28
NAVY NE\WS, AUGUST 2010
‘ONCE NAVY. ALWAYSNAVY’
DEIIIIIIIBSS maintains llllI'BIIS connection
HMS DAUNTLESS may be less than five years old but she has picked up a baton which was first carried almost 60 years ago.
Medical
Squadron gathers at
chivennr
'.'\
Type 45 destroyer has a special affiliation with the Association of Wrens (AOW) through a land—locked post~war training establishment. In 1953 the existing \‘Ilr'RNS establishment at training Burghfield, near Reading, was The
commissioned under the White Ensign as HMS Dauntless.
It continued to train\‘A'irens until
THE unit may have been around for 38 years, but 2010 saw the very first .Medical Squadron reunion dinner. Commando Logistic Regiment (CI.R) was formed in January 1972, with one of the five constituent squadrons providing first and second—|ine medical support for deployed formations, based in the Longroom at Stonehouse Barracks. This meant support at every level, from medics embedded with forward patrol units through to the manning and infrastructure of small field hospitals, surgical facilities or dressing stations throughout the medical evacuation chain. The dinner was held at Chivenor, home of the squadron since 1995. In almost four decades the role of the squadron has not changed a great deal. A total of 103 personnel staff two medical troops, a support troop and a squadron HQ. Amongst the guest speakers at the dinner was Surg Capt Rick Jolly (Ret’d), a former Officer Commanding Medical Squadron. Surg Capt Jolly established and ran the British field hospital in the Falklands at Ajax Bay, housed in a disused abattoir. Hospital staff dealt with casualties of the attack on RFA Sir Galahad at Fitzroy, as well as wounded from the battles of Goose Green, Mount Harriet and Mt)unt Longdon, also treating wounded Argentinean soldiers. Medical Squadron have
list when
the
destroyer
Raleigh. Groups from the AOW-’ ha\-'e been taking every opportunity visit ‘their’ ship as her to commissioning date loomed. In April six ex-Wrens from the association’s Tyne branch who had trained at Burghfield, together
The A()\‘{" first appeared at the end of 1920 under the leadership of Dame Katharine Furse. Katharine Furse had led the first Voluntary Aid Detachments sent to France, groups of civilians the majority female who served in roles such as cooks and later as nursing support. Upon her return to London in 1917, she was offered the post of
with
were
two
wartime
ex-Wrens,
given an extensive tour of new destroyer alongside in
the Portsmouth, The group was escorted by CPO NIEA Vi-"endg.-‘ Frame also an AOW member. They were welcomed into the \‘L’arrant Officers’ and Senior Rates‘ Mess for refreshments, watched tickers being played in the Junior Rates’ Mess, visited the bridge, the Ops Room and generally explored the ship from stem to stern, taking numerous ladders in their stride. The only thing they didn’t manage to do was get piped ashore, having to settle instead for a photo on the brow. The association was also represented at the launch of the ship in Glasgow in 2007, when Cdr Giulian Hill,the Senior Naval Officer of the ship, presented the ship’s crest to AOW president Anthea Larken. And representatives of the AOW’ were again on the invitation
in
was
closure in 1981, when females HMS
Portsmouth
earlier in the summer,
»—
—
Director\3\7"Ri\'S. At the end of \‘IUorld \ll«'ar I there was a need to administer a large grant of money to ex—Service
by the Navy and Army Canteen Board, which led to the
women
foundation of the Service\l(-’omen’s Fund Committee in 1920. Thus the WRNS Friendly Association, first renamed the Society of Wrens, then, by the end of the year, the Association of Wrens, was formally set up in November 1920 with Dame Katharine Furse as president. The organisation now has than 7,000 members, more and membership is drawn from
ex—\V’RNS.-"QARNNS personnel,
together with those currently serving in,
women
or
retired
frotn the Royal Navy. Nlembers also contribute to The Wren magazine and the website
w\.'.rw.wr~3ns.0rg.cC< See next month for
more on
the Association of Wrens
(Top) Association of Wrens president Anthea Larken 0
receives the HMS Dauntiess crest from Cdr Giulian Hill; (above) members of the Tyne branch of the AOW visit Dauntless in the spring, escorted by CPO Wendy Frame (kneeling); (left) HMS Dauntless her commissioning in at PortsmouthNaval Base in June
deployed on operations throughout the world since their implementation, including the Falklands, Iraq and Kuwait,
humanitarian work after a hurricane in Montserrat and Antigua, Sierra Leone and Kosovo. Surg Cdre Noel Bevan, the Director of Royal Naval Medical Services, and Col PeterTay|or RNI, the C0 of CLR, both addressed guests. Cdre Bevan said the excellent work of squadron medics mean that numerous lives have been saved, while Col Taylor said he was truly humbled by the hard work and compassion of the men and women of the squadron, The medics, along with other elements of CLR, will deploy to
Picture:
next
March
day and good weather helped City Of Ely branch raise more than £600 for Help for
A BUSY
Heroes with a stall outside the city’s cathedral.
Shipmates were out in force
St Etheldreda Fair
day,
and
on
as
it
coincided with an Open University graduation ceremony there were plenty of people milling around happy to support the cause.
theYangtse.
squadrorfs third stint after Operations Herrick 5 and 9.
Naval Quirks IN JUL‘! l9|‘I' CO
Do~/i.E,cR£A'ro OF SHERLOCK HOLMES; Puausuev A snort-r‘(I 5TOR‘I cALLel>“mu&£R
0.1
Ely
Members were back out streets to
Bn the
on
the
welcome home the 1st
Royal Anglian Regiment
the Vikings after a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. Ely members and their standard were joined by shipmates from
showing their appreciation as the troops paraded through the city and attended a March branch in
service
at
the cathedral.
Palace party
the
f.
LA(Phoi) Arron Hoare
Fair day for fundraising at
Afghanistan on Operation
Herrick 14
THE HMS Concord Association held its decommissioning reunion in Portsmouth, the home port of the post—war destroyer. Friday evening saw members celebrate the launch of the ship on May 14 1945, and the following evening former sailors from as far afield as Spain, Gibraltar, Canada and Australia joined shipmates for a decommissioning banquet in Portsmouth Guildhall,presided over by association chairman S.='l\v‘l Peter Lee—Hale. Also there was Capt Tony McCrum, the sole surviving captain of the seven who commanded the destroyer. A memorial service the following day was held in St Ann’s Church in Portsmouth Naval Base the same venue as the inaugural service in 1995. During proceedings the roll was called of all those members of the association who had crossed the bar by a representative of each of die six commissions, each assisted by a cadet from TS Hornet, the association’s adopted Sea Cadet unit. The Last Post and Rctwiiie were sounded by POC Harry Penton of TS Tiger, the Chippeiiham unit. After the service all moved to TS Hornet in Gosport for a buffet lunch, followed by a march-past of the association and cadets, the salute being taken by Admiral Sir Jeremy Black, former CINC Portsmouth and a member of the association, having served as a midshipman in Concord. Ceremonial sunset was performed by the TS Tiger band, during which the Concord ensign was lowered for the last time; it was later handed to the Gosport cadets to be laid up at their I-IQ, joining the ship’s bell, which was handed over some years ago and is used at all unit parades. Later that evening members gathered in the Nelson lounge at the Maritime Club for a farewell ‘Noggin and a Natter’. After commissioning, Concord sailed to the Far East to become part of the 8th Destroyer Flotilla, serving in the Korean War (where two sailors were killed by enemy fire) and the Malayan limergency. The destroyer was also present when HMS Amethyst made her dash to freedom during the ‘Yangtse Incident’, though her precise actions are a matter of heated debate, with supporters claiming the ship sailed upriver to shield Amethyst from the guns of the powerful \X/oosan Forts, and that official reports of the day deliberately wrote Concord out of the picture by simply stating that the two ships met at the mouth of —
commissioned
undertook their basic training alongside male naval ratings at
Concord ensign is lowered
..wmcH RELATED HOWA ..T«e 61‘oR~I HELPED EUROPEAN POWER WITH INSPIRE GERMAN UA SMALL NAVYDEFEATED WAT COMMANDEKQAND ERITAIN 5Y‘5U5MARiNE EVEN C-IN-C sciteen, To use THEIR u»90ATs ATTACK ON OUR MERCHANT FL.EET.. IN JUST SULH A WA‘! IN THE
mu-48 WAR!
..Anc\ IF it doesn't: work,u.ve‘li land to,ooo men on the Devon coast: disguised as Hounds OF bhe
Baskervilles !f
S.’l\rI Tom Robson, of the HMS Bruce Association, and his wife Rita have attended Royal garden party at Buckingham Palace in recognition of his unswerving dedication to the Royal Navy and particularly to ex—Boy Seamen. Tom, from Darlington, was born into a mining family and spent a short period down the mines before joining the \'av_v as a Boy Seaman in his mid—teens in 1947' at HMS Bruce in Fife despite the loss ofhis brother, who died when HMS Unbeaten was sunk during the war. Totn served 15 years, leaving the Navy as a petty officer qualified in torpedo and anti—submarine warfare. Part of that service was in the
Far East
during the .'\«’Iala_van
Emergency.
One of his main aims
now
is
that the history of Boy Seamen is recorded for posterity. He has also written a book entitled Boy Seamen RN the
to ensure
—
True
Story,
and he lectures
on
various Naval themes including Boy Cornwell VC, Capt James
Cook, i\/Iutiny
on
the
Bounty,
Jutland and the Yangtse Incident. Tom
“Our day at Palace was brilliant
said:
Buckingham
and we were so proud to enjoy such a nostalgic occasion. “Temperatures were in the 805. Several people were affected by the heat but we stuck to naval tradition and remained in the Dress of the Day.”