National service

[Albert T Smith 10]

That was before my time. In 1953 the 1st. Battalion Y & L Regt. was stationed in Khartoum, Sudan and were later sent to Kabrit and then Fayed in the Canal Zone Egypt. At that time the Pontefract Barracks was the Y & L training depot.

 

Gerry did you know anyone call Wright and Birkin whilst you were in Khartoum? If you did I'll have a supprise for someone.

[prioryx 10]

When I did my basic training in Pontefract in 1947 we were all General Service Corps and the Y&L Regiment was stationed in Wuppertall (sp) Germany

After the WW1 my father was in Germany with the 1st battalion of the Y&L at Solingen. That was in 1922. In 1955 I was stationed at Hilden which was just a few miles away.

Small world init.

In 1925 he was posted to the 2nd Batt in India.

[Gerry 10]

Gerry did you know anyone call Wright and Birkin whilst you were in Khartoum? If you did I'll have a supprise for someone.

 

No sorry Albert T, I don't remember anyone by those names but it was a long time ago. I was in the HQ Coy. signals platoon.

[Albert T Smith 10]

No sorry Albert T, I don't remember anyone by those names but it was a long time ago. I was in the HQ Coy. signals platoon.

 

Thank you - A odds on very long shot that may have come good.

I once met a couple in London, who I did not know, but told me that they had never been to Sheffield.

But they told me that one time they knew someone from Sheffield called *** ****.

It turned out to be one of my nieghbours.

I learnt later they had not met for about fifty year!!

[Floridablade 11]

This story is nothing to do with the army but two very strange coincidences. I sailed the Med for 11 years after I retired and spent one winter near Rome in the canal there. I was talking to a Canadian who was ex Canadian navy and when he learned my surname asked if I had a relation retired from the Canadian Navy, My uncle, now passed on was a senior naval officer and his old boss.

 

Two Americans tied up behind me and started organising BBQs every Sunday. Two or three New Zealand navy lads were crewing on a large yacht and of course started talking about experiences. It turned out that the American boat was accompanied by another boat on their passage across the Pacific which sank in a bad storm, the N.Z. Navy rescued the two Americans and towed them into calm waters. Two of the lads were part of the crew.

[Highnote 10]

I take your point Floridablade regarding the Berlin Airlift, but the aircraft I worked on transported a mundane and basic commodity,coal, and as an Instrument Basher many aspects of my(our)work was in the unseen areas in cramped conditions and at the end of the shift we would emerge looking as though we had been down a pit with the profuse coal dust, and they were Handley Page Hastings aircraft, brand spanking new all shiny and bright when they came into service,as you can imagine not for long!

[Floridablade 11]

Yes Highnote, people like you did an amazing job, I had some experience of what you say because I used to have to repair radio equipment in tanks hanging upside down, taking the stuff out took hours and often just a simple terminal screw loose but a hell of a job to get at.

 

Why they didn't put the army back into the corridor is a mystery since the Soviets would not IMO gone to war over it since they were just as tired as us. I think the Attlee government thought the airlift was the better solution and left it at that.

[Texas 10]

What strikes me about all you guys, Floridablade, Highnote, et al, is that you all seemed to have important jobs and more importantly, took them seriously. Could be that I felt that way myself at the time, but I must admit in my dotage I remember the laughs and the funny side more than anything.

The references to the wildlife in Egypt were interesting. I was posted to Transmitters from Line Troop at 3GHQ. This meant I had a whole load of time to waste, of which I spent going 'walkies' into the desert. I'd walk for miles and no compass. I met 'em all, the Scorpions that looked like little bits of saltgrass, the Mole Crickets, about nine inches long, snakes, wild (feral) dogs, Locusts, desert birds, that I couldn't put a name to, lots of stuff.

I used to hang out with a couple of guys, both from Sheffield, and they had done a bit of climbing before going in the Army. Cliff, that was the name of one of 'em, decided that he'd like to try to climb an escarpment that could be seen in the distance, some ????? miles from Fayid. Naturally, this was away from any vestage of civilization as could be seen, so he got this bullrope, I ask you BULLROPE, and we toted it about two miles into nowhere, only to find that the face of the 'scarp was too friable. The prat, and he a cypher Corporal.

We naturally dumped the rope and started to hike back. I tell you, if it hadn't been for an half-track out on test by some 17/21st Lancer bods, there would've been three skeletons out there somewhere west of Fanara.

[Floridablade 11]

I went on to serve in R. Sigs for 25 years. In 1963-4 I was O.C. 14/20 Hussars Signal troop in Benghazi when Qaddafi was a Signals colonel at the British Military Mission in D,Osta barracks. We had a party in the mess every saturday night and the beer was kept in the morgue, we shared the camp with the military hospital, a couple of the staff went to get a couple of crates and felt a cold body lying on the slab. It turned out to be the colonel who was going to organise the coup against king Idris but was shot outside our camp gates on his way to the airport. Qaddafi took over soon after.

[prioryx 10]

I went on to serve in R. Sigs for 25 years. In 1963-4 I was O.C. 14/20 Hussars Signal troop in Benghazi when Qaddafi was a Signals colonel at the British Military Mission in D,Osta barracks. We had a party in the mess every saturday night and the beer was kept in the morgue, we shared the camp with the military hospital, a couple of the staff went to get a couple of crates and felt a cold body lying on the slab. It turned out to be the colonel who was going to organise the coup against king Idris but was shot outside our camp gates on his way to the airport. Qaddafi took over soon after.

 

Were Ghilo ( forgotten how to spell it) and Azzia barracks in Tripoli still in use when you were there. I was there in 56 attached to 10 Armd Div from 2ASSU Cyprus.

[Texas 10]

What other memories of the Middle East. Did anybody have a 'Busty' on their camp like we did at 3GHQ? Actually it should be 'Bustee'. I found this out a couple of months ago. The term comes from the old Indian campaigners, meaning something like a wheeler-dealer I think.

Ours was a big fat Egyptian, one bad eye, and he never let his right hand know what his left hand was doing. He had a little concessionary store on the camp where one could buy Coca-cola, Fanta, and other soft drinks, chewing gum and the like, but he was into all sorts of stuff. I know he could get the good zhibib 'cause I got some, cost me/us 700 piastres, that was me and Colin Jacks, a Brummie. We drank it with Stella, man did we get some bad hangovers?

I'd never seen Stella before getting to Egypt, they sold it in litre bottles.

'Busty could get anything, as long as you had the bread. He drove a Chrysler about a mile long, dripping with chrome, and wore a ****ty galabeah like any other 'felaheen.'

Anybody remember the 'Green Valley' or the 'Olympia' in Fayid? I prefered the latter myself, it attracted a better class of 18 year old drunkard. Besides, it was surrounded by a tall rush fence through which you could batter your way out in case there was a raid by the Military Police, (that's another story).

[Floridablade 11]

I only ever went to Tripoli twice once coming back from Malta and another time to visit my lads attached to the one of the squadrons. There was a very large US AFB on the coast I remember and they left an enormous amount of stuff, they also built and outfitted a hospital. I could understand Qaddafi's position, he told me that America and Britains presence in the country help stabalise the currency etc. but the majority of people wanted us out and so he ordered us out. There was more animosity towards Egypt than us by the educated Libyans but the rank and file hated us, particularly the Americans.

 

A friend of mine, a doctor at the hospital and my next door neighbour was involved in a car accident caused by a family in a Merc. running the lights at dusk during ramadan. The " judge " told him he if he hadn't been in the country it wouldn't have happened. That same doctor worked tirelessly along the coast when an earthquake hit and saved many lives.