK our focus was on integrating the French Commando-mentored Afghan National Army Kandak (battalion) and the Afghan National Police into the largest combined force of its kind. For my fire support team this involved splitting to support one of the two additional companies that the combined force self-generated and, in my case, taking a French fire support team under command.
After endless rehearsals, orders sessions, war games and rules of engagement scenario-based exercises the conditions were set for the second and decisive phase – the execute phase. This saw Alpha Coy group and the commanding officer’s 87-man (not so) tactical HQ landing in and around Showal. The complexity of the infiltration was considerable with such a truly combined force
and with so many moving parts. However, due largely to a hugely effective information operations campaign which focused on the sheer size of the force that was coming and the inevitability of our success, the infiltration was largely unopposed. Given the size of my 360-man company group, identifying and tracking friendly force locations was very difficult with so many landing zones, communication systems and uniforms. Our main task in the insertion and clearance phase was to maintain situational awareness and keep track of all of the moving parts.
MOSHTARAK can be seen to have been the first purely ‘stabilisation’ operation involving a coalition, combined and truly partnered force operating with enough flexibility to win the hearts and minds of the people and not simply to focus on defeating the insurgents through kinetic force alone; the enemy were just ‘a sideshow’ to winning over the people.
The main impact on the fire support team was the changes to our rules of engagement, cascaded from President Karzai himself, to minimise all joint fires unless absolutely necessary under self defence. ‘Courageous restraint’ was the mantra that we operated by and in these initial phases it proved highly successful (as the appreciation from the locals at our restraint in the shuras (consultations)
Op MOSHTARAKA fire support team leader’s perspective
The heart of darkness
Combined force
Courageous restraint
Capt Ben Baldwinson, FST commander for A Coy, 1 Royal Welsh
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in action
later demonstrated). Once the secure and clear phases of the
operation were complete the real work could begin – holding the ground and building up the consent of the people. Witchcraft 63 had a real cosmopolitan feel as there were only three British members (my mortar fire controller, Gnr Farlie and myself), the remainder of the team being French.
This included a forward air controller, signaller, sniper, 50mm mortar man, laser designator and even an admin chief. The next major hurdle that the fire support team faced was co-ordination of the resupply that involved six separate landing sites for the Alpha Coy group alone. Just to add to confusion there was no moonlight so all the resupplies required infra red illumination, co-ordinated from a Hercules C130 or from 81mm mortars.
Regardless of how complicated my own resupply was, it was always heartening to walk next door and see the BC doing the same job but for all four company groups – it later transpired that the resupply effort represented the largest aviation resupply in British military history. The resupplies
continued for the following four nights until the routes had been cleared by the counter-IED teams, to allow resupply convoys in.
In order to facilitate the ‘hold’ part of our mission, and to allow the ‘build’ to start, the use of UAVs and close air support became invaluable. An example of how our operating procedures evolved was provided on D+3 when a group of insurgents were positively identified by a Predator UAV, engaging an ANA/ISAF patrol. They were tracked back four kilometres to a compound where they holed up. The fire support team was then able to trigger a follow up by another patrol and arrest the insurgents literally red-handed, as they tested positive for explosives (the highest reading that ISAF have recorded in theatre to date).
We later learnt that this example (doubtless on a high definition power point slide) became the DS solution and was shown to COMISAF (Commander of International Security Assistance Force – Gen Stanley A McChrystal) himself as best practice! Our excellent ISTAR and air/aviation coverage gave the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police and ISAF the freedom of movement to allow us to conduct shuras and begin consent-winning activities
unmolested as we could observe (and strike if necessary) from depth. These included cash for works schemes and the establishment of new schools, new vet facilities and water provision, to name but a few.
The success of Op MOSHTARAK has been seen across the world. The new stabilisation doctrine of the British/US military has had its first full run out and has proved to be extremely successful.
At the centre of the operation has been the joint fires contribution, both in shaping and execution. The true test of success will come in time with the reaction of the local population, however initial signs are extremely encouraging as the local population’s greatest concern is that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, or ISAF, will not stay, but these concern are being alleviated as check points and patsrol bases are rapidly springing up around us. In a time of growing public desire for tangible signs of success in Afghanistan, Op MOSHTARAK has been a clear success and a pleasure to have been part of.
A fire support team leader’s perspective
by Capt Ben Baldwinson
Complicated
Success
Combined forces: British, Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, French and Estonian forces at the brigade commander’s address
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08 in action
For many people deploying to Afghanistan, Camp Bastion is the reception station
which facilitates their onwards move to various forward operating bases and patrol bases, but for the 21 members of B Troop, 132 Bty (The Bengal Rocket Troop), 39 Regt RA, it was to be home for the six-month duration of Op HERRICK 11. Following the integration package we waved goodbye to different elements of the battery as they headed off to various parts of Helmand; A Troop to FOB Armadillo and Battery HQ to Lashkar Gah.
Op HERRICK 11 is the Bengals’ fi rst tour of Afghanistan and within minutes of taking over the MLRS launchers it was all hands to the pump for our fi rst fi re mission. Sadly we did not engage during that mission and it was to be a long 18-day wait until the troop fi red the battery’s fi rst operational rocket. Since then, the troop has continued to provide precision offensive fi res to fi re support teams on the ground; engaging targets such as known
enemy fi ring points and improvised explosive device teams. While located in Camp Bastion our fi re missions have provided some interesting displays for the onlookers, but due to our close proximity to the busiest airfi eld in Helmand it has caused some occasional head-scratching moments for the air traffi c controllers and battle space managers. Establishing our long range ‘goalposts’ that reach high into civilian-controlled air space while de-confl icting air assets closer to terra fi rma that are supporting the same ‘troops in contact’ takes considerable effort – on average it takes 15 minutes to clear the airspace but it is getting better.
For a seven-day period during the festive season we were fortunate to co-locate the command post alongside that of the US 3rd Platoon, R (HIMARS) Bty, who are tasked with providing general support to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Bde. The HIMARS
in action in Afghanistan
The Bengal Rocket Troop
Troop use the same M31 ammunition as we do but instead of being mounted on an M270 tracked launcher, theirs is mounted on a M142 wheeled vehicle which carries a single pod of six rockets. This joint venture between UK and US forces allowed us to experience the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System at work. This is a more up to date, user-friendly Windows-based system of data communication similar in concept but better in delivery to that of BATES. Both command posts established an effective working partnership which would see the joint UK/US command post reporting ‘ready’ on two targets over the duration of the co-location. As Camps Bastion and Leatherneck continue to grow, a more suitable, purpose built fi ring point for the UK GMLRS and USMC HIMARS is currently underway, until then B Troop will continue to provide precision fi res 24/7 from Camp Bastion.
Joint venture
by Lt Owen Beynon Brown
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up front
Pre-deployment training is always a busy time for we Gunners; shuttling up and
down the country between Larkhill and Otterburn for a seemingly endless cycle of courses and exercises is a routine which is no doubt familiar to all who have served the regiment on operations over the past few years.
However, one fi re support team from 4/73 (Sphinx) Special OP Bty, 5 Regt RA, has been casting its net further afi eld and have deployed to Kenya, Jordan and even Lydd Camp in Kent, in preparation for their upcoming deployment.
Training for Op HERRICK 12 began in August 2009 in the sweltering heat of the Kenyan dust bowl, as Ex GRAND PRIX got under way. This challenging six-week exercise provided an opportunity for the fi re support team to dust off the cobwebs and concentrate on low-level skills and drills including basic fi re missions and tabbing for miles in the mid-day heat before being integrated into an infantry company for the combined arms live fi re exercise and the challenging fi eld training exercise.
On returning to the UK it was straight down to Lydd Camp to join 4 Bde’s reconnaissance force as they began the surveillance and reconnaissance course. This course, a refresher for the STA patrol soldiers of 4/73 Bty, concentrated on covert surveillance and reconnaissance, specialist camera work, small team contact drills and, of course, lots of physical training.
Following an all too brief visit to the Air Battlespace Training Centre for Ex MOUNTAIN DRAGON, a fi rst-rate joint fi res simulation exercise, it was off to Jordan to link in with the brigade reconnaissance force as their training culminated on Ex JORDANIAN EXPRESS. This fi ve-week exercise was an excellent opportunity to train in an environment similar to Afghanistan.
The exercise began with a concentrated range package, which saw all members of the fi re support team qualify o n every weapon system from t h e Signal pistol to the .50
calibre and Grenade
Machine Gun (GMG). The recce force seemed to have a limitless supply of ammunition and contact drills were rehearsed, both mounted and dismounted, until they were spot on. Then we did them again.
With the aid of the recce force’s 60mm mortars the fi re support team was also able to train the BRF in artillery target procedures on a live range, a rare opportunity which was thoroughly enjoyed.
The training culminated in an excellent live fi re exercise, which saw the recce force build its own target packs, with essential intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance feeds coming from the fi re support team, before launching a strike operation on a bomb factory. This was followed by a visit to the ancient city of Petra and an almighty party in the desert to celebrate the end of training (oh and a visit by the CGS, Gen Sir David Richards).
All in all Ex JORDANIAN EXPRESS was an exceptionally valuable exercise which enabled the b r i g a d e reconnaissance force and their fi re support team to train in an environment which t h r e w up many of the real
frictions we may face in Afghanistan – including casualty evacuation and rolled vehicles.
It has been a challenge for the fi re support team to meet the demands of completing mission specifi c training for its role as an FST and the recce force training but, despite the unrelenting timetable, we have got on with the job in hand and made the most of the many unique training opportunities that have come our way. We are now full of
confi dence and raring to
go.
4/73 Bty RA on patrol
accepts volunteers from any part of the armed forces.
For further information on the battery, its role
or the selection p r o c e d u r e
for Patrol S o l d i e r s contact us on
94731 5636 or read 2009DIN-
01-155
With the aid of the recce force’s 60mm mortars the fi re support team was
target procedures on a live range, a rare opportunity which was thoroughly
The training culminated in an excellent
essential intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance feeds coming from the fi re support team, before launching from the fi re support team, before launching a strike operation on a bomb factory. This was followed by a visit to the ancient city of
accepts volunteers from any part of the armed forces.
For further information on the battery, its role
or the selection p r o c e d u r e
for Patrol S o l d i e r s contact us on
or read 2009DIN-
The fi re support team enjoy a breather
4/73 (Sphinx) Special OP BTY RA
by Capt Paul Horne
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Capt James Foster of 205 Bty, 101 Regt RA (V) has made an emotional return to the Falklands to take part in a television programme. James recently accompanied his close
friend and nursing home tycoon, Tony Banks, to the islands as part of the hit Channel 4 show Secret Millionaire, a documentary charting the ex-Para’s trip to the battlefields where they both fought as 20-year-old soldiers during the conflict in 1982 has been filmed and will be screened this month.
James explains how the trip came about: “It all happened after Tony took part in Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire programme last year and lived undercover in Liverpool There he met Iraq war veteran Lee Sanger who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder. This experience prompted Tony to get involved with Combat Stress and provided the impetus for our return to the Falklands.”
James hopes the documentary will both raise awareness of and much needed funds for Combat Stress. Fellow Falklands and 2 Para veteran Wayne Rees also joined James and Tony on their fundraising trek for charity.
“During my visit I had lots of personal contact with the Falkland Islanders, which I didn’t have on the first trip down there,” said Capt Foster. “I think I’d never really thought about the war from the perspective of the islanders. Many of them are still suffering from post-traumatic stress. I asked the islanders how it felt to be liberated and without fail they all said ‘you’ll never know’ and that really summed it up for me.”
James continued: “Tony, Wayne and I returned to the islands for the first time since 1982 and we walked the route of the Paras’ famous ‘tab’ to Port Stanley. We hope to raise £10,000 for Combat Stress and are well on the way with £5,923 being donated already.
“The awful thing about the Falklands is that more servicemen have died from suicide than from the actual fighting, which highlights the vital work being carried out by charities such as Combat Stress. The money we raise will be used to care for British veterans who have been profoundly traumatised by harrowing experiences during their service career.”
“We’re extremely grateful for any donations, especially as every single penny donated will be going to Combat Stress.”
Anyone wishing to make a donation to Combat Stress should visit www.justgiving.com/Tony-Banks or www.combatstress.org.uk
Gunner officer makes emotional return to the Falklands
We hope to raise £10,000
101 Regt RA (V)’s itinerary has not been its usual robust self during the past six
months, what with continuous enforced changes on account of budgetary pressures. We are all, doubtless, feeling ‘the pinch’ in some way.
That said, the training schedule has remained buoyant with several useful sub unit exercises as the culmination to a busy training year which also included two annual camps. The exercises were all well attended and drill night attendance figures have increased, always a good measure of the TA ‘pulse’. Recruiting figures are also buoyant; since 1 April 2009, the regiment has enlisted 86 new soldiers, a total far exceeding our wastage level and showing a good recruiting/retention balance.
Our support to operations remains vibrant. Capt Eyton Parker, Lt Dan Purvis, Sgt Kevin Pardue and Gnrs Richard Cookson, Karl Bullock, Laura Moore and Kristopher Riley are with K Bty, 5 Regt RA, in Afghanistan. They are due to return in a few weeks, as are those with 132 Bty, 39 Regt RA, SSgt Phillip Evans, Bdr Derek Reid and LBdr Mark Collins. Sgt Anne-Marie Taylor, Bdr Richard Young, LBdr Paul Godfrey and Gnr Stephen Johnston are about to deploy to Op Herrick 12 with 176 Bty, 39Regt RA; likewise seven of their colleagues with P Bty, 5 Regt RA:
The Geordie and West Riding Gunners
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WO2 Nigel Hogg, Sgt Marc Reynolds, Bdr Ian Roberts, LBdrs Brian Borthwick and Michael Moan and Gnrs Andrew Phillips and Eric Simpson. They are in our thoughts. Their sub units miss them all, to a man. ‘Missed’ too will be Maj Lee Byers (UESO); having drawn the ‘short straw’ he now journeys to a six-month spell of tedious service in a UN staff post in Nicosia, also in noble defence of our shores.
The regiment has fired two recent salutes, the latest in Tynemouth as a 200-year memorial to Admiral the Lord Collingwood, local boy made good, whose achievements in the service of this nation are invariably overshadowed by those of his more celebrated boss, Admiral Horatio Nelson. OCdt Tom Holloway, Pipe Major Cameron Noble and Bdr ‘Doo’ Lally each played a ‘blinder’ at the January launch of a Help For Heroes event at Alnwick Castle, entrancing Her Grace The Duchess of Northumberland with superb bagpiping fare and tales from the Afghan plains.
Since November last year there have been four notable farewells. Maj Ian Hughes, indomitable OC LAD, has left the TA after a most distinguished career; about to follow him is our highly respected and accomplished quartermaster, Maj Peter Connor, who joined 101 Regt RA (V) as a Gunner in 1973. We wish Maj Adam Roberts all the very best in his new surroundings at Shrivenham (ICSC) and welcome Capt Annabel Bonas, in his place, as adjutant. Col Tony Glenton’s tenure as Honorary Colonel expires in April after almost six years in post; his contribution to the regiment’s successes, achievements and well being, both as Honorary Colonel and during a 49-year TA career, cannot be overstated and will never be forgotten. At an earlier event, we managed to capture him for a group photo shot with other commanding officers of the regiment.
Last October we published a letter
by Arthur Tolputt (Dover Branch RAA), which itself was written in response to an earlier letter from Mr S Adams, both being about maritime artillery and the lack of recognition accorded it in recent years. This prompted a retired Gunner officer, Maj Cornelius Thorne, to write about his experiences as a young man in 27 Calibration Troop RA in 1946. Here is Cornelius’s short story…
I was reminded of a trip out to Cairo in January 1946, when I was the second-in-command of a unique little organisation called No 27 Calibration Troop RA, which was formed at Tilshead in the winter of 1946 in readiness to move to the School of Artillery at Almasa, Cairo. The OC was a captain, and I a subaltern. We had a troop sergeant and several junior NCOs and men totalling in the order of 25 people.
We sailed from UK in MV Canton, which during the war had a maritime gun mounted on the stern. The steel base plate was still in place, but we could not find out what type of armament had been on it. The ship was by then converted to a troopship, in which conditions were not ideal.
[Editor’s note: On 19 October 1939 the passenger ship MV Canton of the P & O Steam Navigation Company Limited was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an armed merchant cruiser. Conversion was completed in 4 November 1939. She displaced 15,785 tons, had a top speed on 19 knots and was actually armed with nine 152mm (anti-ship) and four 102mm (anti-aircraft) guns. As HMS Canton she was also equipped with an aircraft hanger, a Kingfisher single engine aircraft and an aircraft recovery crane. In April 1944 she was converted to a troopship before being returned to her owners in September 1947].
It took over 14 days to reach Port Said, where we were the only troops being disembarked. It was a Sunday and the Movements Branch met us, and loaded us into reserved carriages for Cairo, but what they didn’t tell us was that the train terminated at a place called Zaqaziq in the middle of the Nile Delta. We were bundled out on a remote railway station, only to find that ‘movements’ were unaware of our coming, and there was no room on the next train. Eventually the movements officer turned up, and when another train came in the stationmaster turned out a carriage load of passengers onto the platform, and we were put aboard. It was not explained that it was a third class carriage with old, slatted wooden seats. I don’t know where they could have been hiding, but by the time we reached Cairo we were all itching and scratching. Fleas had come out of the woodwork and tucked into a meal of fresh European blood.
The essential equipment of the troop was made up with two vertical cameras, which were electrically connected to the firing lever on the gun to be calibrated. Each camera had a special calibrated reel of film, and as the gun fired both cameras, situated in line directly in front of the gun (see picture), were activated and each in turn photographed the shell flying over it. Subsequently the films were developed in a mobile dark room, which was a cabin mounted on a Matador truck chassis. From these prints, the muzzle velocity of the gun was calculated. I won’t go into the technicalities as I’m now more than a little rusty about the whole procedure. I cannot even remember the make up of the G1098 stores.
What I can say is that we found it was a nice independent role. We calibrated the guns of many of the Middle East regiments, around Cairo and in the Sinai. I apologise to readers for the poor quality of the pictures, but I do appear in the group photo (above) taken on board the MV Canton and am in the third row on the right (with a ‘tash’). I regret I do not remember the names of any members of our group. The picture of the 25-pounder with the calibrating cameras in front of it was taken on the School of Artillery ranges outside Cairo.
The Geordie and West Riding Gunners
Local boy made good
Calibrating by camera
by Maj Cornelius Thorne
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As the demand on the Army continues to remain high, so do the welfare needs of
serving and former soldiers. Calls for help to the Army Benevolent Fund are higher than ever and is predicted to keep rising.
During the last year the ‘Soldiers’ Charity’ provided assistance to over 3,100 people; a rise of 20 per cent and a record total of £2.5 million in grants was given to individuals. Total expenditure was £6.5 million of which £4 million was from voluntary income.
Mobility and debt have been by far the biggest calls for assistance, clearly reflecting the current economic climate and the impact of current operations. Cases like Tpr Shine, a 25-year-old serving with the 2 RTR who lost his leg when the tank he was driving hit a roadside bomb. The ABF provided funds to
Supporting the Soldiers’ Charity allow his mother to build a walk-in shower in her house so he no longer has to strip-wash in the bathroom. Or take our own LBdr Ben Parkinson. As most readers will know, he was left unable to walk and talk after a landmine shattered his body but with grit and determination he continues to defy the doctors’ original prognosis. The ABF were delighted to be able to assist him with his amazing recovery by funding a state-of-the-art multi-gym in his home.
Then there is Steve Gill who lost both legs and an eye when patrolling the Falls Road in 1989 with the Royal Anglian Regt but his determination has ensured that he leads an energetic and full life. The ABF provided him with a specialised wheelchair which allows him to participate in wheelchair basketball.
Steve also visits the lads at Selly Oak, helping them come to terms with their injuries and encouraging them to keep going.
These people never look for an easy hand out and have frequently lived with great hardship before they consider asking for help. But when they do the ABF is there, just as they are there for any soldier – serving or retired – and their families.
But the charity can’t do it without the generosity of the Army and the general public. 47 Regt RA, winners of last year’s Carrington Drum for raising most money in a year for the ABF (see August’s edition of The Gunner), have shown us all what can be achieved, and The King’s Troop RHA are leading the way this year. So please continue to support the ABF in any way that you can.
On Thursday 15 October The King’s Troop RHA held a dinner to raise money for three deserving charities – the Army Benevolent
Fund, Friends of Swiss Cottage and Kith and Kids. Friends of Swiss Cottage raise money for Swiss Cottage School which is a 100 per cent special educational needs school that has outstanding Ofsted reports and is oversubscribed, but does not have sufficient funding. Kith and Kids run a voluntary service for groups in the community, offering much needed support to families with disabled children.
The King’s Troop opened its doors to over 100 dinner guests and was delighted that the Mayors of Camden and Haringey and the Deputy Lieutenant of Haringey were also able to join them. Fortunately the evening was mild and dry and the guests walked into the barracks to be greeted by a mounted sword guard. They then enjoyed a champagne reception while watching the band of the Coldstream Guards beat retreat on the regimental square. During the three course meal, prepared by an army chef and served by soldiers, the guests were able to participate in an auction and a silent auction, which they did with great gusto. Prizes such as a tandem parachute jump with
the Red Devils Army Parachute Display Team, lunch at the historic Vintners’ Hall, a night at the Dorchester Collection’s newest country hotel and lunch at The King’s Troop RHA raised over £21,000. The silent auction with prizes such as a week’s stay in a luxury villa in Turkey, a hair appointment with Michael van Clark and tickets to the Masters Tennis tournament at the O2 Arena raised over £5,000. The dinner ended with a fine rendition of the Post Horn Gallop, and a loyal toast to our Captain-General.
The evening was great fun and it was a wonderful opportunity for the guests, who were mostly local residents from the St John’s Wood area, to see behind the high brick wall which many of them pass every day. It was also a unique chance for the King’s Troop to meet many of its neighbours, and of course to raise money for three very worthy charities.
Including ticket sales, the auctions and donations the grand total raised was over £47,000. The King’s Troop would like to thank Mrs Elizabeth Cross and Mrs Alison Beecham for all their help in organizing the evening.
Troop raise a king’s ransom
Mrs Elizabeth Cross, Maj Neil Cross, Mrs Kay Bedford (head teacher) and Mrs Ali Beecham The Troop and the grateful recipients
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Adventure training
20 years from now you will be more disappointed about the things you didn’t do than the ones you did!
Adventurous training is a valuable addition to formal military training, helping support the values
and standards of the British Army and enhancing an individual’s ability to withstand the rigours of operations and rapid deployments.
The military is becoming busier than ever before, yet with a bit of effort, you and your unit can see parts of the Royal Artillery from a different prospective and in a variety of rewarding situations. Every little helps.
More opportunities are opening up for soldiers within the RA family. Firstly the Royal Artillery Adventure Training Centre, now known as the Army Level II Adventure Training Centre, in the heart of
Snowdonia National Park, North Wales, has become better than ever. From top-of-the-range kit and equipment, more exciting courses and activities, interesting moments of cliff-jumping into the sea, to mountain leader training and mountain bike courses, you have it all.
In an effort to help its own, the centre is seeking and encouraging keen and enthusiastic soldiers, instructors and coaches to work there part-time to gain that valuable experience.
Units can tailor-make their own unique fi ve-day multi-activity packages, which help to bring groups together, develop team spirit, encourage working together and identify potential leaders and instructors. With this in mind, nudge your BTO and get on a course at the Joint Service Mountain Training Centre (JSMTC).
JSMTC is a tri-service organisation that trains and assesses leaders and instructors. JSMTC is the centre for mountaineering, rock climbing, canoeing, caving and skiing. There are a variety of wings and training establishments throughout the country and overseas including: JSMTC Indefatigable, JSMTW Ripon and JSMTW Ballachulish in Scotland. All are fantastic locations, which enable the very best training.
JSMTC is evolving, changing and improving the way it does business. A key change saw WO1 Karl Brennan (7 Para RHA) take over as the fi rst JSMTC RSM. Despite his busy transition, he has seen the top of Snowden and now says he needs to fi nd his offi ce. Previously, all posts were strictly for members of the Physical Training Corps. However, in July 2009 there was a change, which for me, a Royal Artillery soldier, meant the opportunity to work as an instructor within JSMTC. Luckily enough I had already gained qualifi cations through the Royal Artillery Adventure Training Centre.
There are approximately 20 expeditions and symposiums run each year, giving short but fantastic worldwide experiences in a sport you may not have tried before. In 2009 alone, these adventure training organisations gave me the chance to travel to Norway, skiing for two weeks, followed a week later by ice climbing in Switzerland, followed by open boating in Canada and sea kayaking around the islands of Scotland. Most recently we have had staff training in Norway and more adventures!
Royal Artillery Adventure
Race21 - 23 April
to fi nd out more please:
Tel: 01690 720 153
Email: [email protected]
Or for more information on adventure training visit
our website at
www.ahrc.co.uk/jsmtc
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On Friday, 13 November, members of 20 Bty RA deployed to northern-Spain for
seven days of adventurous training. Given the high level of 16 Regt RA’s operational commitments, any opportunity for adventure training has to be taken advantage of. On this occasion the Royal Artillery Centre for Personal Development and the RAI saved the day by providing much needed funding, thus reducing the individual financial burden to acceptable levels. The soldiers had the choice of rock climbing, kayaking, mountain biking or mountaineering.
The move to Spain was by road across France, a gruelling 28-hour journey that culminated in us arriving at our hotel late at night in typical North Luffenham weather that seemed to have followed us south. Standing in the dark and the pouring rain, the younger gunners expressed their concern that Spain was not living up to expectations, in a way that only Gunners can.
After a good night’s rest, in daylight the Arenas de Cabrales began to look moderately better, even though the rain continued to fall. The
expedition members were split into four groups
and issued with e q u i p m e n t
while the
The rain in Spaininstructors began their preparations. Unfortunately it was at this stage that we discovered that the lakes we planned to use for kayaking were dangerously flooded and consequently out of bounds, much to the disappointment of OCdt Marwaha, the kayaking instructor from London University OTC.
Luckily we were able to use instructors from other units including WO2 Law of the Royal Engineers who, despite being a Sapper, proved to be a fantastic instructor with a good sense of humour. Unusually for a Sapper he didn’t mention how fantastic the Engineers are for the entire trip! The mountaineering merged with rock climbing at certain points due to the steep incline of some of the peaks, some of which are over 3,000 feet, quite a hike in most cases. It was well worth the full day’s effort to experience the breathtaking
views when the top was finally reached. The highlight of the mountaineering was a night spent at a lodge on the summit of one of the
mountains. The old man who ran the lodge had spent 20 years there without coming down. With a chilly night closing in and the only generator dying on us, we did consider selling him Gnr Damien Green in exchange for a fire…
The mountain bikers, under the tuition of SSgt ‘Taff’ Hall, spent a few white-knuckle days haring down the side of the mountains, all balanced by SSgt Hall’s rather less exciting morning bike checks and briefings. With the improving weather Arenas de Cabrales eventually began to resemble what we had imagined Spain to be and there was even the risk of sunburn! The rock climbers made full use of this warmer period and under the instruction of Bdr Richard Wragg spent their time clambering up and abseiling down every rock face they could find, occasionally being attacked by the small lizards that live in crevices in the rock.
All in all the exercise was a big success with many of the participants gaining their
basic level qualifications and before we knew it we were faced by the
long trip home when it was a case of driving straight to Lydd and Hythe ranges for more pre-deployment training!
by Bdr Sam Dormer
Fantastic
SSgt Hall and his motley crew Gnr Lester showing off his advanced driving skills
up front
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After more than a year of planning, 14 members of 47 Regt RA finally made it to Peru for an expedition that took us from the
high altitude and harsh conditions of the Andean mountain ranges to the amazing ancient Inca ruins at Machu Picchu, following routes along the Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit and Salkantay Trail, with altitudes ranging from 2,750 to 5,050 metres above sea level. Although Gunners made up the bulk of the group, there was representation from the REME and AGC, rank-ranged from gunner to major, so the team was as diverse as it could be.
On arrival, we spent a day in Lima finalising our plans and confirming transport arrangements before starting the long journey north to Huaraz, Peru’s mountaineering Mecca. The journey afforded some awesome views, with scenery ranging from the sandy shores of the Pacific Ocean to the sparse, high plateau of the Andes. Huaraz lies at over 3,000 metres, so the next three days were spent conducting short acclimatisation treks to adjust to the altitude and help prevent acute mountain sickness prior to the main trekking.
The Cordillera Huayhuash is a small mountain range, only 30km in length, yet it contains several peaks over 6,000 metres, including Yerupaja, the second highest mountain in Peru at 6,634 metres which was made famous by Joe Simpson’s amazing survival story Touching the Void. The complete Huayhuash Circuit circles the entire range covering a distance of 160km at altitudes ranging between 2,750 and 5,050 metres with incredible views throughout.
Here we met our legendary guide, Sabino, who at 59 years of age put us young soldiers to shame! He is the mountain goat of Peru and seemed to have endless amounts of energy. However, even Sabino chose not to join the lads in a hotly
contested football match against the
kids of a nearby village. Despite playing in walking boots and being barely able to breathe at around 4,000 metres above sea level, England clinched a famous victory over Peru 10-9!
Once we had completed the Huayhuash circuit we flew to Cusco for the trek south to the heart of the Inca Empire. In Cusco we met another guide with whom we would carry out the four-day trek to the foothills of the famous Inca ruins at Machu Picchu. The Salcantay Trail took us from rugged mountains at high altitude, through secondary jungle to the foot of Machu Picchu, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Having woken up at 0430 hours to beat the crowds we began the trek up 4,200 steps to the top of the Inca ruins, despite WO2 Baxter offering to pay for everyone to take the bus! The effort did not go unrewarded as
Machu Picchu is absolutely spectacular. The high altitude and hash climbs made the treks extremely challenging but the sense of
achievement, and the opportunity to visit such a beautiful country, made it well worthwhile.
The expedition was a fantastic experience for everyone on the team and will be
remembered for years to come.
South Coast Gunners in South America
by Capt Sam Abayomi
The team salute the Inca gods at Machu Picchu The team at the highest point of the Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit (5,050m)Peru’s rapidly changing climate
Lt Jason Jump, Maj Nigel Cole and Capt Sam Abayomi at
Machu Picchu
Bdr Chaddock demonstrating an airborne river crossing
up front
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Armed forces veterans looking to start their own business or become self-employed will be given more
support under a new £5m scheme.The government’s ‘Be the Boss’ campaign, to be
delivered by the Royal British Legion, will provide ex-service personnel with loans and grants to assist with the costs of starting and growing a business. The Royal British Legion will also increase the information and advice available to those looking to set up a business, including matching mentors to provide assistance to those in the early stages of their business career. The Royal British Legion will provide up to £5m in enterprise support, which can include training, funding to help meet initial costs, or fi nancing to help grow a business established within the past two years. Ex-service personnel, who have been discharged since 7 October 2001, will be able to apply for a loan of up to £30,000 and grants of up to £7,500 through the scheme, which builds on the Legion’s ‘Civvy Street’ website service.
A veteran who has already had success running a business is retired Capt Sarah Steel. After she left the Army in 2000, she struggled to fi nd childcare for her children. That inspired her to retrain as a nursery teacher and start her own business. She now owns a chain of 12 children’s nurseries – four of which are on Ministry of Defence bases.
She said: “Running your own business can be challenging at times but it’s certainly rewarding. I’ve learned that the key to business success is having a really strong business plan.
“Having easy access to mentors – people who had been there before – would have been a great help to me and I’m sure others will benefi t from this service.”
Meanwhile, Paul Kyriakides left the Army in 1999. Nine years later, in November 2008, he was made redundant. However, the Royal British Legion helped him to start up his own business last year. He was provided with advice and a loan to set up his own plant-growing business, Kyrian Plants, as a sole trader. He now sells at farmers’ markets in London and the south east.
He said: “I started my business last year with the help of the Royal British Legion and I’m glad that more people will benefi t from their support. Their help in developing a business plan helped me to overcome many pitfalls – although I wish that I had a mentor to bounce ideas off!
“These are diffi cult times and it would be wrong for me to suggest that starting your own business is easy. However, it is an incredibly rewarding experience and has allowed me to use the discipline and hard work that I learned in the Army.”
Further information see: DIN1710www.civvystreet.org or www.britishlegion.org.uk
Be the Boss helpline: 0800 6785787
Veterans’ Enterprise Scheme
Success
In December last year, at Drapers Hall, the Master Wheelwright Mr Richard Proctor presented Cdt
SSgt Kerry Wilde of 97 Bty (Woolwich Det) SELACF with the Master Wheelwright’s Royal Artillery Cadet of the Year Award.
The Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights, who have traditional ties with the Royal Regiment of Artillery dating from 1670, have adopted three Royal Artillery, South East London Army Cadet Force detachments; based at Woolwich, Erith and Grove Park.
Each year, the Master Wheelwright presents the award, a bronzed reproduction model of the Néry Gun, a mounted illuminated citation and £100, based on testimony by the offi cers of the units and the fi nal recommendation by the Commandant of the South East London Army Cadet Force, Col Jeremy Wilson.
SSgt Wilde was accompanied at the presentation by Col Wilson and WO2 Tony McMorran, Training Sergeant Major of the 9 London Arty Regt ACF, and afterwards joined the company at dinner where guests included Gen Sir David Richards, the Chief of the General Staff, and Gen Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman, The Master Gunner St James’s Park. SSgt Wilde is looking forward to joining the Regular Army in the near future.
Cadet of the year
Bristol centenary celebrations
up front
Bristol University Offi cer Training Corps is celebrating its 100th year since formation in 1910. Linked to
its centenary celebrations, the Bristol UOTC Alumni Foundation is being re-launched.
If you have served with Bristol UOTC either as an offi cer cadet or as a member of staff (territorial, non-regular permanent staff or regular) and you would like to be
contacted by the Alumni Foundation and be informed of the various centenary activities please email Bristol UOTC at
or write to Bristol UOTC:The Secretary, Bristol UOTC Alumni Foundation, The Artillery Grounds, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2LG
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American Jumps Course
up front
Students from the GCC 26 Targeting Course visited Selex Galileo Ltd in Basildon, Essex on Wednesday, 17 March. Our host, Jeremy Stadward is a former BC of P Bty, 5 Regt RA.
Our aim was to see for ourselves the world leaders in acoustic weapon locating technology and also to broaden the GCC students’ knowledge of the Advanced Sound Ranging Programme (ASP). We were given a tour of the technical areas within Selex and had the opportunity to see a wide range of new technology. We also had the privilege of visiting the company’s new Blue Room; an area where 3D technology is used to view life-size models of the products, in extreme detail, prior to their manufacture. The Blue Room enables customers to see planned improvements and new capabilities in action before any procurement is made, enabling Selex and the end product user (us) to combine technical knowledge with operational experience, saving time and money for both the designers and the user. The picture shows SSgt Devlin trying out future developments for the Panther vehicle. After lunch we visited the workshop to see just how the ASP equipment is built, which also provided an insight in to some of the upgrades we hope to see in the future. The day ended with an enjoyable evening hosted by Jeremy. The following day we travelled north to Oxford to visit Advanced Technological Systems International, a small company which provides the power management systems (batteries) for the ASP equipment. During this visit we learnt about the complexity of the batteries and also received tips on how to get the most out of the equipment on operations. As a course we found the visits to be a huge success, with both the students, and companies, gaining valuable insights.
GCC on a virtual tour
It was with some trepidation that one member of V Para Bty RHA, Capt Moore,
and three members from G Para Bty RHA, Bdr Kepa, Gnr Williams and Gnr Crowther, left Merville Barracks on a frosty morning in January and headed off to what would be an experience of a military life time. An opportunity had arisen to attend the American Airborne School’s Jumps Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. Aware that this sort of thing doesn’t happen too often, the four lucky members of 7 Para RHA were chosen from a cast of thousands to travel out and complete the three-week course.
On arrival at Fort Benning, our home for the next three weeks, we hit the early morning PT sessions. True to form, large columns of formed rank and fi le trotted slowly past, all looking identical and singing about some girl called ‘Kathryn Jack’ and the unforgettable, ‘Airborne, Airborne all the way’ song. The completion of two miles in 18 minutes, and the standard amount of press ups and sit ups for a basic UK fi tness test were not quite like the rigours of our own physical selection course but the Americans are wholly inclusive and the airborne training is open to both male and female offi cers and soldiers alike.
The next evolution, ground training, is taken very seriously. It is the longest part of the course consisting of two weeks of learning how to fall and land without doing any damage to oneself. No stone is left unturned in the quest for parachute landing perfection! To the American staff’s credit, they were taking a class of 500 students through a three-week course. This sort of scale is utterly unfathomable in the UK. We neither have the facilities to teach on such a scale nor the aircraft. The American Airborne
School has three aircraft of varying types constantly dedicated to the course to ensure that all students qualify in just four days. The 500 course members all qualifi ed, bar some who sustained injnuries on landing, in the time stated.
We were jumping from either a Hercules C-130 or a C-17. The difference in the two aircraft was signifi cant; the rather cramped confi nes of a C-130 are nothing compared to the almost palatial interior of the C-17. The exit from a C-17 is far more relaxed (if such a thing exists in the world of parachuting) than that of a C-130. Of all the dangers involved with military parachuting it is the ‘air steal’ that most occupies the mind - the prospect of another airborne soldier drifting beneath you and therefore ‘stealing’ your air, making you
plummet below him, and this motion carrying on until the fi rst person hits the ground, is really rather terrifying and certainly focuses the mind.
The Americans are intensely proud of all that they achieve, and enjoy letting everyone know. To this end, families, serving members of airborne units and relations of any kind, were all in attendance for the fi nal parade to mark the ‘pinning of the wings’ to the combat jacket. It was a fi tting end to an excellent course.
All those members of 16 Air Assault Bde who took part in the American Jumps Course are fully aware of the privilege bestowed upon them. As it is there will be 20 particularly ‘Ali’ paratroopers in 16 AA Bde wearing a rather funny set of wings.
Jumps Jumps Course
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You’ve got to be out of the Rotunda by 1 January 2010,” said the head of
the MOD Heritage Branch early in 2009. Yeah, yeah I thought. I must have heard that cry every year for the past five years, with a different date each time. I’ll be here for another 10 years, I thought to myself. A cold shiver went down my spine when I realised this time it was for real.
Once it had sunk in, and having spent 25 years in the Royal Regiment which included jobs such as OP ack and OP officer, I thought it would be a good idea to get the warning order out soon as possible. This meant informing all RA regiments and other museums that the reserve collection at the Rotunda had to be relocated and that certain items in the collection were on offer - if they could be found a home which met all the museum’s criteria for safe keeping. It also meant reorganising the Cold War Gallery and East Wing at Firepower, the Royal Artillery Museum at the Royal Arsenal.
With the mission identified, a detailed plan was made with timescales for each phase of the move. In effect, we had a year to move, one way or another, up to 26,000 artefacts ranging from a cap badge to a Russian 152mm SP gun. If other museums and RA regiments wanted to borrow any of the reserve collection, it would be their responsibility to collect and move the items. This would save a great deal of money and time and give greater public access to those items, instead of them just being stored and not seen by anyone. That would leave the problem of moving anything that was left, which would have to be taken to Firepower and a home found for it. Work was carried out on the Cold War Gallery and the East Wing of Firepower in preparation for receiving shelving and all of the small artefacts, plus the larger guns from inside the Rotunda. Movement of the larger items in the grounds of the Rotunda needed
‘End of mission... out’
careful planning, so our main contractor, Shaun Hindle from the East England Military Museum, was tasked to produce costings for the worst case scenario. The criteria for the reserve collection was that anything housed inside the Rotunda and buildings would go inside somewhere at Firepower, and the larger items outside could be stored outside if need be. This kept the status quo and didn’t endanger our accreditation status with the Museums Libraries and Archive Council. With all preparation complete it was time to warm up the guns.
It didn’t take long for the phone to ring and letters to come in from RA regiments and batteries alike asking to come and view the reserve collection with a view to enhancing their messes and regimental grounds. There was also lots of interest from other museums and establishments, and so the great move began. At first at a trickle, but it didn’t take long for empty spaces to appear within the Rotunda as the move gathered pace.
I became a ‘white van man’ during the whole move, ferrying items such as shelving and boxes to Firepower where Marc Sherriff the registrar (no longer working at Firepower), Steve Hookins of the collections team and myself would erect the shelving and place everything on them. We had invaluable assistance from Lt Col Alan Durrant and soldiers from the regiment helping to move barrels and anything else they could by hand and with more white vans and a DROPS vehicle. Special thanks should go to Alan and his merry men for all their hard work. It took
a week to move the guns inside the Rotunda and then another two weeks for the move of the large items in the grounds using Shaun Hindle and his team.
By the end of November 2009 the only thing left in the Rotunda was the 9.2-inch coastal gun.
If it were not for a delay in the building of the gun position for the 9.2-inch gun at the Royal Arsenal site, we would have completely vacated the Rotunda and grounds by the end of December 2009. The last artefact (a specimen of lead roof from the Rotunda dated 1857) was carried out of the Rotunda building by me on a very cold winter’s day.
The 9.2-inch coastal gun was moved to its new home on the Royal Arsenal (I can see it from my new office at Firepower) on 18 February 2010 - the very last item to be removed from the Rotunda.
I closed the gates for the last time that day and handed the keys back to the quartermaster Woolwich Station. Mission accomplished.
18 February 2010 was not only a sad moment for me, but also for the Royal Regiment. The museum of artillery was first formed by command of HM King George III in 1778 and established by Capt William (later Gen Sir William) Congreve in the Royal Arsenal. After a fire in 1802 and with the accommodation having proved inadequate, the museum moved to the Rotunda (originally a large bell tent used in 1814 by the Allied Sovereigns) and opened to the public in 1820. So as you can see, after a period of 190 years the collection has returned to its original starting point and will remain here for at least another 190 years (we hope).
by Mr Les Smithlast Curator (1997 – 2010) of the
Museum of Artillery in the Rotunda 155mm ‘Long Tom’ returning to 5 Regt RA Radar being moved to another museum
The Rotunda circa 1880 The 152mm Russian SP on its way Les Smith carries the last artefact from the Rotunda building
White van man
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After the best part of a day of technical hitches and delays, the latest and largest object to go on public display at Firepower, The Royal Artillery
Museum, was fi nally lowered into position at 1545 hours to the applause from the many visitors who had waited for the spectacle.
The giant 9.2-inch gun, measuring 38 feet in length and weighing 40 tons, is now displayed outside the museum on a specially modifi ed 15-ton sled, which also had to be transported to and then craned into position at the Museum’s Royal Arsenal home. The whole dramatic operation was the culmination of a journey that began for the historic gun in the early 1980s in a Gibraltar scrap yard. The museum saved the gun from destruction and arranged for its return to the UK, with the help of the Royal Engineers. Since coming back to the UK, the Gibraltar Gun has been in storage but it is now on permanent public display.
The 9.2-inch calibre gun is a rare surviving example of the large coastal guns installed throughout the British Empire in the early 1900s. This type of heavy artillery was used to protect strategically important coastal locations including Dover, Aden, Hong Kong, Singapore and Gibraltar, where Firepower’s example was located for its service life.
Artillery developed rapidly during the second half of the 19th century and as the guns mounted on ships became more powerful, so did the guns to protect against them. The 9.2-inch gun was fi rst designed to be mounted on Royal Navy ships but was adapted for use on land to counter long-range attacks by enemy battleships and cruisers. It represents the pinnacle of coastal gun development in terms of accuracy and sophistication. Gibraltar’s 9.2-inch guns were fi rst installed in 1902, could fi re a shell weighing 380lb over a range of 16 miles and remained in service into the 1950s when they were fi nally replaced by guided missile systems.
‘End of mission... out’
The 9.2-inch coastal gun (above left and above right) being moved to its new poisition (above)
Les Smith carries the last artefact from the Rotunda building
The fi nal Christmas party for Rotunda employees and their families
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The Royal Artillery Historical Society held its winter 2010 Meeting on Wednesday, 20 January in the Newcome Hall, Larkhill. The
meeting took the form of a presentation about the London Elizabethan gun trade by Mr Philip Magrath, the Curator of Artillery at the Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson and a society member. 20 members and their guests attended the presentation and Brig Timbers, the chairman, was in the chair. Numbers were somewhat depleted by the snowy weather.
Mr Magrath gave an authoritative talk, confidently and amusingly delivered and to the relief of some members, clearly audible. He described the little known but extensive manufacturing and export trade in cannon in south east England, mainly in the Weald round East Grinstead, where a large number of manufacturers such as Alexander Penn, Cornelius Menten, Christopher Cockerill and John Arnott, each with their individual marks, had turned what was essentially a cottage industry into an extensive and profitable trade. Cannon were being
Royal Artillery Historical Society winter meeting
moved either to London, Meeching on the south coast (near Lewes) for export to France, the Low Countries or other south coast ports, or Rochester for export to London or the east coast ports. The Tower of London also had an important role in the development of cannon manufacture in London. Mr Magrath also explained the rather strange terminology used to describe the cannon such as culverins, falcons, minions and sakers. Many cannon continue to be unearthed and give a fascinating insight into the products of this trade.
Mr Magrath is clearly the master of his subject and many members consider it one of the best talks the society has been privileged to hear. After questions the members moved to the Horne Barracks Officers’ Mess for lunch.
A full transcript of the presentation will be published in the Proceedings of The Royal Artillery Historical Society. It will also be posted on the society’s website. The Royal Artillery Historical Society meets four times a year: membership is open to serving and retired members of the regiment, both regular and TA. The next meeting will be a battery history presentation by 17 (Corunna) Bty RA on Wednesday, 14 April in the Newcome Hall, Larkhill, followed by the AGM, full details of the meeting are on page four.
The Tower of London
A recovered cannon
A restored cannon and carriage
Best talks
Extensive
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Thirty years ago on 16 December 1979, four friends - four soldiers - lost their lives to an IED. Sadly the phrase IED has
become common-place in the English language, so common in fact that newsreaders no longer explain the ‘improvised explosive device’ part to listeners, there is no need. But all those years ago, the phrase was not in common use and was known only to a few; soldiers deploying on tours to Northern Ireland, luckless locals caught up in the Troubles and of course to those who perpetrated their dastardly deeds.
Across the divide of 30 years, soldiers who were friends became acquaintances, turning from soldiers to civilians with nothing in common.
Thirty years ago the four soldiers were killed by an IRA landmine explosion on the Ballygawley Road, between Dungannon and Ballygawley. LBdr ‘Rick’ Richards, Gnr Alan Ayrton, Gnr ‘Paddy’ Beck and Gnr ‘Si’ Evans were serving with Gibraltar Troop, made up from 22 (Locating) Bty, and were attached to 16 Regt RA. The oldest was 21 years old, the youngest 18.
So 30 years on, at the Garrison Church, Larkhill, acquaintances came together once more to remember. A short service, and in no more than 10 minutes, acquaintances became comrades again. Vows are made to meet again, sooner rather than later, and for less emotional reasons. For friendship rather than loss, which surely is a far better reason.
Remembering the Troubles
The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine was founded in 1940 and at the time was the only hospital that researched tropical
illnesses. Eight ex Far East prisoners of war were recently reunited at the hospital, which originally took care of them when they were repatriated and suffering from infectious disease.
Three of the eight, Steve Cairns, Maurice Naylor and Charles Elston, were Gunners captured at the fall of Singapore in 1942. When the war ended, the legendary Brig Philip Toosey arranged for the hospital to support Far East POWs. Another special guest was ex-National Service Gunner, Patrick Toosey, son of Brig Toosey
The reason for the reunion and seminar, arranged by Prof Jeff Gill and Meg Parkes, was for the eight to tell their stories to 38 doctors, so they could gain more knowledge of the serious illnesses that the eight suffered while prisoners of the Japanese. Prof Gill explained just how important it to understand and combat these infectious diseases, especially now that the Army is in Iraq and Afghanistan and many soldiers have suffered similar illnesses.
Ex Far East prisoners of war
Knowledge
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It was some 12 years since Winston Churchill described the east-west tensions as the Cold War, with the coming down of the Iron Curtain, and this period became more and more tense as relations deteriorated. The Warsaw Pact forces hugely outnumbered those of Nato, being able to fi eld up to 200 well-equipped divisions against the 30 or so available to Nato. Up until the late 1950s the Nato strategy in Germany had been to hold a defensive line based on the River Rhine: but an increasingly forceful West German government had successfully argued for a forward defence strategy that did not yield any German territory without a fi ght. This coincided with the increasing operational effi ciency of the new Bundeswehr, raised from 1955 onwards, and by 1960 at a strength of three army corps.
The Northern Army Group, of which the 1st British Corps was part, was tasked to hold the territory between Hamburg and the Harz Mountains near Kassel with four army corps. The 1st British Corps sector of approximately 70 km was split, with 35 km to each of the two forward divisions, with the third division in reserve. 41 Fd Regt RA was the artillery component of the 4th Guards Bde, part of the 4th Division, with three foot-borne infantry battalions whose vehicle movement was dependent on the arrival of three-ton lorries from the Royal Army Service Corps. The other major unit was the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards with Centurion tanks.
This was a National Service conscript army – a very far cry from the professional army of the late 20th century. Most, but by no means all, National Service conscripts,
in reserve. 41 Fd Regt RA was the artillery component of the 4th Guards Bde, part of the 4th Division, with three foot-borne infantry
This was a National Service conscript army – a very far cry from the professional army of the late 20th century. Most, but by no means all, National Service conscripts,
Right: The NORTHAG area of West Germany – the heavy dotted lines depict the main defensive positions on the Rivers Rhine (1950s), Weser (1959) and Leine (1974)
Looking back 50 yearsEvery newly commissioned young offi cer
looks forward to joining his fi rst regiment but I didn’t know a single person in 41 Fd Regt RA, or anything about the regiment except that it was stationed in Lippstadt, a small town in a farming area of Westphalia in West Germany. My parents took me to Liverpool Street Station for the 24-hour train-sea-train journey: as these were military trains and a troopship I was dressed in uniform and had to carry all my uniforms, clothes and personal possessions in fi ve large cases, an impossible task going up and down a ship’s gangplank, but that was how life was for a second lieutenant when there were more than 100 (mostly National Service) young offi cers making the same journey, not to mention a sprinkling of wives and families, and hundreds of young soldiers.
Changes are being made to the State Pension, starting on 6 April this year. Lt Cdr David Marsh from the Forces Pension Society (FPS) has picked out some of the more radical changes likely
to affect most active servicemen and women today:Anybody reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April will be affected by the changes, and
that probably means you! First, there is some fantastic news that was not part of the Pension Commission’s report; wives,
husbands and civil partners who accompany their Armed Forces spouse or civil partner on an assignment outside the United Kingdom will be entitled to claim class one National Insurance credits for the period that they were accompanying their Armed Forces spouse or civil partner. The legislation will come into force on 6 April and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will issue a factsheet on this improvement imminently. Applications will not be accepted for periods before 6 April 2010 but applications should be made to HM Revenue and Customs for periods straddling or after this date. Furthermore, the signifi cance of the credits being class one (as opposed to the usual class three), is that they will also entitle individuals to claim other contributory-based state benefi ts such as Jobseeker’s Allowance; Employment and Support Allowance.
As with any changes to a pension scheme there is bad news as well as good. First, some more good news; there is a reduction in the number of qualifying years of National Insurance contributions and/or credits needed to be eligible for a full basic State Pension.
Anybody reaching State Pension age from 6 April will only need to have National Insurance contributions and/or credits for 30 qualifying years (instead of 44) in order to have entitlement to a full basic State Pension. Regrettably, this does not mean to say that you will not have to pay National Insurance contributions on your salary once you have achieved the 30 qualifying years! You will still continue to pay National Insurance contributions on your salary until you reach State Pension age, just as you do today, but if you happen to be out of work after achieving the 30 qualifying years, you do not have to sign on for Jobseekers Allowance. However, your National Insurance contributions record also provides for other Social Security benefi ts, so it is usually worth your while ‘signing on’ anyway. (From 12 April 2010 the full basic State Pension is worth £5,077 per year; that is almost half of a sergeant’s pension after 22 years’ service – not something to turn your nose up at.)
Another improvement akin to this reduction in qualifying years is that the ’vesting period’ has reduced to one year; that means to say that anyone reaching State Pension age on or after 6 April only needs to have one year of National Insurance contributions or credits to be eligible for a basic State Pension.
The bad news is that you are likely to have to wait longer for your State Pension than the current of age 65 (60 for women). Women’s State Pension age will increase from 60 to 65 between 6 April 2010 and 5 April 2020. Legislation is in place to increase the State Pension age from 65 to 66, between 2024 and 2026. Then, between 2034 and 2036 the State Pension age goes out from 66 to 67; and fi nally, between 2044 and 2046 the age increases another year from 67 to 68.
Parents with dependent children under the age of 12 may be eligible to claim for National Insurance credits, as will approved foster carers and people caring for severely disabled people for at least 20 hours per week. These credits will not only entitle you to basic State Pension for the period of eligibility, but for additional State Pension too. If you are in receipt of Carers Allowance, or Child Benefi t for a child under the age of 12, you would not normally need to make a claim since your National Insurance contributions record will be annotated automatically on the basis that those benefi ts are being paid to you; otherwise a claim will need to be made. If, prior to 6 April, you have already been awarded Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) then that period of HRP will be converted into National Insurance Credits and added to your National Insurance contributions record.
Another change that will affect some of you is the ability for married men and civil partners to gain entitlement to an increased basic State Pension based on their wife’s, or civil partner’s entitlement, just as wives can already. Furthermore, from 6 April nobody will need to wait until their spouse or civil partner claims their State Pension before they can claim this benefi t.
If you would like to know precisely how these changes will affect you or would like an individual assessment of what your pension should pay out; the Forces Pension Society is here to assist. FPS offers expert advice on any forces pension question, a raft of discounts on insurance and professional services, a dedicated expert helpline and campaigning on behalf of the forces and their families to ensure that service personnel receive a pension that truly refl ects their extraordinary commitment. For further information please call +44 (0) 20 7820 9988 or go to www.forpen.co.uk.
State Pension changesHow will they affect you?
Bad news and good…
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wanted to do their very best during their two-year period of military service; however, they all had to be trained in the very simplest of military tasks and almost as soon as they had become reasonably effi cient, their service period ended and they were away to resume their civilian lives. Almost all conscripts were single-skill trained and joined directly from school, but a number had deferred their service to complete fi ve- or seven-year apprenticeships during which time they had married and started families.
Conscripts were paid 28 shillings each week, £1.40 in today’s currency. This embarrassingly small amount prohibited these young men from almost all activity other than lying on their beds, normally in barrack rooms of 20 to 30 men, each bed-space adorned with every conceivable ‘demob’ chart. For the married conscripts, life was extremely diffi cult from the fi nancial point of view.
My arrival in Germany coincided with a reorganization of Royal Artillery fi eld batteries. My fi rst command was the 135 Fd Bty RA OP Section, containing the two forward observer parties, the battery commander’s team and the line laying parties. I had a sergeant, a bombardier and 37 soldiers in the rank of gunner, all but two of whom were conscripts. Some were highly intelligent while others had just succeeded in learning to read and write at school and had drifted since.
The British Army in Germany ran on an annual cycle, but with conscripts coming and leaving on an entirely haphazard basis. The year until Easter was spent in barracks with most soldiers on courses that covered a wide range of military skills and, for some, basic education. Low- level fi eld training
followed after Easter, initially on a small designated training area near the barracks, and later on a ‘443 training area’. These areas were unique to the occupa-tion forces’ agreements and al-lowed the f r e e d o m to train over all
private land and to demand the use of barns and other farm buildings for the shelter of soldiers or camoufl age of vehicles during the training. They provided a magnifi cent train-ing area and we were very careful to avoid damage.
The farmers welcomed us, not least be-cause they could claim for damage and be handsomely compensated. However, they were conditioned to armies training over their lands as it had been a feature of life in northern Germany since time immemorial.
After a period of work-up training near Lippstadt, the regiment moved the 200 km to the Soltau Luneburg Training Area for three weeks of more advanced training followed by four weeks of live-fi ring on the Munsterlager and Hohne Ranges. The live-fi ring period consisted of two weeks’ battery level fi ring followed by one week of regimental level fi ring, and fi nally the four day Commander Royal Artillery’s (CRA) test exercise with three or more regiments taking part. All this live fi ring was under the very close eye of the Gunnery Staff, a team of resolute and hawk-eyed gunnery instructors who worked directly for the CRA and had the ability to hasten the termination of the careers of the under prepared! Thus the technical gunnery training was completed by early summer, leaving time for leave and sport.
The annual training cycle resumed in September once the harvest had been gathered with six to eight weeks of combined arms training on a special ‘443 training area’, usually in the area where we expected to fi ght the Third World War, at that time defending the line of the River Weser. The fi rst three weeks of brigade training started at the company level where I joined the 1st Bn The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry as one of their FOOs, moved up to battalion level exercises and fi nished with a full brigade exercise. This was the fi rst time in the year when infantry, tanks, artillery and engineers trained together. Divisional training followed for a further two weeks, followed by a corps level exercise with around 60,000 soldiers taking part. In 1960 our role was to be the enemy (simulating the Warsaw Pact forces) attacking across the Elbe-Lübeck canal north-west into Schleswig-Holstein against the 6th German Division. The initial attack was marred when the Scots Guards fi xed bayonets to assault the initial German position on the grounds that ‘we always fi x bayonets when we fi ght the Germans!’ The exercise was halted, apologies given and received, and then continued. After four days, we pushed through an armoured break-out force that
raced northwards through Bad Bramstedt to the fi nal objective on the Kiel Canal. I spent this break-out phase as the FOO with The Royal Scots Greys clutching the turret of the squadron leadrer’s tank as we raced forward. This marked the end of my period as an FOO as on return to barracks I was moved to a gun section where we had exchanged our small 25-pounder guns for the heavier 5.5-inch howitzers.
By late October most of the Army had completed training and returned to barracks for a period of repair and maintenance of equipment. This was known as the ‘Admin’ or administrative inspection and occupied every moment of the day from early morning until late at night. Every single piece of equipment had to be cleaned and scraped back to bare metal, inspected, serviced, repaired and repainted in green high-gloss complete with elaborate formation and tactical signs. The barracks had to be returned to pristine condition. More painting. Soldiers’ records had to be updated and checked. Teams of experts then descended on the regiment from higher headquarters to check everything. And fi nally, being in a Guards brigade, the last day of the inspection period included a formal parade and inspection by the brigade commander. So this was the lifestyle of the British Army in Germany in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Extracted from A Life in the Day of a CRA – The Story of a Cold War Soldier by Richard Mountford and published by The Memoir Club. Tel: 0191 373 5660 or visit: www.thememoirclub.co.uk. At the time the author was a second lieutenant in 41 Fd Regt RA.
followed after Easter, initially on a small designated training area near the barracks, and later on a ‘443 training area’. These areas were unique to the occupa-tion forces’ agreements and al-lowed the
A regimental command post exercise on the square in Lippstadt. From the left Gnr Stan Bridges, one of a pair of TARAs who used the plotters to produce basic data, Lt Richard Kidner, the command post offi cer, and Lt Richard Mountford, the gun position offi cer seen here taking down a fi replan. Such exercises were a weekly event during the run-up to practice camp. The command post is the newly introduced Saracen six-wheeled armoured personnel carrier.
Looking back 50 yearsPosted to 41 Fd Regt RA in 1960
by Brig Richard Mountford
28 shillings
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To better support operations and to harness the power of the internet,
LWDG has developed the Army Knowledge Exchange (AKX) which is now up and running, unclassified on ArmyNET; restricted on the RLI and on secret via the SLI. AKX is a fully interactive and accessible ‘one-stop shop’ for army knowledge which will put vital information into the hands of our commanders and those who need it, when they need it, wherever they may be.
At the heart of AKX is the virtual knowledge base, a comprehensive library with a user-friendly and intuitive search engine, an RFI service and moderated ‘communities of practice’ (professional discussion forums) which will encourage the exchange of information and views. AKX also provides links to other reference sources and to the extranets of academic bodies, the websites of our allies, non-government organisations and the wider defence community.
Commanders and other decision makers need easy access to Land Forces knowledge, on operations and at home. In addition, there is an increasing requirement to work collaboratively throughout defence including with our allies, non-government organisation, academia, science and technology and industry. To achieve this, the LWDG IMS team has been working with AIS, Blandford to develop a Restricted PM site on ArmyNET, accessible over the internet to all those with log ons. The security implications of having a significant library of Restricted defence information available over the internet for the first time, means that accreditation of this application will take some time. In the meantime, a ‘next-best’ solution has been put in place with Army Knowledge Exchange established on three separate platforms according to the PM of the stored knowledge.
Army Knowledge Exchange (U) is accessible on the internet to all those with an ArmyNET log in. It incorporates an Unclassified knowledge library which, in due course, will contain the battlefield studies folders currently held by DCDC. It also includes a number of communities of practice including Vital Ground, a closed, password protected forum for majors by majors sponsored by ICSC(L) and moderated by LWC SMEs.
Guest log ons, granting limited access permissions, can be issued to non-Army members of Land Forces, and to sponsored individuals working within the Defence arena. This will allow us to work collaboratively with wider defence through Communities of Practise.
Army Knowledge Exchange (R) is available to all via the Defence Intranet and will be just a click away from the Military and Army home pages or from any LWC intranet page. The knowledge base is being populated with current and archive Land knowledge, insight and doctrine including the Tactical Doctrine Retrieval Cell archive from DCDC, previously owned by DGD&D. Army Knowledge Exchange (R) features an Afghan iHub to directly support Op HERRICK, which contains or links to documents and briefing information such as TTPs, OOPs, Op Insights and TD. The Army Knowledge Exchange Afghan iHub will become the essential and easily accessed reference point for those preparing for or currently deployed on operations.
AKX(R) also incorporates the Army Collaborative Environment (ACE) a forum for all ranks which will encourage healthy debate and the sharing of expertise, views and information. Unlike ARRSE, contributions posted to AKX CoPs are accredited to the participant and discussions are moderated by LWC SMEs providing an assured source of valuable knowledge and expertise.
Trusts are being put in place to enable AKX on the RLI and SLI to be accessed from theatre and from legacy systems such as Ash Forest in Kenya and TAFMIS, making AKX the only LF knowledge portal accessible to all.
AKX is designed to support operations and will help us do our job better by communicating more effectively and sharing knowledge across Land Forces.
Launch of the Army Knowledge Exchange
Maps and sruveys 2010
The Defence Surveyors’ Association is to run the fourth in its series of annual seminars on historical military and hydrographic surveying, mapping and charting at the Royal School of Military Survey, Hermitage, Newbury on Saturday, 19 June. The seminar will run from 1025 to 1700 hours during which seven presentations will be given. Cost of attendance is £15, to include tea and coffee breaks and a buffet lunch. The provisional programme is:
A distinct and separate corps something similar to that of the Engineers of the Army: War-time experience, peace-time opportunity, and the emergence of the RN Hydrographic Service, 1803 to 1823 by Mike Barritt RN, Vice-President Hakluyt Society and DSA member.
The Report on the Military Map of the UK 1892 by Dr. Peter Collier of Portsmouth University and DSA member.
Charles Close – His role in African Boundary Demarcations by John W Donaldson, Research Associate, International Boundaries Research Unit, University of Durham.
The Links between Photo Interpretation, Intelligence and Photogrammetry by Chris Halsall, a former Chief Instructor of the Joint Services School of Photographic Interpretation and a Trustee of the Medmenham Collection.
Accurate Distance Measurement before the advent of Electronic Distance Measurement by Jim Smith, author of Everest The Man and the Mountain.
Trevor Wadley and 50 years of the Tellurometer by Alan F Wright, previously of Tellurometer (UK) Ltd and the British Antarctic Survey, now with Global Surveys Limited; Brian Sturman previously of Tellurometer (Pty) Ltd, now consultant with Tellumat (Pty) Ltd and David R Green previously of Tellurometer (UK) Ltd, now with Green Electronics, the UK representative of Tellumat (Pty) Ltd.
Technologies For Fusing GIS, Terrain and UAV Data in Realtime Intelligence Support by Richard Goodman, Principal Application Engineer, SG&I, Intergraph UK Ltd.
Bids to attend may be made to Mike Nolan as follows: By email: [email protected] By telephone: (01635) 253167By letter: MA Nolan, Tall Trees, Broad Layings, Woolton Hill, Newbury, RG20 9TS.Cheques should be made out simply to DSA.
For those arriving by car, it would be appreciated if bids could include car make, model and registration number. by Lt Col Judith Dando
Accessible to all
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Dine in of the new 40 Regt RA Honorary Colonel, Brig Richard Nugee, at Lisburn
CRA 3 (UK) Div, Brig Neil Marshall, with officers and warrant officers from 40 Regt RA during their recent staff ride to Monte Cassino
Volunteers from 103 Regt RA (V), including A Troop, Royal Irish, together with Merseyside ACF cadets, at the Bootle war memorial for a service of remembrance for all the Irish men and women who fought with the Allies
WO2 Craig Wattam, a member of the 39 Regt RA Loitering Munitions Implementation Team, briefs the Rt Hon Gerald Howarth, MP and Shadow Defence Minister (left), and Mr Mike Haydon (centre) Team LM, MBDA
Ken Dodd recently visited the ‘Diddy Soldiers’ of the RHA cadet detachment at Knotty Ash, where he was presented with a North West RF and CA plaque for all the support that he gives to the volunteers and cadets
The Larkhill Garrison gymnasium staff, recently raised over £1,800 for Children in Need. More details appeared in last month’s edition of The Gunner
The chairman of the Gunners Association, Johannesburg, Dominic Hoole, the 100-year-old Lt Mike Wedgwood, and General of the Gunners of South Africa, Maj Gen Roy Andersen
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ubique
The 40 Regt RA ski team at the Army championships. Left to right: Gnr Shields, WO1 (RSM) Richard Cook, Lt Chalmers, CO, Bdr Byrne, Gnr Eriksson
The 1 Arty Bde team on the summit of Cerro Aconcagua (6,962m), the ‘roof of the Americas’. From left to right: Maj John Tolan WFR(V), Maj Joe Garton, Maj Matt Swannell, Capt Matt Wordsworth RAMC, Sgt Wayne Turnbull , Capt Tania Reay
Ken Dodd recently visited the ‘Diddy Soldiers’ of the RHA cadet detachment at Knotty Ash, where he was presented with a North West RF and CA plaque for all the support that he gives to the volunteers and cadets
The DRA, Brig Nick Eeles, recently visited 4 Regt RA where he presented well-deserved honours and awards to soldiers of the regiment
The outgoing BSM of 55 (The Residency) HQ Bty, 26 Regt RA, WO2 (BSM) A Mills hands over to WO2 (BSM) E George
The chairman of the Gunners Association, Johannesburg, Dominic Hoole, the 100-year-old Lt Mike Wedgwood, and General of the Gunners of South Africa, Maj Gen Roy Andersen
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Rank Name Unit/Establishment Appointment Date TOS
Maj Parks PT 1 RHA QM 17 May 10
Maj Devaney B 12 Regt RA QM 12 Apr 10
Maj N H Woellwarth RA (V) 106 Regt RA (V) BC 1 Dec 09
A/Maj Taylor ET BATUK SO2 OS 10 May 10
Capt Shears CJ 19 Regt RA BK 24 May 10
Capt Laing RA 16 Regt RA RCMO 28 Apr 10
Capt Sydenham PA RA TDU SO3 FC BISA 12 Apr 10
Capt Read P 12 Regt RA QM (T) 23 May 10
Capt Belam DMC HQ 1 UK Armd Div SO3 G7 07 Apr 10
Capt Hough A 3 RHA QM 26 Apr 10
Capt Doyle PGA 47 Regt RA QM 19 Apr 10
Capt Grieve G 1 RHA RCMO 17 May 10
Capt Billups CW 7 Para RHA FST Comd 08 Feb 10
Capt Spelling JA 3 RHA FST Comd 08 Feb 10
Capt Alderson EJ 5 Regt RA Tp Comd 09 Feb 10
Capt Buchan F ART 5 OC 10 Feb 10
Capt Harris MA 7 Para RHA FST Comd 15 Feb 10
Capt Johnson DGP 29 Cdo Regt RA AWO 01 Mar 10
Capt Aitchison FC ATC Pirbright Tp Comd 08 Mar 10
Capt McConville PE 26 Regt RA FST Comd 15 Mar 10
Capt Jamieson TR SAAvn Student 18 Mar 10
Capt Lobban HA SAAvn Student 18 Mar 10
Capt Ireland AR HQ Land Cts Div SO3 G5 (Cts) 22 Mar 10
Capt Oates JR 1 RHA Adjt 22 Mar 10
Capt Moore JE 7 Para RHA Adjt 01 Apr 10
Capt Cooper RJ 100 Regt RA (V) Adjt 02 Apr 10
Capt Macpherson FDC 26 Regt RA FST Comd 15 Apr 10
Capt Harris SJ AFC Harrogate Pl Comd 15 Apr 10
Capt Hardy VL HQ 1 UK Armd Div SO3 G1 Arty Comd 19 Apr 10
Capt Hocking RM AFC Harrogate Coy 2 IC 19 Apr 10
Capt O’Sullivan-Wade GC 12 Regt RA Adjt 23 Apr 10
Capt Webster DAC 29 Cdo Regt RA FST Comd 01 May 10
Capt Montgomery AD BATUS MAIN SO3 Arty 11 May 10
Capt Ferguson DW 104 Regt RA (V) Adjt 07 Jun 10
Capt Hancock CJ 29 Cdo Regt RA Adjt 19 Jul 10
Capt Du Toit FJ HQ 1 UK Armd Div SO3 G3 Arty Ops 19 Jul 10
Capt Hoey SR SAAvn Student 29 Jul 10
Capt Sturt PD 5 Regt RA Tp Comd 02 Aug 10
Capt Savery AJ 19 Regt RA FST Comd 04 Oct 10
Capt Campbell DJ 5 Regt RA Adjt 15 Nov 10
Capt Mercer JL 29 Cdo Regt RA RSO 03 Jan 11
Capt Munro RJ 19 Regt RA FST Comd 04 Jan 11
A/Capt Molyneaux CE 16 Regt RA Tp Comd 25 Mar 10
Lt Butcher CC AFC Harrogate Pl Comd 08 Mar 10
Lt Roberts AAC 26 Regt RA FST Comd 04 Oct 10
Lt Beynon Brown OG King’s Troop RHA Sect Comd 04 Oct 10
Lt Faldo SC 32 Regt RA Airspace Manager 06 Jul 10
Lt Kufluk-Thackery PGM 39 Regt RA CPO 19 Apr 10
Lt Bailey EJ ART 33 OC 01 Apr 10
Lt Worley BJ 26 Regt RA FST Comd 22 Mar 10
WO2 Ewen N J 103 Regt RA (V) SPSI 01 Sep 10
WO2 Clark A RA GTT WO QGI DF 01 Sep 10
WO2 Crane MA RA GTT WO QGI AD 21 Jun 10
WO2 Greenhalgh MA 26 Regt RA TECH WO HQ BTY/TAC GP 01 Jun 10
Operational awards
Postings
Afghanistan
CGCLBdr Gary Prout
19 Regt RA
Gnr Steven William Gadsby40 Regt RA
MIDMaj Richard David Wallwork
19 Regt RA
Capt Owen Alastair Candy19 Regt RA
QCVSMaj John Edward Keith Oldroyd
19 Regt RA
Capt Catherine Rachel Lowder
Lt Oliver David Hale40 Regt RA
Bdr Gareth Carr19 Regt RA
LBdr Christopher Martin Tipton40 Regt RA
Iraq
QCVSLt Col Ludwig Karl Ford MBE
26 Regt RA
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update
WO2 Herrity AW HQ 1 (UK) ARMD Div WO Arty Int Targets 01 May 10
WO2 Milner AJ UKTIDSO EST(L) WO QGI AD 01 Aug 10
WO2 Pugh RA HQ RSA YO Branch SMIG AD YO Branch 01 May 10
WO2 Regan PDJ TRG Branch HQ DRA WO CIS Trg 01 Sep 10
WO2 Cartwright JT 101 Regt RA (V) SPSI 01 Sep 10
WO2 Berry AE HQ RSA Tactics SMIG Joint Fires 07 Jun 10
Branch
WO2 Watson TP BATUS MAIN Temp 41 Smig 09 April 10
Gun Line 1
WO2 Fudge S HQ RSA CIS SMIS COMD 01 Jun 10
WO2 Hanson-Smith SI 16 Regt RA BSM ECH 01 Apr 10
To Warrant Officer Class 2
WO2 Thompson P 3 RHA 02 Apr 08
WO2 Hughes AIB 3 RHA 01 Apr 08
WO2 Ravenhill RA 4 Regt RA 01 Aug 09
WO2 Hoey DMJ 4 Regt RA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Duncan PA 4 Regt RA 02 July 09
WO2 Hunter SJ 7 Para RHA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Wilson DT 16 Regt RA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Morgan EA 16 Regt RA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Mcdowell PD 19 Regt RA 15 Mar 09
WO2 Palmer TJ 26 Regt RA 20 Apr 09
WO2 Brown SJ 26 Regt RA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Taylor CJ 40 Regt RA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Junner C 40 Regt RA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Gamwell PJ 40 Regt RA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Moffat W 47 Regt RA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Beales JJ 47 Regt RA 01 Apr 09
WO2 Wagstaff SJ 47 Regt RA 01 July 09
WO2 Harlin SS 104 Regt RA (V) 01 Apr 09
WO2 Seddon SJ RSA ACS Branch 01 Sept 09
WO2 Krakow B Leeds UOTC 01 Sept 08
WO2 Cooper D D & M School 02 June 08
W02 Short CC 3 RHA 13 Apr 09
WO2 Barnes D HQ RSA 21 Jun 10
To Sergeant
Bdr Robinson 3 RHA 23-Jan 09
Bdr Munro 40 Regt RA 01 Dec 09
Bdr Mckitten 32 Regt RA 11 Nov 09
Bdr Gerbi-Humphreys 32 RegtRA 01 Jul 09
Bdr Bates 32 Regt RA 01 Jun 09
Bdr Rowlands 32 Regt RA 14 May 08
Bdr Jones 32 Regt RA 01 Sept 08
To Bombardier
Lbdr Newby 5 Regt RA 28 Feb 10
Lbdr Wilkinson 5 Regt RA 28 Feb 10
Lbdr Dack 4 Regt RA 15 Mar 10
Lbdr Davies 3 RHA 11 Dec 09
Lbdr Lind 29 Cdo Regt RA 25 Jan 10
Lbdr Harkness 19 Regt RA 01 Mar 10
Lbdr Halfhide 12 Regt RA 01 Mar 10
Lbdr Lloyd 3 RHA 01 Feb 10
Lbdr Johnson 3 RHA 01 Feb 10
Lbdr Savage Mansaray 12 Regt RA 01 Mar 10
Lbdr Hadfield 29 Cdo Regt RA 18 Dec 09
APPOINTMENTS
Brig N H Eeles late Royal Regiment of Artillery is appointed Aide de Camp to The
Queen 18 Jan 10 in succession to Brig C W Tadier CBE late Royal Regiment of
Artillery tenure expired
REGULAR ARMY
Regular Commissions
Lt Col M R Healey retires on retired pay 15 Dec 09
Maj J D Parrott retires on retired pay 31 Dec 09 and is appointed to Reserve of
Officers
Regular Commissions (Late Entry)
Maj M P McCarthy from Intermediate Regular Commission (Late Entry) 29 Jan 09 to
be Maj with seniority 31 Jul 06 (Belated Entry)
Maj B Cromwell retires on retired pay 21 Nov 09
Maj M Tobin to be Lt Col 18 Mar 10
Intermediate Regular Commissions
Capt P D Harris retires 26 Feb 10 and is appointed to Reserve of Officers
Capt P J D Airey from Short Service Commission 22 Sep 09 to be Capt with seniority
11 Jun 07
Capt M A Harris from Short Service Commission 22 Sep 09 to be Capt with seniority
16 Oct 07
Capt J A O’Keeffe from Short Service Commission 22 Sep 09 to be Capt with
seniority 16 Oct 07
Lt F D C MacPherson from Short Service Commission 22 Sep 09 to be Lt with
seniority 9 Apr 06
Lt F D C MacPherson to be Capt 14 Oct 09 (substituted for the notification in Gazette
(Supplement) dated 15 Dec 09)
Capt D S Davenport from Short Service Commission 22 Sep 09 to be Capt with
seniority 14 Jun 05 (Belated Entry)
Intermediate Regular Commissions (Late Entry)
WO1 P J Spencer to be Capt 19 Feb 10
REGULAR ARMY RESERVE OF OFFICERS
Short Service Commissions
Capt K P Anderson from The Active List 18 Nov 09 to be Capt
Capt S T L Bayley from The Active List 9 Nov 09 to be Capt
Gazette
These listings are derived from information provided by JPA, Glasgow and the
London Gazette. They have been checked for accuracy of reproduction. Accuracy of information itself lies with the
originators.
Promotions
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Air ambulance appeal
raa
Regimental FamilyAir ambulance appeal
Regimental Familyround upOldham Branch RAA
I am enclosing a photo of a memorial stone recently dedicated after being installed on our local Wall of Remembrance, writes Tom Fitzpatrick. The dedication service, held on 7
March, was attended by the Lord Lieutenant of Manchester and the Mayor and Mayoress of Oldham. There were also 14 Standards on parade, including that of the Oldham Branch.
As you can see from the photo, the plaque is in memory of those who tragically lost their lives when the IRA bombed a coach at an M62 service area in February 1974, including two young Gunners from 4 Lt Regt RA; Bdr Terence Griffi n and Gnr Leonard Godden. Seven other soldiers lost their lives, including Cpl Haughton of the RRF. It is particularly poignant that Mrs Haughton and her two infant children, aged just two and fi ve, also perished.
We in Oldham are proud to honour these people. A similar stone can be found at the Hartshead Service Station where the tragedy occurred. If anybody would like a copy of the photo they can contact me on 01616 333656.
Retired Gunner Bill Blackiston has written to The Gunner to try to enlist the support
of Gunners everywhere for a skydive that he is going to perform at Beccles Airport, near Lowestoft, on 31 May, in aid of the East Anglian Air Ambulance. What makes this worthy effort even more memorable is that the last day of May is Bill’s 82nd birtday!
Bill was commissioned into the Royal Artillery from Intake One at Sandhusrt in July 1948. He served with 63 HAA Regt RA at Shoeburyness, then with 140 Fd Regt RA and 200 Fd Regt RA in Korea from 1952 to 1953, fi nishing off in Hong Kong. After a Long Gunnery Staff Course at Manorbier, and a tour in a brigade headquarters in Winchester, Bill eventually left the Army in 1956 for a series of jobs in industry.
Finally he operned a restaurant in Kent which made it into The Good Food Guide, despite, Bill says, ‘doing all the cooking himself’.
He fi nally retired in 1987 and one would have expected him to put his feet up and relax. But not a bit of it - his sense of fun has again got the better of him and he is determined to carry out the tandem parachute jump in aid of his favourite charity. Let’s hope he won’t be calling on the air ambulance himself after his great adventure!
You can support Bill by donating on line at www.virginmoneygiving.com/billblackiston. But if computers aren’t your thing please contact Bill at Curate’s House, Fairstead, Cley, Holt NR25 7RJ or by telephone to 01263 740876. He would very much appreciate your support.
Gunners in Bristol Cocktail Party
The Gunner reunion in the South West. By kind permission of the BC 266 Bty RA (V), the spring 2010 Gunners in Bristol reception
will take place at the Artillery Grounds, Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2LG on Thursday, 13 May from 1900 to 2100 hours. All serving and retired Gunners in Bristol and surrounding counties are invited to attend. Partners and relatives aged over 18 are also welcome.
Those wishing to attend should register for an application form via by email (preferably) to [email protected], or by letter addressed to The Secretary, Gunners in Bristol, c/o PSAO, 266 Bty RA(V) at the Artillery Grounds or by phone with the secretary, Gerard Churchhouse on 05600 466786. Tickets cost £10 per person. Dress: regimental/battery ties.
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in memoriam
round up Gnr Wilfred Richard EvansBorn in Llansamlet, Swansea, in
September 1922 to William Evans and Mary Rowe, Wilf Evans was the youngest of four children; his siblings were Sidney, Iris and Olive. Their father died when Wilf was fi ve and their mother when he was 14.
Initially supported by his elder sisters, Wilf ran away to sea and became a ship’s mate in the Danish merchant navy. As soon as war broke out, Wilf lied about his age and volunteered for the Royal Artillery. He was selected for 1 Airborne Div and saw action in North Africa, Italy and NW Europe, where he was badly injured when his glider was shot down during Operation Market Garden at Arnhem. His injuries included a shattered knee-cap, a broken nose and a fractured skull. Wilf was captured and force-marched to Stalag 4B near Kemnitz, where he was held until his escape which was engineered with the help of a German guard, befriended by his work party. The route to freedom meant walking across most of Poland on his shattered leg in order to reach an American airbase.
On his eventual return to Wales, his injuries were considered so severe that leg amputation was diagnosed and he was admitted to Morriston Hospital where Wilf regularly hid in the morgue to avoid the amputee surgeon, saving his leg and demonstrating his extraordinary willpower and determination to beat the odds.
After a long period of physiotherapy, Wilf secured a position as a tanker driver with Regent Oils, successfully working within the petroleum and fuels industry until he retired.
One fateful evening at the Pier Hotel, Mumbles, Wilf met the ‘love of his life’, Glenys, whom he invited to join him on the ‘boys’ table’ breaking all their rules and so beginning the courtship that would result in their marriage at Swansea Registry Offi ce on 5 April 1954.
Seven years later, Wilf and Glen were the proud parents of Sharon, Keri and Julie, who revelled in their Famous Five childhoods in Mumbles before moving to Killay in 1965, where the family were based for another 30 years.
On retirement and after many happy holiday visits, Wilf and Glen decided to move to Spain in 1995 but returned the following year to settle in Abergavenny.
Over the years, the family has welcomed in Andrew, Michael and Helen and extended to include eight grandchildren: Georgina, Olivia, Stephanie, Joseph, Harrison, Alexandra, Jessica and Lawrence and one great grand-daughter Ava, who all adored their ‘Pappy’ and whom he would delight in
Maj Kenneth PeterKen Peter was born in West Wimbledon, the youngest son of a railway engineer. He won
a scholarship to King’s College School, Wimbledon. Commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1940, he saw active service with the 1st Army
in North Africa and then in Italy where he acted as a forward observer. After convalescence from wounds received at Monte Cassino in 1944, he was posted to Greece and obtained his regular commission in 1945. After the war he served in the UK, Italy, Palestine, Egypt, Austria, Germany and the USA and attended the Army Staff College. His varied roles included gunnery instructor, observer at the nuclear tests in Australia, command of Z Bty RA (58 Med Regt), and psychological operations. He was awarded a diploma by the United States Army Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg.
He retired from the Army in 1964 and applied to enter the administrative class of the Civil Service coming second out of 900 applicants. First as Principal and then Assistant Secretary in the Department of Transport, he chaired working parties on major infrastructure projects such as the Heathrow extension, the Jubilee Line and Newcastle Metro, and took an Open University degree. In 1977 he was appointed Chairman of Traffi c Commissioners for eastern England before taking up a part-time role in 1986 as a member of the Transport Tribunal, fi nally retiring in 1992 at the age of 72.
He married Margaret Kennedy Patton in 1945 (d. 1998) and Doris Edna Shiels (née Best) in 2004 (d. 2006). He died peacefully on 2 March. He is survived by his son, Anthony.
watching and teasing from Pappy’s chair or garden hammock. He died on 14 March 2010. A loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Wilfred will be sorely missed by all his family and friends. His love of life, humour and strength of character will live on in our memories and through the family line forever.
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032 in memoriam
Col T R R Weston OBE TDCol Tommy Weston, whose rich
and varied life spanned the most momentous events of the 20th century, died in Edinburgh on 18 February, in his 91st year.
Thomas Reginald Reece (Tommy) Weston was born on 9 August 1919 in Harrow. After education at Harrow Grammar School he joined the Westminster Bank in 1939, at the age of 20, just days before the start of World War Two. He joined the TA and, after training with the HAC Officer Cadet Training Unit was posted to 138 (City of London) Fd Regt RA TA thus putting in place one of the foundation stones on which the rest of his life was to be built; a soldier on the one hand, and a businessman on the other.
After war service in the UK and with 303 (East African) Fd Regt RA in East Africa, Ceylon and Burma, he rejoined the Westminster Bank, while remaining a TA member of 138 Fd Regt RA. In 1949 he married Noreen and at the end of that year moved with her to Edinburgh to join Noreen’s family firm of tea and coffee merchants, R Drysdale and Co.
In Edinburgh Tommy continued his strong association with the TA, joining 357 Med Regt RA TA, rising to become the CO in 1959. He oversaw the regiment’s amalgamation with 278 (Lowland) Fd Regt RA TA, commanding the newly combined regiment until September 1962. With such a distinguished and successful military career behind him it is not surprising that, after command, Tommy went on to be the Deputy Commander Royal Artillery of 52 (Lowland) Div from 1963 to 1965. After this Tommy maintained his strong links with the Gunners and the TA though his membership of the Royal Artillery Council of Scotland from its formation right up until the time of his death, sharing council membership with such people as ‘Cordite’ Bill Campbell, a man memorable for a fiery temper and wearing two monocles, one for each eye…
As well as the RA Council, Tommy also served on the Iocal Territorial Army Association, but it was in 1984 that the high point of Tommy’s military career occurred. He was appointed Honorary Regimental Colonel of 40 Regt RA (The Lowland Gunners) going on to serve the regiment in this capacity for the next 10 years.
This was a truly inspired appointment. At the time, he was the first
Col Tommy Weston visiting 40 Fd Regt RA on 30 September, 1991
The family of Reginald Herbert Hall would like to say how moved they were and express their thanks to the RAA
members who attended Mr Hall’s funeral last month.Mr Hall served in the Royal Regiment from 1940 until 1946,
including service in Iceland and Normandy, going ashore on D-Day. On a cold and miserable day, Mr Ray Cliverd, Mr Charlie Brown, Mr Roy Pearson, Mr Lou White, Mr John White and Mr John Bessel all attended with their RAA Standards.
We would just like to say how proud we were, and Dad, you will always be our hero.
Mrs Mary Hall and family
Reginald Herbert Hall
non-regular army officer, apart from members of the Royal Family, be appointed as honorary colonel of a regular Gunner regiment. Tommy and Noreen fully involved themselves in every aspect of the regiment’s life and Tommy – never intrusive – provided wise counsel and great friendship to the five commanding officers that he worked with. Tommy loved 40 and everyone in the regiment loved him in return.
4 Strathearn Road, Tommy and Noreen’s home in Edinburgh, acted as ‘regimental headquarters’ for 40 Regt in Scotland. It played host to numerous parties in honour of the regiment and its achievements whether it was winning the tug-of-war at the Braemar Games or its return from operations after the First Gulf War.
When he was dined out at the end of his tenure in 1994 he was delighted to be driven to the dinner through the streets of Edinburgh in a World War Two armoured vehicle, indicative of his long and outstanding service to the Royal Regiment which, over the years, had been recognised by the award of the OBE and the TD.
He was no less industrious as a businessman than he was as a part-time soldier. He was with Drysdale and Co all of his working life, retiring in 1989. He was particularly interested in the export side of the business and consequently travelled extensively. He was overjoyed when in 1977 Drysdale and Co, under his management, won the Queen’s Award for Export. He was also active in other aspects of Edinburgh life, being a member of the Edinburgh Merchant Company and a member of the Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society for 53 years, becoming an honorary member in 2007.
But first and foremost Tommy was a larger than life character and great family man with Noreen playing a pivotal role in his life. Together they took huge joy in their children Gillian and Hillary and their grandchildren, Andrew, Karen, Jamie and Ruaraidh. He spoke of them often and took delight in them all. With his death his family and the Royal Artillery has lost a staunch, loyal and generous friend; we shall miss him.
This obituary is based on a eulogy delivered by Col RHH Clayton OBE, a past CO of 40 Regt RA, at a service held in Edinburgh and is used here with permission.
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in memoriam
LBdr Peter JackPeter Jack died on 9 February 2010 after a short but courageous
fight against cancer, six-weeks short of his 55th birthday. On leaving school Pete joined the Merchant Navy but after a while decided that he preferred dry land so in 1976 he joined the Gunners and after training was posted to 94 Loc Regt RA in Celle. He served there until 1981, including an Operation Banner tour in Northern Irelend.
After leaving 94 he volunteered to become a RAYC boatswain at Gosport. It was at Gosport, as part of a team of two boatswains that maintained the RAYC fleet of three offshore yachts, that he found his niche with the Gunners.
Pete was a consummate craftsman, skilled in fashioning wood and a self-taught GRP expert. There was many a dent or scrape to our yachts that Pete was able to repair to a professional standard that compared with the very best. He also possessed engineering skills that were put to good use both on the yachts as well as keeping going his rather battered Reliant Robin that was also his tool store.
Pete was slight in build but sported a very large moustache. Although he could chunter with the best about the vicissitudes of life he was never angry. He had the wonderful ability to slightly ridicule
the pompous and grandiose; a chuckle was never very far away from coming out from under his large moustache. He possessed an inner peace.
In 1993 Pete left the Army on phase two redundancy. He set himself up as a sole trader in the business of yacht repair and refurbishment in the Gosport area. His reputation for high-class work meant that he was much sought after. During the latter part of his working life he brightened the day of many a yacht owner with his skilled work as well as his ability to bring a sense of calmness to every day life. Owners quickly learnt that in order for Pete to function best as a skilled craftsman and part time philosopher they needed to have the kettle on for his much loved cup of tea.
There was no surprise to find that the chapel was full of his many friends from the world of the Gosport marine trade and neither was it a surprise that his funeral service was in the Buddhist tradition. Pete was a lovely man who kept his wry sense of humour to the end.
To his wife Barbara and Rachel his daughter we send our heartfelt sympathies. The RAYC is indeed grateful for the time that Pete was with the club, and all that he did for us. RAYC.
Capt Peter Curry QCPeter Curry was a prominent figure
of the English Bar, counting John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison among his clients. An imposing man with an intimidating presence, he remains the only man to take silk twice, returning to the Bar after spending three years in private practice.
Thomas Peter Ellison Curry was born in 1921, in Muree, India where his father was serving with the Royal Artillery. He attended St Michael’s Preparatory School in St Leonard’s-on-Sea winning a scholarship to Tonbridge in 1934 where he excelled as both a student and sportsman, breaking the school cross-country record by more than a minute at the age of 16. Curry joined the Army in October 1939 as an officer cadet. He was commissioned at Deolali where he passed out third, he was assigned to the Indian Artillery, serving with 7 Indian Div.
During this time, Curry was one of 600 officers on board HMS Windsor Castle, sent across the Indian Ocean from Durban to Bombay without an escort, despite the threat of the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. He also fought in the pivotal Battle of Kohima in 1944, during which Allied forces prevented the Japanese from entering India.
In Burma, retreating from the Japanese, Curry arrived at a crossroads. He chose to take the right turn and later discovered that left led towards certain
capture. Thereafter, whenever he was lost, he would always turn right. Later, in 1944 Curry was assigned to the War Office and promoted to captain. Here he was involved in sending parachutists behind enemy lines. At the end of the war he accepted a place at Oriel College, Oxford, to read English, but ended up reading law instead. He won triple Blues in athletics, squash and cross-country running, winning the 1947 varsity race against Cambridge
Also while a student, Curry twice beat Roger Bannister, first in the freshmen’s match (Bannister was at Exeter College) and the second time running for his local club, Hastings and St Leonard’s Harriers, against the University of Oxford. Thus he was surprised to be omitted from the Great Britain team for the 1947 World Student Games. Querying the selection in characteristic style, he was told that there was not enough money to send him, so, equally characteristically, he paid for himself. He finished fourth in the three-mile race, won by training partner and future track legend, Emile Zatopek.
Taking silk in 1966, Curry left a year later to join the City firm Freshfields as a solicitor; his elder daughter, Fleur, was unwell and he wanted to spend more time with her. Although Curry appreciated the uplift in salary facilitated by private practice, he did not enjoy the work, so returned to the Bar in 1970. The earlier decision to walk away from the Bar had
not been well received; those awarded the rank of junior silk were expected to progress to the highest office. Some former colleagues refused to speak to him when he returned, and he was refused tenancy by his old chambers. Instead, he joined 4 Stone Buildings and became a QC for the second time in 1974. Appointed to the bench by Middle Temple in 1979, Curry became head of chambers a year later. Under his powerful leadership, the set developed into a company law powerhouse, also acting in many overseas and trust-based cases. Scrupulously fair but exceedingly tough, he was a fearsome courtroom presence, his determined, logical and economical style exactly suitable for his chosen specialism.
In 1974 Curry acted for Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon in their dispute with Paul McCartney, who wanted to wind up the Beatles’ Apple record label. Introduced to Lennon for the first time, he was typically laconic, welcoming him with the greeting: “I understand you can sing.” Lennon responded by spontaneously breaking into song. He later commented that he found Yoko Ono to be ‘incredibly clever’.
Peter Curry, wartime Gunner, athlete and barrister, died on 25 January, aged 88. His wife Pamela survives him, along with two sons and two daughters.
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Last PostDUFALL – Arthur Dufall died on 10 March, aged 94. Arthur served with 28 Regt RA in India and the Middle East. He was a founder member of the 14/28 Regt Old Comrades Association and served as secretary from 1966 to 1984. He will be missed by friends and family.
DURIE – Maj Thomas Peter Durie OBE GM DL died peacefully on 2 March, aged 84. Greatly loved husband, father, stepfather and grandfather. He served served in 4 RHA from 1950 to 1953 and attended the Staff College in 1955. He left the Army in 1964. A thanksgiving service will be held at Bristol Cathedral at 1430 hours on Monday, 26 April. All welcome.
Adi Powell Memorial Rugby Match
1 May 7 Para RHA will host the annual Adi Powell Memorial Rugby Match
at Richmond College in Twickenham on Saturday, 1 May.
The game, played before the Army versus Navy game, has proved to be a great success over a number of years.
This event also serves as a great way of getting retired and serving members of the regiment together and also to raise money for
charity. The day begins at 1100 hours; kick off is at 1115 hours.
For further information contact W02 (RQMS) Patt 01206816016
in memoriam
GEOGHEGAN – Mick Geoghegan died on 4 February, aged 80. Mick served with 1 Bty, 14 Regt RA in Korea. He was a staunch member of the 14 Regt OCA and a ‘star’ in Korean Veterans’ circles. He was always at the forefront in supporting the OCA. He will be sadly missed.
GIRDLESTONE – Maj Michael Owen Girdlestone died peacefully at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury on 21 March after a long illness, aged nearly 72. Much loved husband, father, stepfather, grandfather and friend. A full obituary will appear in the May edition of The Gunner.
MORRISON – David Morrison died at the Erskine Home in Renfrewshire on 22 February. He served with the Royal Artillery from 1941 to 1946.
NEALE – Col John Howard Neale OBE died suddenly but peacefully on 9 November 2009 in Sheffield, aged 89. Formerly of Dore and Chairman of Yorkshire and Humberside TAVRA. Loving husband of Mollie, father of Lindsey and Andrew, father-in-law of Michael and Victoria and a dear grandfather and great-grandfather.
WATTS – Lt Col (QM) John Watts died on 12 March at Darenth Valley Hospital after a long and valient fight against illness. He was 77. Much loved and devoted husband of ‘Toots’, loving father of Sonia, Yvonne and Debbie and a dearly loved grandfather.
WINCHESTER – Ruth Barbara Winchester, 78. Wife of Lt Col N W (Bill) Winchester. Ruth died peacefully in St Wilfred’s Hospice, Eastbourne, on 21 February, after a short illness, borne with calm stoicism and dignity. She followed the guns around the world from 1955 until Bill’s retirement in 1988, making many lifelong friends. Ubique!
Back issues of The Gunner quickly build into a fascinating historical record, so whether you want to start collecting in the New Year, or you already have a collection of magazines to store, why not keep your copies protected in our exclusive binders? Each sturdy binder, made of navy blue vinyl with gold lettering embossed on the rounded spine, and
a matching strip of self-adhesive gold date strips for the years 2006 to 2012, is designed to hold 12 copies of The Gunner. Each binder is packed in a purpose-made postal carton and costs just £9.50 plus £1.55 post and packing. Buy two or more and pay £8.90 each plus a one-off charge of £2.50 for post and packing.
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A binding offer!
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Gunner football fixtures
Date Fixture Remarks
Apr 23 Woolwich Cup Semis TBC
Apr 30 AMS v RA Keogh Barracks (Women)
May 10 RA v REME Larkhill - Quads Match 1
May 10 R Sigs v RE Larkhill - Quads Match 1
May 12 RA v R Sigs Larkhill - Quads Match 2
May 12 REME v RE Larkhill - Quads Match 2
May 13 End of season tournament Aldershot (Women)
May 14 R Sigs v REME Larkhill - Quads Match 3
May 14 RA v RE Larkhill - Quads Match 3
May TBC Woolwich Cup Final Aldershot
June 7 - 11 Gunner Cup Week Larkhill
Royal Artillery Equestrian Team
Are you a serving soldier wanting to represent the
Royal Artillery for the 2010 season?
Team selection and training will be held at Larkhill Saddle Club.
For further info contact WO2 Bryan Elliott
94322 5346 or 01980 845346
sport
In February 36 members of 106 Regt RA (V) took part in their annual exercise, COCKNEY YEOMAN IV, for beginner to advanced
skiers. This year, for the first time, the exercise took place at Dolomiti ski resort in north Italy.
Phase one consisted of a very long coach journey from the UK, arriving 22 hours later to meet Capt Newman (exercise organiser) at the Hotel Des Alpes set in the very picturesque village of Soraga Di Fassa. The journey was made less boring when Maj Gray (Training Major 106 Regt) came up with the idea of playing the entire series of Band of Brothers as the coach made its way through Europe, passing many towns and villages mentioned in the film.
The following morning the instructors introduced themselves to the group before conducting a short assessment, allocating individuals to one of the three available courses on offer; Basic Alpine Ski Proficiency, Ski Tour Proficiency and Advance Alpine Ski Proficiency. During the next five days students were put through their paces by the instructors who gradually increased the tempo each day. Those who had never skied before quickly mastered the snow plough and progressed to controlled parallel turns while the more experienced skiers were continually pushed beyond their comfort zones. In addition to skiing various evening activities included ice skating for those more active members of the group. The true significance of the word Cockney in the exercise title came to light when some Swedish tourists were heard singing Millwall Football Club songs in a local village. Strange but true!
The entire exercise proved to be a thoroughly enjoyable experience which was greatly helped by excellent weather and snow conditions. The final day was allocated as a free ski day but was ruined by the only poor weather conditions of the week which resulted in an extended period of après ski in the afternoon. After a final debrief in the hotel it was time to pack up and prepare for the long journey home (to include the final episodes of Band of Brothers).
The most improved skier of the week was awarded to Gnr Andy Radford (265 Bty) with Cpl ‘Chalky’ White (457 Bty REME) coming a close second. The entire group was very grateful for the level of patience and professionalism displayed by their instructors, Majs Scott Gray and Stuart Robinson, WO2 Cameron Scott, SSgt Ricky Ware and Sgt Mick Graham. This training would not have been possible without financial support from various organisations most notably the Connaught Trust. A final word of thanks must go to Capt Chris Newman for once again organising the exercise. Providing TA soldiers with the opportunity to take part in some of the more fun aspects of army life (albeit unpaid) is a really effective method of retention which also fulfils the criteria for adventurous training activity.
Exercise COCKNEY
YEOMAN IV
Thoroughly enjoyable
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HEROES OF TELEMARK
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sport
For those readers who have never heard of telemark skiing before, telemark skiers have cable bindings, which allow the heel to rise
during turns - hence the term ‘free heel’ skiing. Telemark skiing is therefore characterised by the ‘telemark turn’, in which the outside ski leads in the turn and the inside ski trails, with the knee bent and the heel raised. (By contrast, alpine skiers’ boots are fastened fi rmly to their skis and the inside ski leads in the turn.)
This January, 29 Cdo Regt RA took part in the Army Telemark Championships in Rauris, Austria. The team comprised fi ve members from various batteries within the regiment: Maj Andy Clarke, Capt Keith Barrett, Capt Alex Ireland, Sgt Dimbylow and Sgt Turpin. Previous telemark experience was patchy, ranging from a British telemark champion to zero telemark experience at all. Maj Clarke was training in Rauris with the GB team in preparation for the world cup event and after a three-day delay due to the snow storms engulfi ng the UK the remainder arrived late and so missed out on valuable training time.
Training was conducted in groups according to experience and started with an introduction to telemark and concluded with specifi c telemark race training through giant slalom gates, a jump, a 360-degree banked turn (called a ‘rap’) and a skating section. It must be appreciated that telemark racing is not simply who can get to the bottom fastest; it is extremely technical, and requires different muscle groups and a different approach to each individual part of the course.
Due to the world cup being held at the same time, all competitors watched in awe at the speed, precision and aggression that the national teams raced with. Ideally the 29 Cdo team wanted to replicate this in their racing,
unfortunately this proved quite diffi cult as all members(bar
Maj Clarke) had a number of issues; if
they weren’t falling after the jump, then
they were falling on the 360-rap or on the skating
section! However, it was not only 29 Cdo who had their share of misfortune; the other Army teams had varied experience which meant the competition was extremely close. Highlights of the races were Capt Barrett spending many minutes of the ‘classic’ race side-stepping back up the hill to fi nd his poles and the correct route down; Capt Ireland falling on the rap, losing his skis and having to run the 100m skating section carrying his equipment; Sgt Dimbylow consistently falling on the gate before the jump and Sgt Turpin not landing a jump, ever!
The competition saw skiers compete the giant slalom (two timed runs negotiating gates with a jump), the sprint classic (two timed runs over a shorter distance, negotiating gates, a jump, 360-rap and a short skating section) and the classic race (one long run negotiating gates, a jump, 360-rap and a longer skating section). All races were timed and when combined, produced the overall team result for each race and indeed the championship. 29 Cdo had an excellent week of racing and narrowly beat the Light Dragoons to win the Army Championships, an outstanding achievement and one the regiment is looking forward to replicating next year.
There was a number of novice skiers present this year and development races were also conducted to cater for those less-experienced but highly courageous soldiers to test their nerve and newly found skill. A new novice prize was awarded, which was sponsored by Mrs Katy Sawyer, in memory of her husband Capt Tom Sawyer, who represented 29 Cdo at the 2008 Telemark Competition, and was sadly killed in action on Op HERRICK 9. The prize was awarded to Tpr Ben Holmes of the Light Dragoons.
by Capt Alex Ireland
Above: Capt Barrett in the classic race. Left: Capt Ireland on the skating section. Right: Sgt Dimbylow, Capt Ireland, Maj Clarke, Sgt Turpin, Capt Barrett. Below: Maj Clarke in the sprint classic
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2009 was not the greatest tug of war season for the Royal Artillery athletes.
This was due to the formation of a new squad and the continuing pace of operations that has taken so many of our competitors to Afghanistan.
The season got under way with an army squad training camp, run by Maj Rob Holland (Army Manager) and Sgt ‘Macca’ McKenzie (Army Coach), held at Blandford in early-March. All Gunner regiments were invited to send as many pullers as possible, to gain as much experience as they could, in a week of continuous pulling. 19 Regt RA with WO2 (RQMS) ‘T Bag’ Richardson produced some 10 pullers each (all new to the sport) and by the end of the week their technique had improved tremendously, much to the delight of their coach Capt Kev Cammack.
Prior to the start of the military competitions the army squad hosted and competed in the National Tug of War Championships, again at Blandford. The army squad once again gave their civilian
TOW round upThe Gunner TOW squad at the Inter Corps Championships
Since its return from Operation HERRICK 10, 40 Regt RA has concentrated its
efforts on reconstitution, recuperation and rehabilitation. Even before the batteries returned from Afghanistan, the BK of 38 (Seringapatam) Bty RA (Capt Hollis) saw this as an opportunity to throw some soldiers down some very steep snowy inclines in the Austrian Alps. The planning phase for Exercise ANTON FINN had begun.
The exercise made use of the facilities of the Austrian Walgau Kaserne in Bludesch and was predominantly aimed at junior members of the battery. 15 vacancies were confirmed and duly snapped up by anyone who had a good enough story for his troop commander. After a romantic Valentine’s Day for most (which included 18 counts of “See you later, love!”), the team assembled in Dover for the journey to Austria. The arrival at Walgau Kaserne went very smoothly and was followed by the fitting of our hired ski equipment. This was efficiently executed by the Austrian hire centre, but the look on their faces when a 6ft 8inch, 19 stone Fijian, in the form of LBdr Joe Kawea, walked in was priceless.
On our first day the group headed off to the nursery slopes under the direction of our two ski instructors, WO2 Jim King (DE&S Yeovilton) and SSgt Jim Gary (RMAS), aka the two Jims.
The slopes were remarkably quiet and this was at first attributed to the local population being apprehensive about the approach of the clumsiest looking bunch of individuals they had seen. Lessons were quickly grasped by most, but the adoption of the ‘prone position’ seemed to be the commonest skill picked up by all! LBdr Kawea in particular, so much so the remainder of the group thought there was a lone sniper in the mountains.
As the week progressed, so did the confidence levels and abilities. Gnrs ‘Scouse’
Erikson and Wilkes chose speed as their specialised skill, while others (LBdr Joe Kawea and Gnr ‘Eddie’ Edmunds) were adopting the ‘slow and steady, wins the race approach’.
After five days, the dreaded Basic Ski Proficiency Assessment loomed. We were set a number of exercises to follow, our descents were filmed for prosterity and for review by the instructors. The timing of the assessments coincided with the arrival of a large ski school class of six-year-olds and it’s probably fair to say there were a number of near misses. After some deliberation and consideration by the two Jims, everyone achieved a pass. (Shame the Vancouver Olympics was already under way).
The last day in Austria was a chance to free ski at the resort of Sonnenkopf. SSgt ‘The Dog’ Brown and Bdr ‘Ginge’ Lunn opted for snowboards and they were soon cutting up the slopes. However, during their subsequent debrief, it became obvious that this professional look, was nothing more than holding on for dear life!
Funding and sponsorship for the exercise was received from the Royal Artillery Institute and The Royal Artillery Centre for Personal Development. A huge thanks goes to both these organisations. Without these pledges, the majority of the Gunners would probably have been unable to participate.
A thank you also goes to our instructors, WO2 Jim King and SSgt Jim Gray, for their perseverance, patience and above all, their ability to share the minibus driving! Without them the exercise would not have been possible.
The long road back to Lisburn beckoned and in a minibus limited to 58 mph that is a very long road indeed. A successful week had come to an end. Everyone had achieved the BSP (Alpine) qualification, and there was certainly evidence of some talent and
potential which, hopefully, can be nurtured through Advanced Ski Proficiency and on to the Joint Services Ski Instructors Course in the future.
Finally, our thanks go to Capt Hollis for the endless telephone calls, letters and emails which he made in order for Exercise ANTON FINN an expedition the Tigers will remember for a long time to come.
Mountain tigersThe future Gunner Alpine ski team. Left to right; Gnrs Robertson, Dollard, Edmunds, Punter, Freeman and Sgt Horrobin, kneeling is LBdr Kawea
The future Olympic Alpine squad. Left to right: Capt Hollis, Gnr Erikson, WO2 Johnson, Gnr Wilkes, Bdr Lunn, Gnr Callery and Bdr Stuart
by Sgt Chris Horrobin
See you later
Holding on for dear life
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sport
Fifteen Gunner regiments entered this year’s inter-unit golf championships, each intent on winning the coveted Holloway
Trophy. After a series of preliminary matches played in the early summer, including a cliff-hanger between our own regiment, 32 Regt RA, and our arch-rivals from the combined 14 Regt RA/Royal School of Artillery, the four regiments that made it through to finals day in October were 29 Cdo Regt RA, 32 Regt RA, 39 Regt RA and 103 Regt RA (V).
Finals day was staged at the Army GC near Aldershot. Despite an eye-watering early start our team was in good spirits, especially WO2 ‘Kippy’ Davis who breakfasted well at Fleet Services and arrived on the first tee all ‘egg-MacMuffined-up’. The semi final draw pitted 29 Cdo Regt RA against 39 Regt RA, while we were drawn to take on 103 Regt RA (V). For us the ideal situation in the morning round was to win your match as quick as possible and get back to the clubhouse for a well earned rest before the afternoon game. However things didn’t go to plan as 103 Regt RA put up some very stiff opposition before we eventually prevailed four games to one. 39 Regt RA, who were attempting to win the Holloway Trophy for the third year in succession, overcame a spirited team from 29 Cdo Regt RA by the same margin to set up the afternoon’s final.
After being fed and watered, and in the case of LBdr Lee Tyrell enjoying a quick power snooze, we soon found ourselves back on the first tee; everyone was laughing and joking and wishing each other luck – but despite the banter some first tee nerves were evident. As you would expect, the final was extremely hard fought with individual match
counterparts a run for their money; the novice catchweight squad (produced predominately from 19 Regt RA) beat Sandhurst (previous world champions) but were beaten in turn by Bosley, the eventual winners.
The Gunner Pull took place at Larkhill on Wednesday, 1 July last year, by kind permission of the CO 14 Regt RA. The event turned out to be something of a 40 Regt RA reunion as Pecker Woods, Willy Henry, Phil Burton and Ronnie Barker turned up on the sidelines (all volunteering for a catchweight pull at Gunners 2010). The Gunner Pull 2009 was no doubt the longest championships that we have ever had; starting at 1100 hours and finally finishing at 1900 hours. This was due to many pull-offs at different weights and the quantity of teams that entered (poor Mr Bevalaque was shattered).
There were some fierce pulls between the Gunners and Royal Signals but once again
they proved too strong and won all weights in the open event. Within the closed event the men’s trophies were shared between 4 Regt RA, who won the 560kg, the 600kg and were runners-up in the 680kg, and 19 Regt RA, who won the 640kg and 680kg and were runners-up in the 600kg class. 4 Regt RA won both the 520kg and 560kg ladies’ titles. Not forgetting our athletes from Germany, 3 RHA, runners-up in the 560kg and 26 Regt RA, runners-up in the 640kg.
The Army Championships were once again dominated by 30 Sigs Regt who won all weights. The nearest we got to them was 4 Regt RA who were runners-up in the 560kg and 600kg. It was then over the hills to Braemar, The Royal Highland Gathering. This was, as always, a tremendous event with all the Gunner squads giving their all to compete in front of our Captain-General. The honour fell to 4 Regt RA who battled their way to the
final only to be beaten by 30 Sigs Regt. The next event was the British Army (Germany) Indoor Championships hosted by 26 Regt RA in Mansergh Barracks, Gutersloh. They had a magnificent championships, winning all weights without losing an end, which was all down to the coaching of WO2 ‘Scouse’ Williams and the dedication of the squad.
Not the greatest of seasons but the new squads are getting stronger and stronger and the training started earlier this year so we can try to dominate the coming season. The Army Manager (Maj Rob Holland) will be selecting 10 pullers to compete in the World Championships in Pretoria, South Africa in September - only the best need apply.
All the very best to all Gunner squads for 2010. For those old and bold pullers, there will be a one off catchweight event on completion of the Gunner Pull 2010 (Larkhill, Wednesday, 30 June); those wishing to compete please contact Maj Rob Holland on 01522 528109.
32 scoop the Holloway Trophy
by SSgt Kerry Roberts and SSgt Ian Hale
The 32 Regt RA golf team with the Holloway Trophy. Back row, left to right: WO2 Davis, LBdr Tyrell, SSgt Roberts. Front WO2 Griffiths, SSgt Hale and (unavailable for finals day) Gnr Butler
scores changing nearly every hole. Our team captain, WO2 Griffiths, found himself four down with nine to play against SSgt Dave Liversedge and was thinking of damage limitation rather than gaining any points for the team – but amazingly he fought back to win an incredible match three and two. Kippy Davis lost his match, but there were solid wins for SSgt Kerry Roberts and SSgt Ian Hale, and a well-earned half for LBdr Lee Tyrell saw us home by three-and-a-half to one-and-a-half. The third and fourth playoff was won by 103 Regt RA (V) in another hard fought match.
We would like to thank the organiser, Maj Paul Redgrave for his hard work throughout the whole of this competition and for booking the weather, and also to the Army Golf course for providing the great venue for the finals day. We look forward to seeing all the golfers, and hopefully some new ones, again next year when we attempt to defend the trophy.
TOW round upThe Gunner TOW squad at the Inter Corps Championships Under pressure... 19 Regt RA at Gunner Pull 20094 Regt RA pulling to win the 560 Presidency
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040 notices
FRIENDS OF FIREPOWER BATTLEFIELD TOURWe will be holding our third tour from 24-27 May 2010 when we will be studying the 1940 campaign that led to the evacuation at Dunkirk, exactly 70 years after those events. As before we will be following the fortunes of the divisional artilleries involved. We will be staying at the Novotel in Ypres at a cost of between £400 and £450 depending on the numbers attending. The single supplement is £105. All serving and retired Gunners and their families are most welcome to join the tour. All that is needed at this stage is your expression of interest, to be given to Maj John Timbers on 01474 707178.
WO1 PACKHAM MEDALSA set of medals belonging to the former WO1 RA Packham has come into the possession of the RAA. Could the owner please call Capt Allan Solly on 01980 845362 to arrange their return.
12 REGT RA 12 Regt RA will host an all ranks reunion on Sat 12 Jun at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island. Any ex-member of the regiment, retired or serving, who wishes to attend should contact Maj CA Routh RA by e-mail to: [email protected], by post to: T (HQ) Bty (Shah Sujah’s Troop) RA, 12 Regt RA, Baker Barracks, Thorney Island, Emsworth, PO10 8DH, or by telephone on 01243 38 8512.
QUARTERMASTERS’ AND LATE ENTRY OFFICERS’ REUNION DINNER
The next LE officers’ dinner is planned for Sat 5 Jun. It will be held in the Horne Barracks Officers’ Mess, Larkhill. The dinner is open to all serving and retired LE officers and their partners. Dress is black tie. Accommodation is at a premium and subject to higher priority bids. Costs: dinner £25 per head, accommodation £11.50 (serving) or £14 (retired) per night. For further information please contact Maj Craig Purvis on 01980 84 5928.
25 REGT RAA muster parade will be held for all ex-members of 25 Regt RA at 1200 hours on 27 Jun in the WOs’ and Sgts’ Mess, Artillery Centre, Larkhill. A curry lunch will be provided, so please indicate if you will be attending. For those who require a rehearsal, these will be held at 1900 hours on both 25 and 26 Jun. More information from Steve Russell. Tel: 01980 845413 (work) or 01985 214376 (home) or email: [email protected]
16 LT AD REGT RAAnyone who was serving with 16 Regt RA on 28 Jun 1970 will remember this date. It will be the 40th anniversary of this event on 28 Jun 2010. I am looking for anyone who is interested with a view to organising a reunion on this date. All that is required at this time is your expression of interest. Please contact Jack Smith at 01382 738555 or by email to: [email protected]
GOLDEN WEDDINGHIGGINS - YOUNG. On 19 April 1960 at St Andrew’s Scots Church, Valletta, Malta GC, Capt PK Higgins to Miss Moyra M Young. Current address in The Blue List.
THANK YOU/GREETINGS CARDS
Cards from original watercolours by Malcolm Wood. Blank inside for your own message. £7.50 per pack of 5 (£2.50 to RACF) or £14 for pack of 10 (£4 to RACF). Each six by four inches, c/w envelopes. Contact Malcolm ‘Chippy’ Wood on 01375 830301 or email: [email protected]
101 REGT RA (V) REGIMENTAL JOURNALCopies of The Geordie and West Riding Gunner covering the period Oct 05 to Dec 09 are available for £3.50 incl p & p. Write to : PSAO, 204 Bty, TA Centre, Kingston Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 2EF. Cheques to ‘101 (N) Regt RA (V)’.
RSA ON FACEBOOKThe Royal School of Artillery now has its own Facebook page. Readers are invited to view the new page and leave any comments. Search for, ‘Royal School of Artillery’, from your Facebook profile. An article on the rise in use of social networking and the internet by RSA will follow in a future issue.
THE PACKWAY MESSDuring the refurbishment of the RA Mess, the CO and officers of 32 Regt RA would like to offer their support to functions that would otherwise have been held at that mess. In order to avoid any confusion and potential disappointment, all requests to hold events in the Packway Mess must be made in writing to CO 32 Regt RA and copied to the PMC.
TICKETS FOR TROOPSGary Lineker, LCpl Johnson Beharry VC and David Cameron recently launched Tickets for Troops, a new initiative which offers members of the armed forces free tickets to big events including football matches and top music acts. Thousands of tickets will be made available to all serving military personnel and to veterans who have been discharged through injury since 2001, at the new Tickets for Troops website. Eligible personnel should apply online through the Tickets for Troops website www.ticketsfortroops.org.uk
32 REGT RA OFFICERS’ MESS REUNIONA reunion dinner will be held in the Packway Officers’ Mess, Larkhill, on 30 Jul. Past members who wish to attend are invited to contact Lt Stanning at 57 (Bhurtpore) Bty RA, 32 Regt RA, Roberts Barracks, Larkhill SP4 8QU or tel 01980 845051 or by email to: [email protected]
1 RHA ADEN VETERANSThe sixth annual 1 RHA Aden veterans reunion will take place at The Paragon Hotel, Birmingham on the weekend 14-15 May. For further details contact Dave Rogers, 81 Bolingey Way, Hucknall, Nottingham NG15 6TQ or tel 01159 637073 or by email to: [email protected]
WOOLWICH, INDIA BOYS BATTERIES RAThe 43rd reunion will take place in the WOs’ and Sgts’ Mess, Larkhill on the weekend 4-6 Jun. The dinner will take place on Sat 5 Jun. For further information please contact Jenny Lynch on 01332 674344.
36 REGT RAThe 36 Regt RA reunion will held at the Village Hotel, Coventry on the weekend 17-18 Sep. All details from Monty. Call 01453 824210 or email: [email protected]
42 REGT RAThe 42 Regt RA annual reunion and AGM will take place over the weekend of 28-30 May at the Royal Clifton Hotel & Spa, Southport. All ranks are welcome with spouse/partners and friends, including 42 Regt RA attached personnel. Raffle and silent auction are just two of the many activities. Once again as per member agreement there will be no disco on the Sat evening. A reunion dinner can be arranged at £12.50 per person by contacting Mr G Carter (treasurer) by email killmaster @ btinternet.com further details from the secretary on 01132 189311.
53 (LOUISBURG) BTY RAThe 252nd reunion of 53 (Louisburg) Bty RA will take place on Fri 30 and Sat 31 Jul at Marne Barracks, Catterick Village, Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL10 7NP. Personnel wishing to attend contact SSgt Bennett on 01748 875746 or by email to: [email protected] or alternately Sgt Burtenshaw on 01748 875855 or email to: [email protected]
BRISTOL UOTC CENTENARY DAYBristol UOTC celebrates its centenary on Sat 5 Jun. The day will encompass a cathedral service and a reception to be held at the Artillery Grounds. All former members of staff and officer cadets are cordially invited to attend. For further information please tel 01179 733533 or email: [email protected]
27 REGT RA OCA REUNIONAn all ranks reunion will be held at Sand Bay Holiday Resort, Weston Super Mare over the weekend 4-7 Jun. Cost £99.00 per person to include half board and entertainment. Bookings
INFORMATION
FOR SALE
REUNIONS
CELEBRATIONS
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to place your notice here contact 01980 634204
to be made through central reservations, tel 08458 800211. Please quote booking reference 27 RA, this will ensure we are grouped together and you get the discounted price. It is vital to book early or our allocation of rooms will be open to the general public if not booked before April. Any queries can be dealt with by the secretary, email: [email protected]
AMPHIBIOUS BOMBARDMENT ASSNDue to operational commitments next year, 148 Bty RA will host an ABA reunion this summer at Poole on Sat 26 June. Doors open at 1200 hours and after drinks and curry lunch the afternoon programme will follow the familiar pattern, including a short act of remembrance. A social function will follow starting at 1900 hours. For those attending, please check in if possible 14 days before the event with either Brum Richards [email protected] or 01202468720, or the current BSM, WO2 Richard Bociek [email protected] or 01202202273. They will need your VRN, and you will need photo ID to get in.
GUNNERS IN BRISTOL COCKTAIL PARTYThe Gunner reunion in the South West. By kind permission of the BC 266 Bty RA (V), the spring 2010 Gunners in Bristol reception will take place at the Artillery Grounds, Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2LG on Thu 13 May from 1900 to 2100 hours. All serving and retired Gunners in Bristol and surrounding counties are invited to attend. Partners and relatives aged over 18 are also welcome. Those wishing to attend should register for an application form via by email (preferably) to [email protected], or by letter addressed to The Secretary, Gunners in Bristol, c/o PSAO, 266 Bty RA(V) at the Artillery Grounds or by phone with the secretary, Gerard Churchhouse on 05600 466786. Tickets cost £10 per person. Dress: regimental/battery ties.
7 (SPHINX) CDO BTY RA7 (Sphinx) Cdo Bty RA, will be celebrating ‘Sphinx Day’ on Sat 19 Jun. The event will consist of a family day at RM Condor and an evening function at the Arbroath Branch of The Royal British Legion. All past and present members and their families are welcome. Please contact SSgt Stephen Templeton or Mrs Margaret Jack on 01241 822156 or 93387 2156 for additional information or plans to attend.
3 RHA OFFICERS’ REUNIONCHANGE OF DATE AND VENUE
Due to various operational and regimental commitments, this year’s reunion dinner has been moved to Fri 19 Nov and will be held in Tedworth House, Tidworth, Hants, SP9 7AJ. Further details will be promulgated in due course however, if you have any immediate questions please contact Maj C Gent, Reunion Dinner Secretary, 3 RHA, BFPO 30, or [email protected]. The dinner is open to all officers who have served with the regiment including LE officers who served with 3 RHA prior to commissioning.
THE 3 RHA PAST AND PRESENT MEMBERS ASSOCIATION
The 3 RHA Past and Present Members Association annual reunion dinner will take place at the Copthorne Hotel, The Waterfront, Merry Hill, Dudley on Sat 25 Sep. For further details please contact Paddy O’Neill on 01206 751999 or by email to: [email protected]
5 REGT RA RACE DAY AT CATTERICK5 Regt RA will hold its annual regimental race day at Catterick Race Course on Wed 7 Jul. Any Ex member of the regiment, retired or serving wishing to attend should contact Capt Lee Chapman (BK 4/73 Bty) on 01748 875636, or by e-mail: [email protected]
E BTY RHAE Bty RHA will be exercising the Freedom of the City of Nottingham on 12 June. All former members of the battery are invited to attend. The parade will take place at Nottingham Castle from 1030. The dinner will be held from 1900 at the TA Centre in Bulwell, NG6 8AQ. The cost of the dinner is £25 and the dress is lounge suits. Any former member wishing to attend should contact Sgt Martin Baker at [email protected] by the end of May.
129 (DRAGON) BTY RAThe 129 (Dragon) Bty RA Old Comrades’ Association reunion for all members, past and present, also those attached of 129 Bty RA, will be held in the Central Club, Blackpool over the weekend of Fri 22-Sat 23 Oct. For further information contact [email protected] or visit www.129dragonsoca.co.uk, also on facebook.
1 RHA ALL RANKS REUNIONThe 1 RHA all ranks reunion will be held on Sat 4 Sep at the South Notts Hussars TA Centre, Bulwell, Nottingham. Any ex-member of 1 RHA who wishes to attend should contact Paul Hughes, email: [email protected] or by phone to 01325 300654. Letters will be sent to all known members in May and Jun.
KINGS FC DINNERA Kings Football Club dinner will take place at Dr Fosters Restaurant in Gloucester Docks (now known as Gloucester Quays) starting at 1900 hours on 22 May. Cost is £16 per head for a three-course meal. For further information call Alan Hay on 01544 267572.
ATLANTIC BAYS, CORNWALLHoliday chalet in Atlantic Bays Holiday Park, Cornwall available for summer lettings. Near Padstow and 7 great beaches. Recently refurbished sleeps 5 in 2 bedrooms. Per week May £360, June £410, July and August £570. 10% discount for army when booking through owner. Call 0207 372 2274 or [email protected] for more details
FOWEY, CORNWALLDelightful 18C cottage, 2 minutes from quays, in peaceful pedestrian cul-de-sac. Sleeps 4 in 2 bedrooms, ensuite and separate shower room. GCH. Small terraced garden. Ideal base for walking; sailing; sightseeing or enjoying Fowey. Dogs welcome. Information and prices, email [email protected]. Tel 07775521434
PROVENCEPeaceful hill village, 25 miles Nice airport. Comfortable, well-equipped villa sleeps 4/5 (2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms). Large terrace with porches and olive trees for shade, garden with secure pool and parking. Wonderful countryside, superb small river. No smokers/dogs. Details: Couldrey 01785 818228 or 01865 769206. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
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042 competitions
The closing date for all competitions in this month’s edition is Friday 21 May 2010. The winners will be drawn at random and notified as soon as possible. Don’t forget to fill out the form at the bottom of the page.
Spot the difference
Please tick which competitions you are entering. Then fill out all your details and send it to us Gunner Publications, HQ DRA, RA Barracks, Larkhill, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 8QT.
Spot the difference
Codeword
Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tel: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Email: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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To win this World War Two pewter figure to hang from the side of a glass, kindly donated by GarrisonPRI.co.uk, all you have to is spot the five differences in the photos above, fill in the form below and send your answers to The Gunner.
21 8 11 9 9 14
19 9 16 25525 19 14 9 16 3 4 19 23
17 26 17 14 4 4 2
17 2 26 6 16 17 18 12 2 9 14 12
14 14 22 11 4 7 11
5 2 5 2 3 19 13 21 14
18 18 13 2 7 13 18
18 24 4 5 13 11 14 23 11
1 24 2 16 2 24 19
19 18 15 14 5 14 17 22 4 13 14 13
10 16 20 18 16 5 14
11 2 17 6 14 5 2 13 3 4 16 17
16 14 18 18 26 11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
xx
U
U
B
In The Gunner codeword numbers are substituted for letters in the crossword grid. In the smaller grids some letters are already solved. Place these in the main grid in the boxes with the appropriate number and use them as clues to complete your first word. This will solve more letters that you should enter in the key grids and the main grid. Cross through the letters on the alphabet list as you complete them. Every letter in the alphabet is used at least once. Send your completed solution to The Gunner and you could win a copy of Gunners on Tour by Maurice Court, described below.
The Gunner codeword
In spite of being a ‘barrack rat’ and educated at a military school, Maurice Court had no desire to be a soldier like his dad. However, Adolf Hitler had other plans and in 1939 Maurice ended up in the Gunners. He took part in a ‘Cook’s Tour’ of France, East Africa, India, Persia, Iraq and Palestine, ending up in Sicily and Italy.
Now approaching 90, Maurice Court’s moving and thoughtful account of the Second World War describes the part played by one London family and the wider family of Gunners. Persuing the
retreating Germans Maurice found himself in charge of a liberated concentration camp before helping administer the peace in a divided Germany. Available from Spike Press at a cost of £10 plus £1.50 P&P. Tel: 02476 676777. Why not have a go at winning a copy?
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up front
A Neate ending
Gunnery Career Course No 26 will be there raising money for Help for Heroes and The Gurkha Welfare Trust. They will be cycling the equivalent distance
of Land’s End to John O’Groats on ‘spinning’ bikes. For more information contact SSgt Keith Shaw on
It suddenly dawned on me as I was making last minute adjustments to The Blue List
that I hadn’t written my next Neate Ending. What with the editor working hard on the forthcoming spring edition of the RA Journal and Kate preparing this edition of The Gunner it seems that March has come and gone all too quickly. Luckily, lurking in the depths of the editor’s in-tray was this month’s photo sent in by Sgt Bob Mawson, an old friend of Mike’s who has quite a story to tell.
The photo shows six young bombardiers at the Grafenschaft Wine Kellars near Menden, in the beautiful Sauerland area of Germany in 1965. “We were all with 50 Missile Regt RA stationed in Northumberland Barrack on the hill above Menden,” recalled Bob, pictured on the far right. It was here that Bob first met Mike, then a first-tour subaltern, becoming his Honest John launcher No 1 in 15 Missile Bty. “Notice how young soldiers wore a jacket and tie while off duty in those days,” Bob pointed out to me. “We were certainly very neat!”
However, there were testing times ahead for Bob when 15 years later he was told he had defective heart valves and had to leave the Army. A shock in itself, no doubt, but to make matters worse he was told he only had five years to live. What Bob needed was a new
heart and that’s exactly what he got via a transplant carried out in America, courtesy of a 25-year-old woman donor.
Needless to say Bob’s second heart is still very much beating; primarily in New York, where he now lives with his family and works for the UN.
From left to right: Bdrs Rose, Burnett, Fellows, Brandt, Vincent and Mawson
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