Colonel-in-Chief: Her Majesty the Queen.
Colonel and Gold Stick: Admiral ofthe Fleet theEarl Mountbatten of Burma, K.G.,P.C., G.C.B.,
o.s.a.
Lieutenant Colonel Commanding TheHouseholdCavalry:ColonelJ.A.C.G.Eyre.C.V.O..O.B.E.TheBluesandRoyals
Commanding Officer: Lieutenant ColonelA.J.Hartigan
A
The
As 1977 creaks to a close the time has come to try and sum up what the Regiment has done since the last edition and try to forecast what the future holds.
Allinallithas been a busy year verging at times on the hectic. Twelve months agowehad slightlymore than a troop on emergency tour in Belize but the Regiment proper at Windsor. Since then B Squadron has completed a most successful tour in Ulster. A Squadron's tour is drawing to a close and C Squadron have completed their training prior to leaving for Ulster early in 1978. C Squadron completed the annual ACE Mobile Force training and subsequent exercise in Norway linking the two with an imaginative trail blazing 600 mile approach march. In September they took part inan Exercise in Denmark which was sadly to be the last Household Cavalry participation in the Force.
At present the Mounted Regiment is providing a significant contribution to assist Regimental Headquarters in the control centre for the military fire fighting effort in the Metropolitan area. The first 'Green Goddess' crew from B Squadron have just finished its fire training and will work with the Royal Navyin London. Allinallan interesting year but one in which the Regiment has been fragmented and stillhad little opportunity to train together in its conventional role.
As part of the restructuring of the United Kingdom Land Forces, Headquarters Royal Armoured Corps 3rd Divisionwas disbanded on1st August. However, the break was not complete and wearestill fortunate enough to have Brigadier Richard Jerram in his alter ego atWilton.Operationallv weare now under command of the newly formed 6th Field Force at Aldershot. First contacts have been good and we look forward to a friendly relationship despite the colour of our berets and the extra strain on the gymnasium staff!
Despite the many diversions, conventional skills have not been entirely forgotten as shown by the high standard of gunnery at Castlemartin. Improving these skills willbe the keynote for 1978 linked with a determined effort to work together asa Regiment once C Squadron finally return to the fold inApril 1978. Asa major contribution to this we plan to hold anAt Home Day at Combermere Barracks on 6th August 1978, and hope that as many old comrades, families and friends as possible can attend.
Lieutenant Colonel A.j. Hartigan
Deliberately Ihave left mention of the most memorable part of 1977 until last. This was, of course, The Queen's Silver Jubilee. The Mounted Squadron and the Band played a major part in ceremonial occasions throughout the country. Weare all proud to have been connected ina greater orlesser degree with the moving and magnificent expression of national loyalty which the year's celebrations have brought about.
Attheendof 1977 the Mounted Squadron can proudly reflect ononeofthe busiest and most fascinating ceremonial seasons ever.Wehave provided Sovereign's Escorts for HerMajestyThe Queen's Jubilee visitsto Glasgow, Edinburgh, London and Cardiff. In addition wehave participated inThe Queen's Birthday Parade, the Garter Ceremony and the Opening of Parliament.
Fromthe moment thefirst troop drills started inApriluntilthe Cardiff Escort was happily concluded attheend of June afree weekend wasa rarity The hours of work andthe activity behind the scenesin preparation forthemany Escorts was considerable However everything waswell worthwhilewhen one considers the tremendous honour of taking part inthe Jubilee activities-we shallall remember the various Escorts foraverylong time due tothe enormous spontaneous crowds everywhere we went.
Lifehas not been entirely devoted tothe Jubilee. InMarchwe despatched Troopers Shorey, Jones3 '19, Smith 537 and Cooper onaFreeFall Parachuting Course whichIam reliably informed they all enjoyed Thisisno excuse forbailing off ahorse!
On 22nd Aprilthefinalof the Inter Troop Competition washeldat Kensington PalaceFieldand yetagainitwasa great victory forTheLife Guards with one andtwo troops whotiedforfirstplace. The competition included jumping, tent pegging, shooting, basketball, football and volleyball. Theprizeswere kindly presented byMrs.J. Swinton, wife of The Major General.
Once againwehavehada successful Summer Campat Stoney Castle.The equitation activities were thoroughly enjoyed, especially the Squadron OneDay Eventwhichwaswon convincingly by Troopers Frawleyand Bennett. The Officers' and Senior NonCommissioned Officers' Handy Hunter Competition waswonby Lieutenant J.R. Astor and Corporal of HorseKellyinan amazingly fast time. Twoverygood dayswere spent ridingtoMajorW. Stringer's bloodhounds. Weare indebted tohim,andwe hope tosee both himandthe exuberant Mrs. Hickman (the whipper in) next year.
Againthe Regimental inter-troop competition waswonbythe Squadron withone troop firstand three troop averyclose second . Come onTheBlues andRoyals,giveus some competition!
Wewere delighted to welcome our Colonel, Lord Mountbatten to Stoney Castle againon 22nd September. Wearemost grateful that hecanfind time tovisituseachyearat camp.
j Swinton, wife of TheMajor General.
TheColonelvisiting Summer Campat Pirbright.
From left toright: Troopers Haywood-Percival andDrew, Lanc e Corporal Thompson, Trooper Smith, SCM Kelly,Th e Colon el, CoH Denton , Li eut enant Colonel T. C Morris RHG!D, CoHJames,Major S. V.GilbartDenham, Lieutenant SiF. Hayward and CoHCraig,
Weagainrodeback to London , but thisyear it became a Regimental movewithalarge escort of Police Motorcyclists and Mounted Metropolitan Police . Theonly injury apart from theodd blister wasahorse kickedbythe Squadron Corporal Major's horse Condor orwasitthe Squadron Corporal Major himself?
On our return to London wewere invited to provide our best known Black, Queenie asa personalityhorseintheHorse of the Year Show. Shewas
very capably ridden by Trooper Snape. Queenie who isnow18isa seasoned veteran Shehas carried many senior offic ers onCer emonial p arades incl uding five Squadron Leaders , two Commanding Officers and the Colonel of TheBlues and Royals, FieldMarshalSir Gerald Templer whorodeheronThe Queen's Birthday Paradethisy ear.
The Training Wing continues atWindsor where recruits remainuntil they pass out ofkhakiinthe 16th weekofriding school.
The standard of ridingat Windsor under Squadron Corporal MajorVarleyhas , Ibelieve , improved . Certainl y the scope is greater and more variedwith excellent ridingavailable inWindsor Gr eat Park. The recruits are posted to London forthefinal four weeksinFullDress before passing out asqualified Mounted Dut ymen.
Troop training during the winter months continues forthe second year at Sopley intheNew Forest. Thisisa tremendous su ccess. Itisanexcellent placefor progres sive riding andit provides amuch needed break for both menand horse from endless guard duties in London. Wehaveevenhada chance
of swimming thehorsesin the sea asthe Squadron Corporal Major (Neptune) no doubt tohis cost remembers.
Atthe time of w riting, the Fireman's Strik e isinits seventh weekw ith nosignof ending Most officers and Senior Non -Commissioned Officers are involvedin manning the Operations RoomatKingswa y. Thisis reminiscent of emergency tours of duty in Northern Ireland No doubt b y the time themagazineis published the fir es trikewillbeover.
MajorS.V. Gilbart-Denham continues as Squadron Leader andCorporal MajorKelly as Squad ron Corporal Major. We havesaid goodbye to Capt ain J.W.M. Eller y, Lieuten ant j.A. Bl ack and Lieutenant TheHon.N.J. Adderley , whoh ave all returned I n TheLife Guards. We welcome their repl acements, Captain N.j .D'Ambrumenil, Lieutenant S.F. Hayward and Lieuten ant H.S.J . Scott. SQMC Perkins hasleft the Army a fter22yearsloyalservice - wewishhim andhis family verygoodluck for the future. SQMC Woodlands ishisbrave successor. Other changes are Co rporal ofHorseSlater whoh as been posted to RMA Sandhurst and Corporal ofHorseAllenwho nowruns the Equitation WingatThe Guards Depot. Congratulation s to them both on their recent promotionto Staff Corporal . Wealsosa y goodbye to our recruiter Corporal of Horse Collier and Corporal of Horse Hooper, wholea ves us shortly forcivilianlife. We welcome Corporals of Horse Denton and Craig.
Trooper Laws tragically diedina motorcycle accident on 13th July 1977 whilst serving with the Mounted Squadron . Hewasan excellent Life Guard whothe Squadron will deeply miss.We offer our condolences tohis parents and family.
By Trooper Burge
The chances of most of usever riding in another Jubilee are rather slim,25/1tobe exact, whichisthe regularity these rare occasions occur.
On the whole it'sbeenahard year's work, but ithasbeena great change from what would have beenan endless summer of Queen's Life Guards.
In The Life Guards Squadron there are3 Troops, soitwas organised that each Troop would doitsfair share of Escort Guards in London. 1and2 Troops went to Scotland to perform inthe Glasgow and Edinburgh Escorts while3 Troop remained in London for Queen's Life Guard duties.
Sowe headed for Scotland, destination Glasgow,whichwastobe our home forthe next week . Themain body went upby train, andthe remainder travelled as escorts onthe horse boxes. The journey wasalonghaul, but the horses travelled surprisingly well.
It was our firstvisitto Glasgow, sowewere the constant centre of attention provenby the fact that although there was only one official open day, there seemed tobea constant stream of visitors being shown around the stables.
We hadbeen installed ina cattle market-cumabbatoir onthe banks of the Clyde, which asfaras we could see,andfeel,hadbeen built tokeepthe coldin.Aswewere sleeping on camp beds one can imagine the grumblings that went on.You could walk inlateat night, finding no bodies - only largepiles of cloaks, greatcoats andblan kets, withthe occupant fighting a losing battle tokeepwarm
The Escort itself went well,thehuge crowds making up for the moans about thecold weather as everyone wasbusy eyeing upthe 'local talent' and very eyeable it was too!
FromGlasgowwe travelled in coaches and horse transporters to Redford Cavalry Barracks in Edinburgh, whichusedtobe the home of The Scots Greys
Herethe accommodation wasfor humans; we actually slept between sheets andonbeds.We evenhad carpeted floors!Being true soldiers wehad tofind something to grumble about andinthiscase itwas because the stables allraninthe wrong direction, making it practically impossible to sweep properly!
The exercismg herewasgoodaswewereon the outskirts ofthecityandatthe foot ofthePentlandHills.Itwasnot unusual tobeon one's wayupa hilltosee Captain Ellery running downhaving already con quered severalneighbouringpeaksonhisregular morning "jog".
There weretwo Escorts todohere,a Captain's anda Sovereign's, the Captain's fallingtoOne Troop, muchto their annoyance. The Sovereign's Escort went wellbutwasverylongaswewereinthe saddle from 0700 hours until 1400 hours.Itwasoveran hour's ridetoandfrom our start andfinish point, Holyrood Palace . So apart fromafewverysore behinds allwas successful.
theMaindyBarrackswhich appeared tohaveatleast 10 different detachments installed init.The stabling wasacanvasandwood affair situated in the middle ofthe square . Asyetno-onehadfound anything to grumble about.
The Sovereign's EscortatCavalry Barracks, Redford
The journey backto London was uneventful. Having returned onthe Wednesday night, wehadthe String BandRehearsalonthe Friday andthefirst rehearsalforthe Trooping onthe Saturday.
One Troop bowed out hereand their place was taken by Three Troop, whowerenewly formed, being mostly madeupofthe recently passed out recruits, allon their firstEscort!
In between allthese rehearsals wasthe State DrivetoSt.Paulson Jubilee Dayitself,7th June. The escort wasavery short one compared withtheones wehad already done The crowds in their millions, the numerous military bands ingapsalongthe route andthe street liners presenting armsmademuchmore noise than anyofthehorseswereusedto, but all went well.
Backtothe Trooping. All rehearsals andthe actual parade werevery successful.
The Cardiff Escortwasthe next andthelast one,withOneand Three Troops doing the honours witha handful ofusfromTwo Troop tomakeupthe numbers whilethemain body did their shareof Escort Guards
Cardiff was only a quick hop down theM4so it didn't takeuslongtoget there. We wereputupin
The Queen's Birthday Parade
Exerciseinthe morning seemed to turn into a competition between troops astowho could getlost mosteasily.Iwouldsay that theresultwasadraw. MindyouI think J musthaveseen a fair percentage ofthe streets of Cardiff.
au rrehearsalhadbeenscheduledforthe eveningwhiletheroadswerefairly empty andthe amount of people that turned out to watch uswas amazing.
Likethe others thisEscort went without any trouble. The route was four miles out and four back givingthe 'talent spotters' (90 % of the personnel) a hardtime trying to locate thesame talent whileon their return journey.
The turn around point waswell situated just outside apublichouse.Several soliders could beseen sloping off towards thebar only tofindit 'being guarded' by various non-riding members ofthecommunity so thay hadtomakedowith either water or orangejuice .
The people of Cardiff were,tous,themost hospitable and friendliest group of people wehave everhadthe pleasure to come across. We lookforwardto returning there, indeedIbelievemanyhave already done so, under one pretence or another!
Thelast occasion of theseasonwas the Garter Servicewhich although lengthy, for those of uswho hadnever done itwas probably the closest toour Monarchweshalleverget.
Well, that brought ustotheend of theSilver Jubilee Season, forusatanyrate. We wereallglad whenitfinished , after allwhohaseverheardofa soldier likinghard work? Maythe next SilverJubilee takeitstime coming around again.
Sincethelastissue of 'Acorn' the Squadron hashada busy, interesting and amusing year.The year started witha troop goingtoBelizewith Lieutenant C.B. Oldfield andCoH Jones, anditwas not long before theCRAC South Pacific (Lieutenant C.B. Oldfield) was writing tothe Squadron explaining the problems of tarantulas and snakes. Itwas a great experience forthe troop and they all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The squadron did, however, notice that later during the year whenwewereall put on standby togo there that the tall stories were somewhat reduced.
Whilethe troop wasinBelizethe remainder of the Squadron was preparing tofireat Castlemartin under the guidance ofSCplWillis. Castlemartin produced some good shooting with the inevitable cutthroat competition withB Sqaudron. Theusual gunnery cries could beheard from the Squadron Leader,whichweresowell remembered fromGermanydays.Withthe conclusion of Castlernartin we drove down to Salisbury Plainfor a twoweek exercise. The present Adjutant as troop leader continued to surprise the Squadron byhis ability toarrivefirstat the majority of stops. January and February were not thebest months for exercising onthePlainandwe had our fair share ofrainandmud.Itwas a useful exercise andmanyofthelessons learned wereto holdusingood stead for America. Unknown tous thiswastobethelasttimeweweregoingto exercise with our Armoured Carsthis year.
After a short administrative stop atWindsor wewere off to Denmark.
atWindsor before meeting upwith2 Troop from BelizetogotoKansasin mid-America. Itwasalsoat thisstage that the Squadron sadly said goodbye to the Second-in-Command, Captain H.P.Read,but welcomed Captain J.L.Morristo take hisplace,and also Captain D.A.Yorktohelpwith administration during the American exercise. Our experiences in America havebeen written upinthis magazine by a then troop leader onthetrip.
Having shaken theKansas dust from our large packswehad a period ofleave, coming backforthe preparation and training for Northern Ireland. On our return from America itwaswithregret that several older members hadtoleave the Squadron.
SQMC Alderson, CoHDaraz(whowasto later joinusin Northern Ireland), CoHBanks,LCplFry, Tpr Pullenand Tpr Wragg (off toBelizetoget married) but welcomed on board Captain TheHon.H.J. Adderley, Lieutenant M. Leatham, Lieutenant N.B. Holliday, SQMCWhyte,LCoH Cusick, LCpl Lawrence, SgtsKarasand Brimicombe, and a number of extra Troopers from Headquarters Squadron andThe Guards Depot.
The training for Northern Irelandwasthe standard NITAT package withSCpl Saunders and SgtKnight, Grenadier Guards, playing the answer to Starsky andHutchon behalf of the Provisional IRA, during the internal security exercises. The training finished withtwoweeksinKentfiring our riflesand a final exercise at Stanford. On return from Northern Ireland Training, the Squadron Leader was summoned tothe Commanding Officer tobetold that the Squadron wastobe prepared togotoBelizeandwe had36 hours togetready.In fact intheendwedid getleaveand went to Northern Ireland.
A Squadron's voyageinSirLancelottoDenmarkforExercise BrigadeFrostwas terminated whenanAlgerian tanker collided withherin Southampton Water
The Squadron in fact nevergotto Denmarkthere was a mid-Channel duel between our LSLand anAlgerianOil tanker. Theduelwas a drawand both ships limped backto port, quickly followed byrude signals from Band C Squadrons, andevenonefrom Catterick, withthe general theme of navigation and the Regimental Sailing Officer whowason board at the time. Thismishapgavethe Squadron a fewdays
Northern Ireland hasbeen relatively quiet so far, although wehavehad our share of finds shootingsand bombs. We havemadeuseof the heiicopter experience gained in America, whichhas caused the Squadron amusement andwe hope, the Provisional IRAfear.
.. has been a thoroughly interesting year, andIt IS goingtobewith great sadness that many of the members ofthe Squadron willbeleavingin the NewYear after our return to Windsor, among them SCMLawsonwhogoesto the Junior Leaders' Regim.enttobe replaced bySCM McGloughlin, and Lieutenant C.B. Oldfield whoisto attend theLong Armoured Course at Bovington.
By Captain P.R.L. Hunter
WhenA Squadron first heard that itwasgoing on this exercise most people could be forgiven for thinking itwasa two-week desert holiday with The Sealed Knot. In fact it involved a direct exchange with 'B' Troop (UK Squadron) of theUS1/4 Horse. The lst Squadron of the 4th Cavalry arean armoured cavalry squadron (UK Regiment) stationed at Fort RileyinKansas. This isa huge post. Over 14,000 soldiers and their families live and work onthe 176,000 acrearea. Fort Rileyis the home of the 1st US Infantry Division commanded by Major General Benedict anditwashe who led the welcome for us when we arrived on the 6th April.
The day before, we spent the night atBrize Norton and then boarded an RAF VC10 bound for McConnell US Air Force Basein Wichita. This isa 3 hour coachdrive from the Fort. A lucky few avoided the drive and were airlifted by helicopter. They were much impressed by the two escorting Cobra Gunships (attack helicopters) which cartwheeled round our formation of Hueys showing off their air manoeuvrability. On reaching the Fort wehadto wait forthe coaches to arrive before forming up and marching on toa welcoming parade. The Divisional Band then played both National Anthems, and Brigadier Johns made a welcoming speech. I don't think the band quite understood British Badges of Rank as two of its approached the Squadron Leader, Major Slmpso.nGee, with the greeting: "Hi mack, what sort of a tnp have you had?" This kind of good natured informality wasto help make the remainder of the trip such a success.
Captain (Quartermaster) Y ork. Alderson and the rest of the Advance Party. preceded us by a week so that we were abletomove into the accommodation, etc. without any of the normal problems. The majority livedinanew3 storey block next tothe Squadron Offices andall ranks dining hall.The Officers and Senior ranks lived some distance away which meant a great deal of commuting. In the dining hall rank hasno precedence asfaras the meal queue is concerned, although Mr.Bossorn. "laster Sergeant Diazand the Regimental Corporal Major were still"discussing' this problem evenattheend of the tour. Mr. Bossom isareserve officer who joined usfor the five weeks and kept everyone in the Squadron amused.
After avery good initial brief on the Fort, local 'attractions' and the strict traffic regulations. we moved to the vehicle park to begin the major part of the exchange. Each platoon commander hadin effect a mini-combat team comprising 3 Scout Jeeps. 3 Sheridan Tanks, 2APC mounted Tow "fissile launchers, one APC borne infantry section anda Mortar APC. Of thiswe were expected toman and operate everything except the mortar vehicle.
The vehicle took some getting usedto and the LAD, under W02 Lodder (now AS"n. worked extremely hard togetall of the vehicles roadworthy. The firstweekwas spent with crews getting to know their equipment, and commanders studying tactics. Everyone was taken to the ranges tofire the various infantry weapons. These included the Colt .45. M-16, M203, .50calMG,M60LMG and the 66mm. The
grenade launcher was espe cially e ffective, throwing its 40mm Smoke /HE proj ectil e ov er 200m . TheSherid an gunnery produced nogr eat surprises but w e f ound the missile inth es imulator much easier to c ontrol than the older Swingfire /Vigilant.
Concurrent with a ll of this military activity , o ur hosts were entertaining usex tremely well and many local families had gr oup s of soldiers to their h ouses for dinner etc.
By the end of th e fir st week we were ready for our first exercise A s th e train ing area is enormou s thi s ga ve us plenty of room to manoeu vre. Tactic s, et c . wefo und tobe not that much different , but m es sing inthe field is don ecentrallyby the s quadron and we found it annoyin g b eing neither self-suffi ci ent n or having cookers or b oiling vessels in our vehicle s .
The greatest t a cti cal difference came with th e u se of the organic airpow er . The US Cavalry Squadr on has an integra ted air tr o op. This comprises Scou t s, s mall observation heli c opt ers and a gun platoon o f ej C obras. The latter a re se nsational,as displayed inth eir firepower demonstrati on The S cout seek s out a nd identifies the target , th en the Cobra takes ov er. It hasa c hoice of a rmament ranging from 72mm Rockets and asix barr elled 7 . 6 2mm ' Mini Gun' firin g 4000 rpm, to the 39 5 round 40mm grenade laun ch er. New versions mount th eT ow anti-tank mis sile.T his instant reaction for ce provides a formidable reserve to any local comm and er. The pilots we found w ere not only very comp et ent , but also extremely keen t o take on any task w eo ffered them. The airpow er wa s probably the mo st int ere sting military aspect of o ur trip
For variou s rea sonswe were unable tot ake part in the Squadron' sa nnual FTX but on our fir st e xercisewe were visited b yG en eral Kroe ssen, a fours tar Gen eral from Washington who equates toth e Ci nC UKLF. Hew as p arti culary interest ed in our views on the ex change,a ndin our opinions of Am eric an tactics and equipment. By this time weh ad formed our own impre ssion s and Iam not s ureth at he received totally fr ank a nswers.
At the end of th e third week we had complet ed our fairly rigorou s training programme (which included running at 0700 hours every day) a ndth e Squadron wasgiv en 5d ays leave. Our travel m ovements then resem bledas tar burst as the Squ adr on disappeared ina myriad of different a ttires a nd directions.
Corporal of H or se Jone s went toLo s Angeles, Lieutenant C.B Oldfi eld and 30 oth ers t o Fort Carson, Colorado , Lieutenant P.R.L. Hunt er a ndMr. Bossom to the Baham as, Trooper WraggtoBelize, the Regimen tal Corpor al Major to Dallas, and m any o thers to destination ss lightly closer. The town of Abil ene. which is the birthpla ce of the late Presid ent hower and c ontainshi s house and memori al lib rary, w as a fa vourit e. It a lso has a mock up of the old co w town which exi sted less than 100 year s ago
Atth ee nd o f o ur rest (?) werea ssern bled a t Fort Riley t o bo ard the coaches for Salina A irfield . Here wef ound 2 USAF C-141s awaitin g u s . With the minimum of f orm al ity we were allowed tob oarda nd found plenty o f ro omin which to stret ch out. Our landing atBri ze Norton in the rain th at e vening ended our t our and reality returned with a n overnigh t stay in Ga t ew ay House.
Next m orning 'B' Troop arrived fr om Windsor in our tran spo rtso th at there was abri ef o p po rtunity in whi ch t o e xchange'g reetings' and wi sh th em a' safe return' .
Asa wh ole the trip was agr eats uccess and a very valuable ex perience for e very on e . We see l ittl eo f the Am erican Army even when w ea rein Ge rmany, so that thi se xchange programm e goes a long way toward ss atisfying that requirement.
1 977beganfo r BSqu adron withp repar ations f or Annua l Firingat Castlem artin. Wecarried out a verysuc cessful wee k's firingth at provedno t onlythe cap ab ilities of th e Ra rdenca nnon bu t a lso t hat of Fo x across country . O n our return toWindsorthe Fo xes went into preservation a ndwebegan our t rai n ing fo r Northern Irelan d. Periodsof lectures a n d exerc ises atthe Cinque PortsTr aining A rea broug ht ustoApri l and leave. On 26th April th emain party crossed t he Irishsea t o b eginafo ur mo nth tour in Dun gannon,Co .T yrone.
Th e Squ adronlivedin Cast leHill Cam p , soo n t obeknown as Fort Co mbermere,inth e pleasant co untryt owno fDun gannon. Ou rarea ofresponsibi lityin cluded thet own , the s urrounding c ountryside, th erat herunpl easant t ownofCoa lisland,a nd a n eq ually un pleasanta rea k nown ast he Was hing Bay . T heba y areahadva rio us dubio us a ttrib ut es not least the presence ofMrs.Bern a detteMcCluskey , nee Devlin, famous e x-Member of Parlia mentand book review er
Dunganno n a nd the surround ing a rea fo rm a corner o ftheinf amous 'mur der tr iangle', the activ ity ofwhi ch was demonstrated within twoda ys of our ar rival. A part -time UD R cap tain was murdered w ithin earshot oft he camp A f ewweekslate r a reserveco nstab le wascrue lly murdered whiledrivingh is school bus On 22nd May at23 41 hours B Squadron suffered it sfir st casua litiesinawel l p lanned amb ush just o utside Coalis land.LCpl T insley , LCpl Lewisa nd T rooper T homaswerea ll hitb y firefromana utomaticrifl e.LCpl Ti nsleya ndLCpl Lewis h avemade agood recovery but T rooper Th omass t il l suff ersfro m losso fh earingin oneea r an d w ill s hortlyleave t he A rmyasares ult.
Apattern of a ttackswas beginning toemerge with alternateattacks on members ofth e local security forcesa nd B S quad ron. T he mu rderoft h r ee po liceme n j us t ou tside our areawasc losely fo llowed bya second ambush onaB Squadron patrol . T rooper Jerramhada luckyescape whena bullet grazedhis fore head. A nd sothetou r we nt onwiththe likelihood that a no ther a ttack wou ld fo llow in t ime On 19t h Juneit came . Th e m odeof operatio n wass imilart o the e arlieramb ushes. T roo perNewton , s tandingin t he rear o fth emac rilonLand Rover, rece ivedab ullet in his a nkle.
On a llth eamb ushesf irewas s peedily returned. Onthelasta mbush a t otalo f 9 0 rounds weref iredb y th e p atrol,so me o f whi ch were from a n LM Gf ired by avisiting member of NITAT. Th ere'sagood chance t hato ne ormoregunme n wereinjured int he various a mb us h es .Wedok nowth ato ne of th em hada seriousin jury to a handwhich might h a vebeen ca used byB Squadro n.
Dur ingt he to ur the Sq uadron h adma ny fi nds , thus depriving t he Provisional IRAofequ ipmen t w ith wh ich to continue the ir cam paign. Amo ng our notab le f inds wereaWoodmas ter riflewit h s ingle poin t sigh t; 283Ibso f am moniumn itrate e xp losive; 2 1Provisional IRAhan d grenades anda soph isticated radio-control led bomb safel y neut ralised b y th e bomb disposal expert.
Everyon e enjoyed th eir Resta ndRecuperation and d erived ma x imum benefit from it.At t imest he Squadron was pushed to fillthegapscausedb y R & R and injuries, but somehow thevarious demands were metwithou t the Squadro n's opera tional commitments suffer ing.
Many frie ndsweremade du ringt he tou r. Regularvisitst othe British Legion wer ee njoyed b y manyso ldiers.Ahappya nd close liaisone x isted bet ween BSqu adrona ndRUCa nd 8 UDR
The s ummerinNorth ern Ireland isa lways a busyt ime a ndthi sy earwas n o e xception. InMay we hadth e frustr ations o ftheUlster Workers' Strike an d later, inAu gust, th e resoundin gs uccess o fThe Qu een's Ju bilee visit. The Bl ack Preceptory March, held inDun gannon o n o urlast Saturd ay pr oved th at theviol ent c on front ations of af ewy ears agoa renow, a ndh opefullyw ill con tinue tobe , a thin go f t hepast.
On2nd Sept ember ,a hap py B Squadr on e mbarkedonth e LSL a t Bel fast Docks forth e return c rossingt o Liverpool. Rum ourso f A Squ adron b eing d elayed inarri ving h ad prov edto bewrong.
The e nd o fSeptember,e ight mo nths a fter our Northern Ireland tr aining began and wewere fin ally back withou r Fo xesinWindsor. Th e first priorit y within t heSqu adron was co urses.Then ew RAC Emp loym ent s tructurehas d emandeda m oreversatile levelof trad e t raininga ndtheSquad ron iswell on its wayt oac hievingthis SinceOct ober co ursesinD & M Gunn ery a nd Signals have been run . It ish oped th at b y A pril 197 8a ll c rewswillb e int erchangeable.
Atth ee nd of November th e Squ adron t ook part inthe A MF(L) exe rcise 'A von Express '. For th e purpo ses ofth ee xercisethe Squadr on was o rganised with thr ee tr oops e achof s ix Foxes . Thi s gave us the op portunityt o work with th e n ewsize tro opt hat is soonto be intr oduc ed Th ere isno do ubtth at th e c hallengeof1 978 willbe toimplem ent theSqu adron reo rganization a ndm akeitwork.
Andsoto the c loseofth e year FromAnnu al Firing inJanu ary , Northern Ireland inth e S ummer toco urses a ndreorganisation inth e Win ter, B Squadr on, again , hashad anint erestin ga ndrewarding ye ar.An d now,asthi sa rticleis beingwritt en,fir e fig hting crewsfro mBSquadrona reb eing d espatched a ndtr ained for duties o ver Ch ristmas. Forsome a year o fwor kwo n'tb e o ver u ntil31 st Decemb er . " Plus cac hange.. ..... .." .
Ithasbeen anot her ve ry fu ll andi nteresting yearfo r the AMF( L)Sq uadron. Before Chr istmas wewerepleased t owelco me ou r t roopb ackfro m Belizewith Lieutenant D. St. e.O .Bruton a nd Corpora lo fHorse Wh yte.Th eyfo undt hemselves return ingf romthe h eatof Centr al Ame rica just in t ime t o start Pre-Hardfallt raining fo r ou r tripto Norway.
Exercise Hardfallt his ye ar was und oubtedly the moste njoyable t rip to Norway we have had, a ltho ugh itwassad t o kn ow th atitwo uldb eo ur f inalt raining periodinth e North. Weaga inwent to Rinnlireta ndrenewedma ny o ld fr ie ndships. Our t imewasfu lly o cc upied a ndwewe rehappy t o have visits fro mb oth t heComm anding Officera ndth e Seco nd-in -Comma nd , Major A.B.S.H. Gooc h.
TheSeco nd-in-Command arrived , u nfortuna tely for h im,att he sa me t ime as f our rat her senior visitors . We ho pe th at th eye njoyed th eir t wodays wit h t heSqu a dron It hastobe a dmittedt hat t he SquadronLeaderwassomewh at h orrified whe n he wast old at short not icea boutthi s visit. Heeven co ntemplated putting three Major Genera ls anda Brigadier (to cook) ino ne tent inthe s nowforanight , buth is courage fai ledh imatthe last moment. O r perhapsitwast heth ought th at h emighthavebeen ex pected tobe there him self.
After a month inRin nliretwhere weco nducted seve ral exe rcises in t he area ; f ire d a t }herkin rangesa nd com pleted o urbasics urvivaltr aining We e mbarked o n afasci natingjourn ey - Th e Squ adron had t o beata sp ot 70miles n or thofNa rvikb y th e 1 8th Marchfo r a nAnglo-Norwegiane xe rcise. Sorat her th an t ake th eco nventionalrout e b yseawede cided t o move th e wh ole Squadr ono verland,a journ eyof so me5 80 miles. At05 3 0h ourso n t he 12th March, wesa id o ur fa rewellsinth e South a ndheaded North in as now s torm.
We weres up porte db yaFo rwardRep airtea m f rom 9Field Workshops,tw o RCTpetrol b owsers , t woArmy Air Corps Gazelle h elicoptersan d aNorwegianliaiso n officer.
T hewe ather was b ad t osta rtwithb utimproved aswe moved North, w ith t emperatures ra nging fr om- 1 5 0 C to + 15 ° e. Th eroa ds var ied frommet alled togradeds oil wit h a covering o f ice andsn ow. Th ere were extensiv es tretc h esof narrow , windi ng, moun tain roadswit h longgradie nts.T wo highpasses werecrosseda nd two c ivilia n fe rries were used t o c ross Fjords.
Th e Squadron t ookfivedaystoco m plete t he journey passing through so me o f t hew ildesta nd most b eaut if ulscen ery inNorway . T hemove was not with outitspro blems a nd exciting momen ts. LCoH Powell
had t os pend 3 hou rsdigg ing h imself out oft he s now bank he ran int ow hilet akingavoi ding a c tion.LCoH McBridet urned ove r inh is Ferreto n a bad m ountain ro ad a nd a Scimitarc rewedb y Th e 1st Battalion Ro yal An glian Regimentt urned ove r o n a nother mo untain road in dee p snow . Lan ce Corporal Kelly a ndT rooperNewto n s howed grea tdri vin g ski ll b y tow ing o ne 4 -tonnerb ehindano ther for300 m iles ove r ve rybad roadsa ndtr acks. Th eco mpleteSqu adrona rrived in t he No rth o n sc hedule a ndready t o participate inExercise Cold Winter with theNorwegian Arm y. Itwasa journe y th at will b e long rememb ered bya llth ose wh o too kpart init.
A Scimitarmann ed by L CoH Pace andL Cpl O 'Connor dur ing Exercise H ardfalli n Nor way. I n t h e backgr o und isaGazelle h el i copt er.
On return ing fr om Norw ay we immediately had t o hando urvehi clesa nd e quipment ove rt o the Am erican Squadr on wh o , if nothing else , m adeave ry greatimpr essiono n a ll o therroad usersinth e South o fEngland b etween th e 7 th April a nd 9t hMay Durin g Maya ndJun e th e Squ adron wasfull yocc upied withRegular Arm yco mmitments, trade tr aininga nd co urses.Second Lieuten an t D.e. Waterhousecommandeda Kape t our in t he No rthWestofEngland withSt aff Corporal A llen.
In Ju ly th e Squadron c o mple t ed its a nnual firin g at Lulwor th. It was goo d t o see Ca ptain B.P. Payne, wh o had last been with us as Squa dron Corporal Major in 1974 . Cor porals of Horse Rennie a nd C raig bo th wor ked h ard to e nsure t hat ou r brie f period of gunnery was a s ucc ess a nd we we re sorry to have t o say go odb ye to th em o n o ur re turn t o Windsor. Immedi ately af ter live f iring th e Squ adron moved t o Sal isbur y Pl ain wh ere th e Sch ool of Inf antr y Co mbat t eam co mmanders co urse pr ovided th e Squ adron Leader an d Tro op Lead ers fo r Ex ercise Phantom Bugle.
S econd Lieutenant D C. Waterho use an d h is Troo p
Af ter a well-earned leave p eriod in Au gust, th e Squadron pr ep a red fo r th e f inal overse as A M F (L) exe rcise, Exer cise Arr ow Expr ess in Denm ark. We d eployed t o Ju tland b y LSL a nd th en dr ove ac ross Jutl and to c atch a c ivilia n f erry t o reach th eexe rcise area in Z eeland. After e nduring a napp alling f ew d ays of t orrential rain in a fi eld, we m oved into th e very c omf o rt ab le ou tbuildings o f a f ine h ouse 40 miles so uth of Copenhagen fr om wh ere we c onducted t he f irst ph ase of th e exercise . We were acc ompanied by th e Paymaster w ho , mu ch t o his a nnoyance , lost h is be ret t o the a morous (male) inm ate of a lun atic asy lum. He ch eered u p a gain when h e was a llowed t o dr ive a police mo tor b ike a round th e Danish co u ntryside.
Th e co mbat ph ase o f the exe rcise was m ost e njoyable a nd we fo und o urselves wo rking wit h Danish, It alian, Lux embourg a nd British t roops. Th e exe rcise a rea was the w hole of Ze eland, less, unf ortu nately , Co penhagen . Aft er a th oroughly wort hwhile b ut tirin g e xercise we return ed t o England to f ind o urselves imm ediately thrown into North ern Ireland t raining. This involved a com plete re-organisation of th e Sq uadron We sa id f arewell t o Major T.J Earl, Captain N.P. Hearson, SQMC Leight on, Staff Corporal A llen a nd Corporal of Horse Land a nd we lcomed th eir
replacem ent s, Major C. N Haworth-B o oth , S QMC Knowles , Co rporalof Horse Knowles a n da pl atoon of sol diers fr om Th e Roy al Arm y O rdnan ce Co rps und er co mm a nd as reinforcements .
It was with great sadness th at we h anded o ver t he AM F ( L) co mmitment t o The 17th /21 s t Lancers on th e 20 th Oct ober . C Squ adron firs t t ook o n the role in 1968. Sin ce t hen we have h ad s ix t rips to Norway a nd have par ticipated in 9 AMF(L) ex ercises in Norwa y, Denmark , Greece, Turk ey a nd Sardinia
All th ose who have had th e pl easure t o b e p art of t he Squ adron o ver th ese yea rs h ave made ma ny f riends in man y diff erent c ountrie s We w ill all c a rry aw ay a musing a nd h appy memories o f o ur tr ips away . We reluctantly re linquish what , inth istim e o f co ntraction for th e Arm y, mustb e th emo st enjo yable a nd wo rthw hile jo b available t o an A rmour ed Reconnai ssance Squadro n.
Everyone kn ows th at Headqu arter Squ adr on is th e largest Squ adron a nd has stacks o f bl okes all s it tin g a bout doi ng n othin g a ll d ay If yo u wa nt a nythi ng or a n yo ne "j ust ask Head quarter Squ adron" or " Headqu ar ter S quadr on f or action" o r " Head quart er S quadron t o prod uce". Well this yea r we h ave pr odu ced s uch thin gs as overnight acco mmodation f or Rolls Royce cars o n their Jubilee Review (E ducation Centr e f or ac tion); 2500 staves for The Sealed Knot, (MT T roop t o c onvey); a Guide to Windsorf or t he US Cavalry (Squ adron Leader and Squadron C lerk f or a ction); a f ire o rder in Norwegian translated fro m th e o riginal Dut ch (Int. Clerk for action) , a nd d rawers Dracula fo r G reen G oddesses, etc . etc.
As yo u ca n imagine we are all perm anentl y on th ego a nd make a th oroughlygoo d jo b o f itt oo .
We are a ll so bu sy th at we find in o ur Department s that we just ca nnot release people for t hose
tir esome Drillo rPTpar ades Th isfo rces th e Squadro n Leader t o the generous s tep of layi ng on th ese parades a t 07 3 0 h ours. However, as a result we were quit e c learly th e best Squ adron o n th e Major G eneral 's Insp ecti on a nd we a ll got t hrough the Fit t o Fight Test. We nearly forgot a bout Range C lassification but the new Squ adron Leader , Major V.A. L G oodhew, was kind enough t o f it th at in a t 0 6 00 h ours m ost d ays.
We say a s ad f arewe ll t o SCM Hatt o who has been at the helm of the Squ a d ron f or so long, he has left for a civilian job in which we w ish him the best of luck. SQMC Shaw repl aces h im a nd SQMC Land has t aken over from SQM C Knowle s, wh o ha s flitted to C Squadron along with th e Squ adron Leader a nd sixteen o thersfor Northern Ireland .
Since the last issue of the Acorn a great number of moves h ave t aken place in th e O rderly Room. Th e main move was that of OR QMC Cherring to n to th e JLR RAC Bovington, a nd in his place we we lcome O RSQMC Henderson from the J LR RAC Bevington.a ndh ope h iss tay wi ll bea longa nd happy one . His bro ther is t he Chief Clerk of Th e Mounted Regim ent an d s hortly bo th w ill be Wa rrant O fficers. St aff Co rporal Dugd ale h as a lso de parted f or Bovingt on as h e co uld n ot im agine his f ormer Chi ef Clerk managing with out h im; he h as in fac t t aken u p t he a ppointment of Chi ef Clerk o f th e Arm our S chool. In h is place we we lcome back Cor poral o f Horse Et ches f rom th e wilds o f Household Cavalry Records in London. It was rum our ed t hat it took h im a week to fi nd h is unif orm agai n. LCoH St arling has also de parted fo r Household Cava lry Records to t ackle t he computer. We are not sure who wi ll win bu t o ur money is on th e co mputer Cor poral of Horse Wals h has returned fro m Household Cava lry Records and has n ow fou nd t hat life in uniform is a lot different from London. Th e Post Cor poral, LCoH T uck, has de parted back to the sharp end with A Squadron , and LCoH Beck n ow h as t he co mfor ts of th e Or derly Room. Other new faces are LCoH Kallaste from The Household Cavalry Regiment, LCpl Ridsdel from t he Guards Depot, and LCpl O'Neill from B Squadron . Th eonly face th at has n otc hanged is T rooper Holmes who is now t he longest serving me mber of t he O rderly Room
We have d one ou r fa ir s hare of so ldiering d uring th e past yea r. Staff Cor poral Dugdalean d LCoH Kallaste b oth went o n a Regim ent al C PX in th e wilds o f Sa lisbury Plain. LCoH Beck a nd T rooper Holmes went with Headquarter Squ adron t o Folda House o n Advernt ure Tr aining
Th e Ord erly Room have also co mpleted t heir Fit to Figh t a nd Personal Weapons T ests w ith 100 % s uccess. Cor poral of Horse Etches has atte nded a Regimental In telligence Course a nd n ow k nows more about t he Russian Army th an h is ow n.
O n th e s porti ng s ide of t hings the O rderly Roomwaswel l represented int he Regimental Cricket T eam by Staff Cor poral Dugdale, Co H Etches, LCo H Beck and LCpl Ridsdel. Th e t eam did n ot p erform a ll that well but it was not our fault that the rema ining me mbers di d n ot reac h o ur standards.
T he ACC a ttac hed m embers of Th e Regim ent have h adave rybu syt ime w ith exe rcisesand Northern Ireland t ours. Th e 's tay at h omes', namely Headq uarter Squadr on h ave h ad th eir fair sh are of th e
load looki ng afte r t he many Regimental fun io ns. Th e ou ts tanding function be ing t he Associa t ion Dinner for 350 serving and ex-serving members of The Regiment. Th eguests sat dow nt oamea l of:
Prawn Cocktail
F illet of Beef Ch asseu r
Croquet Potatoes
Sl iced Bea ns
Caulif lower Au Gra tin
Meringue Glace
Cheese a nd Biscuits
Sin ce Th e Regim ent 's re turn f rom Ger many many f aces have c hanged but tw o s talwarts wh o remain a re LSgt Murphy a nd LCpl Smi th, a n ex -Life G uard c ook w ho t ransferred t o th eCo rps. A Squ adron took LCpl Ferguso n to North Am erica, w ho afte r a month ca me back a n ex pert in th e art of coo king Hamburgers, Beef burgers a nd a ny ot her b urgers yo u care to imagin e a nd not fo rgetti ng frie d p otatoes.
Th ey were in th e USA o n a n exc hange. Here inWindsor wewerelooki ng af ter BT roop1s t Sq uad ron of th e 4t h Cavalry . Th ey in th eir wisdom did not bring cooks w ith t he T roop to p ass on the secrets of the Burger. However it d id take them a while to get used t o n ot h aving c hips with eve ry m eal. By acc ident, one day we found a great liking by our American co unterparts to POM, Yes, Mashed Potato Powder. In the USA t hey have listened to S mash Men and thrown away t he rou nd di rty t hings t hat yo u have to p eel. Af ter t eaching us h ow t o do a barbec ue they returned to th e St ates.
B Squ adron h ave had a h ard tim e in North ern Ireland a nd a re a t t he moment charging up th eir ba tteries and a nxiously wai t ing fo r th e d ice t o s top rolling a nd give t hem a t our in th e s un.
CSqu adron coo ks h ave had a goo d yea r w ith t he AMF(L) S quadron o n exe rcies an d tra ining in No rway a nd Denmark e nding th e year wi th a n Ulster tou r.
As w ith a ll attac hed personnel we co me and go b ut some of t he perso nalities who h ave left over th e yea r are:
Master Ch ef W02 MacDonald on p romotion to Grou p Catering, Aldershot.
LSgt Webster to the Metropolitan Police LSgt Woo lacot 23 Signal S quadron, Loughborough. LSgt Blake to The Guards Depot, Pirbright. LCpl Cox to a HotelinGerma ny.
LCplCape on promotion to T he Home Postal and Co urier Unit, Royal Eng ineers.
Sin ce th e last edi tion o f Th e Acorn th ere has been a large tu rnoverof p ersonnelinth e Headquarter LAD AQMS Leyland, SSgt Bevan, LSgt Pati ent ,a nd
LCpls Gray and Elmer have been posted, and ASM Thomas and LCpls Pearce and Livingstone have moved on to civilian life. Everyone in the LAD would like to take this opportunity to wish them well for the future and also to welcome SSgt Kirrage, SSgt Iredale, Sgt McConaghy, LCpls Boynton-Quinion and Seymour and Craftsmen Bright, Ryan, Bray, Hands, Waldon, Porter, Woodcock and Lafferty. AQMS Lodder has been promoted to ASM and has taken over the hot seat from ASM Thomas.
There have been no major exercises involving Headquarter's LAD but with the other Squadrons away for the majority of the time there has been plenty to do -PT, Drill, Duties, PT, more Drill, PT more Duties, and the normal LAD work! A party from the LAD went with Headquarter Squadron to Guards House, Folda in Scotland, to take part in adventure training activities such as land skiing, pony trekking , rock-climbing, hiking, cycling and fishing. In spite of the weather all concerned thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The main sporting achievement has been the success of the LAD team in the Welsh 3000 competition. This gruelling annual competition takes place in Snowdonia over a 25 mile course, traversing over 14 peaks of 3000 feet. The aim of the competition is to encourage a high standard of physical fitness and endurance to enable soldiers to move across difficult and mountainous country. The LAD team consisted of Sgt Karas, LSgt Turner and Craftsmen Harris and
Nineteen Seventy Seven, being The Silver Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen, has proved arduous but satisfying. It has been said that the Band has not undertaken such a year since The Coronation (there are still members with vivid recollections of that occasion).
Among the many concerts undertaken in February the concert at The Royal Festival Hall stands out in one's mind as the most interesting . This concert was in aid of the Fanfare magazine which, in case the reader is no military band enthusiast, is the yearly magazine of The Royal Military School of Music. Four Bands of The Household Division played to a full house and among the many famous people attending was Imogen Holst who conducted her father's "Suite in Eb".
March saw us treading the sacred turf of Wembley for the League Cup Final. This occasion turned out to be well publicised for the Bands, for several members inadvertently lost their spurs during
Brannigan with Craftsman Bright as reserve and the EM E Captain D.L. Judd as team manager. On the day, the team turned in a creditable performance finishing eighth out of the 25 teams in a time of 10 hours and 15 minutes.
In July a team from the LAD also took part in the RMP 25 mile Centenary March. All in all, a busy six months for the Headquarter's LAD and things look very much the same in the forseeable futu reo
the half ti me marching display causing the game to be stopped in the second half while the footballers searched for stray spurs. I say "well publicised" because the following day's press mentioned that this was the highlight of the match!
During April we managed to record a double album with a difference. Musicians from all The Guards Bands got together to perform as a concert band, we suspect for the first time Also, around this time, our Jubilee record was released which is proving a tremendous success.
In May we were fortunate to be asked to visit Guernsey for the first time. This proved a success and we are all eager to go again. At the end of this month we recorded a programme for the BBe's "Songs of Praise" series in the Garrison Church in Windsor which was transmitted on the Sunday before Jubilee Day. This event is remembered by most members of the Band because, after the recording, which lasted until ten thirty at night, we left for
London at two o'clock in the morning for the early Trooping The Colour rehearsal Jubilee Day found the Band participating in a Fireworks Spectacular in Windsor Great Park in the presence of The Ro yal Family. The occasion was shown live on television but, to the producer's horror, the lights of the especially constructed bandstand failed to work as we were about to play However, with some inspired busking, a potential disaster was averted During th is month we were back at Wembley Stadium, this time mounted, to the sound of two thousand military musicians participating in the Services Silver Jubilee Musical Pageant.
The British Amateur Gymnastics Association have employed us over the past few years in many of their special occasions . One such occasion was in July when the gymnasts from the Republic of China came to visit Britain. Later in the month we played for another sporting occasion, this time the Benson and Hedges Cup Final at Lord's Cricket Ground .
September found us sailing for Jersey for the second year running. This is becoming a favourite tour of the Band even though it is a matter of survival of the fittest owing to the Toe H hostel accommodation! Arriving back found CoH Harman with a few days to organise the final arrangements for the Band Social. The Social was a great success and we would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for CoH Harman's efforts .
In October various major cities and towns throughout England saw the Band. During this month the Russian Gymnastics Team visited the Empire Pool Wembley where we played for their displays as in previous years . Wembley was also the venue for the start of the Lombard RAC Rally in November.
Several members of the Band have left during the past year and so we take this opportunity to
wish the following ex-members every s u ccess in their chosen careers:
Band Corporal Major Walthew after 24 e ars service .
He has been able to establish himself as a te acher and band trainer in the Croydon area .
Trumpet Major Close after 22 years service. He will be remembered by many of The Household Division as Band Sergeant Major at the Junior Musician's Wing at Pirbright. He has now become the landlord of the "Duke of Wellington" in Twyford where he welcomes all ex-Life Guards with a free pint!
CoH Cooper after 23 years service. He is now training as an Instrument repairer.
LCoH Dean . He is now ' making a "bomb" in London play ing that magic trombone of his
We would also like to welcome all the new faces in the Band and wish them success in both the easy and the hard rimes ahead!
The Guards Depot has seen several changes in its organisation over the past two years and there are no doubt a number of people who will be unaware of its present organisation.
Basically, the adult recruits of The Household Division are trained in Caterham Company which is staffed by members of all seven regiments. This means that members of The Household Caval ry get a thorough grounding in infantry training prior to going for technical training at Catterick, or into riding school at Windsor and Knightsbridge. There is little doubt that with the present tours the Regiment has had in Northern Ireland, this extra infantry training has proved invaluable.
Household Division Juniors are trained in the two Junior Companies and The Household Cavalry Squadron. Number One Company trains the Grenad.ier and Coldstream juniors, l'Jumber Two Company trains the Scots Irish and Welsh juniors and The Household Cavalry Squadron trains the junior of Th.e Life Guards and The Blues and Royals. This organisation has allowed the Squadron to run a different syllabus from Number 1 and 2 Companies, which is arranged so as to lay the foundations trade training, whilst at the same time the Juniors still receive a thorough grounding in all infantry skills and weapons. They are therefore able to take part in field training exercises.at Thetford and pete against the Foot Guards In all the normal Dnll PT and March and Shoot Competitions. Specialist RAC trade training is obviously limited by the equipment and facilities available, but the Squadron has a well equipped radio classroom and has recently acquired a Scorpion Armoured Car. So much for the present organisation.
1977 has been a highly successful year for the Squadron. The Spring term Champion. Platoon Competition was won by Arras 8 under Lleute.nant A. W. Kersting RHG/D and CoH Baxter LG, assisted by LCoH Harding RHG/D and LCoH Mills LG. Not content with winning the competition the Squadron also took second, third and fourth places with the remaining troops. Arras 8 Troop won the PT Competition and JTpr Steedon, as a mem.ber the Depot Boxing Team, reached the Army Juniors Finals.
The Summer term began with a two week camp at Pen hale near Newquay in Cornwall, where the Squadron was able to take. in a variety. of activities , which included sea fishing, sand yachting, climbing and skating.
June 7th saw the celebration of The Quee.n's Silver Jubilee, and the day was planned. so that whilst the day at Pirbright was full of entertainment, everyone was still able to watch the events in London on
the television. The day began with a parade, and this was followed in the afternoon by a series of events which included a Free Fall Parachute Display, a Riding Competition and an "It's A Knockout" Competition between the Companies and Squadron. In spite of a very wet afternoon, the events were enjoyed by everyone and culminated in a barbecue and discotheque in the evening.
The Summer also saw several changes in the Depot staff. These included the departure of the Commandant Lieutenant Colonel S.c.c. Gaussen WG, who has been succeeded by Lieutenant Colonel D. R. P. Lewis WG, and Major V.A. L. Goodhew, who left the Squadron after two years and handed over to Major P.B. Rogers RHG/D. Lieutenant P.J. Knipe also left the Squadron to rejoin The Regiment.
The Autumn term saw the Squadron's only troop, Rhine 4, whose instructors include CoH Meade and LCoH McDermott, setting off to camp at Dibgate near Folkestone. Despite poor weather all the usual adventurous activities were tackled as well as a day trip to Calais. The September intake, Ypres, have settled in well.
SCM Hales, BEM has retired and has been succeeded by SCM Patteron, RHG/D. SCpl Wright, RHG/D, BEM has also retired from the stables after
many years teaching Junior Troopers to ride, and has
In October, the Squadron said goodbye to been replaced by Staff Corporal Alien, LG. LSgt SQMC Shaw who has returned to The Regiment on Day, Grenadier Guards, who has worked in the promotion and we welcome in his place the other stables for 13 years has retired and gone to work in SQMC Alien, complete with broken ankle, from C The Royal Mews. In February Cornet T.T. Jones, Squadron. RHG/D, joined the Squadron from Northern Ireland
The Autumn term ended with the Squadron and in November Lieutenant T.L.S. Livingstone narrowly missing the Champion Platoon prize but Learmonth arrived from BAOR. In other parts of the having all three troops well up in the order of merit. Depot, Major T.J. Earl has taken over command of Headquarter Company and Captain P.S.W.F. Falkner has been appointed the Assistant Adjutant, whose prime job is to run the Brigade Squad for potential officers.
L/Cpl R. Tonks, RHG/D L/Sgt E. Sawdon, CG L/Cpl. M. Price, WG Tpr. 1. Allen L/Cpl T. Yarrow, LG Tpr. D. Bale, LG L/CoH A. Fury, LG L/CoH D. Hale, LG L/CoH B. Meade, LG Tpr. C. Zotti, LG L/CoH A. Smith, RHG/D CoH. G. George, LG L/CoH 1. Mills, LG L/CoH 1. Stickles, RHG/D L/CoH M. Whatley. LG L/CoH 1. Wilkenson,LG CoH C. Read, LG L/CoH D. Claridge, RHG/D L/CoH M. Harding, RHG/D L/CoH M.McDermott, LG L/CoH G. Wilde RHG/D Tpr. R. Schofield, RHG/D CoH F. Baxter, LG SQMC 1. Shaw, LG Ct. T. Thompson-Jones RHG/D Lt. P.1. Knipe LG SCM. C.1. Hales, BEM, LG Major V.A.I.. Goodhew, LG Lt. A.W. Kersting, RHG/D Lt. H.K. Hamilton, LG SCpl. J. Wright, BEM,RHG/D CoH C. Grant, LG
To be honest, because of operational commitments, the Mess Notes should really be produced under the four separate headings of A, B, C and Headquarter Squadrons. They, the Squadrons, spend so much time away from Combermere that they often have to run an independent mess. Naturally, any suggestion that they should produce notes is met with blank amazement. To suggest that their 'goings on'should be divulged to the public would be nothing short of committing military suicide; preferring to believe that any contact between themselves and the local population is more in the line of duty. "Diplomatic relations not entertainment; to be suffered rather than to be enjoyed". - We believe them! Although duty has created the absence of many of the members, those unfortunate to be left behind have still continued to enjoy themselves at Windsor. The Entertainments Committee, under SQMC Alderson SQMC Woodland, SQMC Alien and SQMC McGloughlin, have provided many functions throughout the year and it is only a few that are mentioned here.
The Christmas Draw of 1976 took on a slightly different flavour resulting in a military type operation to ensure its success. The aim was achieved and our thanks must go to SQMC Alien and his hardworked committee for providing the blueprint for the draws to come. It is always difficult to buy gifts for one's own immediate family, and the prospect of buying for 300 would deter most people.
However, although one cannot please everyone very few people were disappointed. The measure of success is surely reflected in the numbers who stayed well into the next day. Recovery rate from this night coincided with the New Year's 1977 festivities. As usual, the night was well attended. Because the Mess started the evening early, the magic hour was reached with just the right amount of 'spirit'. We finished with a Champagne breakfast which left the Regimental Corporal Major amazed at the amount of 'bubbly' that was consumed. Luckily SQMC Alderson and CoH Banks provided the answer and surely both will remember this particular New Year's Eve for many years to come.
There now comes a gap in Mess intelligence until we reach a point in Mess life when we were invaded by "noncoms" of 1st Squadron 4th Cavalry, who came from Fort Riley, Kansas, USA. Life in Windsor was very much as portrayed in the television series, "Yanks Go Home", but without the overtones portrayed in the title.
As hosts it was important that no effort should be spared in ensuring that our guests should be entertained in a manner to which they were no longer accustomed - the American Army having abolished
Messes as we know them. A touch of 'southern hospitality' was the order of the day. The problem was to condense virtually a year's entertainment into the five week visit. This was supported by all mess members under RQMC(E) Reynolds and the PMC of the day, SCM Hutchings, and the full cycle of functions, dinners, band nights, dances, discos, barbecues, were organised. It soon became a test of stamina for them and us, and it was with some relief that we said goodbye to our 'red eyed' guests in the early hours of Sunday morning. However, the object had been achieved. There can be no doubt that AngloAmerican relations have been improved and many lasting friendships formed.A Squadron who went to Fort Riley, will certainly remember their own visit to America.
RQMC (E) Reyna/ds, RQMC Reed, SCM Hutchings, RCM Lumb, ASM Ladder and SCM Murnan
June 11 th was the date of this year's Life Guards Association Dinner. Many old and not-so-old friends were seen in Barracks on a day that surely must be the highlight of the year. The event was as well supported as ever, and all those attending were invited into the Mess after the dinner. Just how five hundred people managed to fit into the building is a continual source of amazement, but they do. It was an excellent night, much enjoyed by all, especially those 'happy' ex-members who finally allowed us to close the bar, open since the 11 th, in the late hours of the 13th. Now we have a year to recover before the next onslaught.
Formal Balls are always an occasion for those attending to 'Dress up' and such was the case for the Autumn Ball. Our friends at Pinewood Studios were once again most helpful and provided much of the decor to ensure that the Mess didn't look like the Mess! Obviously a great deal of hard work goes into these functions, and it is doubly rewarding when all goes as smoothly as it did on this occasion.
All the Mess functions are catered for by our new Master Chef, SQMS Sinclair, who joined us early in the year. The standards set by his predecessor have been maintained. It may be that on occasions they may even have been surpassed, but no one would ever say so. Anyway, as we all know, Lance Corporal Smith is the real driving force in the cookhouse. To be serious, though, the cooks always perform miracles and as prices soar, the standards do at least remain constant.
As in the past, the Mess is very often used by individual Squadrons for their own dinners. Such occasions are always very popular. It b'ecomes necessary to outdo the previous Squadron's efforts and those who are lucky enough to be invited benefit by what can only be described as friendly rivalry.
Headquarter Squadron are alone in that they have yet to succumb to this form of 'one-upmanship' and we await their event with baited breath. Maybe not this year, but be patient; maybe next year! Readers will be kept informed of Squadron Corporal Major Shaw's progress on this subject.
As always the Mess has had its fair quota of visits. Some of the guests we have hosted were:
The Colonel of the Regiment
Major General J. Swinton, OBE, The Major General
Colonel J .A.c.G. Eyre, CVO, OB E, The Lieutenant Colonel Commanding
General Sir Edwin Brammell, KCB, OBE, MC, Commander-in-Chief, UKLF.
Because The Regiment was so split up in 1977 we did not manage to field truly Regimental teams, but those who have competed were not disgraced.
The Football Team, under the command of Captain (Quartermaster) D. York, came 2nd on goal
Major General M.J.H. Walsh, DSO, General Officer Commanding 3rd Division.
Brigadier M.S. Gray, OBE, Commander 6th Field Force.
Brigadier R.M. Jerram, MBE, Brigadier Royal Armoured Corps, UKLF.
We have said farewell to many members this year. W02 Deaville, Staff Corporal Close, W02 Walthew, Corporals of Horse Perry, Cooper and Newens, who have left us for civilian life. We wish them and their families every success in the outside world. Staff Corporal Daysmith is posted to the Junior Leaders Regiment, Staff Corporal Maxwell to 2 Armoured Delivery Squadron, Staff Corporal Dugdale to the Armour School, Staff Corporal L10yd to the D & M School, Corporals of Horse Lea, Collier and Turner to Army Careers Information Offices at Stoke, Liverpool and Preston respectively.
We have welcomed the following to the Mess from ERE:
W02 Shaw from the Guards Depot, Corporal of Horse Etches from Regimental Headquarters, Household Cavalry, Corporal of Horse Jolly from the Junior Leaders Regiment, Corporals of Horse Cozens and Rymer from The Guards Depot, Corporals of Horse Saunders and Richards from recruiting offices in Stoke and Preston, and finally Corporal of Horse Ross from the RAC Training Regiment.
The following promotions amongst the seniors have taken place and the recipients are to be congratulated:
Staff Corporals Leighton, McGloughlin, Shaw and Henderson to W02, Corporals of Horse L1oyd, Maxwell, Daysmith, Whyte, Dugdale, Sanders, Willis, Nicklin, Land, Richards, Townsend and Williams to Staff Corporal and Lance Corporals of Horse Byrne, 8urns and Lea to Corporal of Horse.
average to The Royal Military School of Music in one of the divisions of the London District League. They also nearly won the cup for good behaviour. In the Cavalry Cup we beat the 15th/19th Hussars, and after two exciting re-plays lost The United Kingdom semifinal to The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
Captain G.B. Charters-Rowe, 2nd Lieutenant D.e. Waterhouse, Staff Sergeant McQuilkin, Sergeant Smith REME, and Trooper Vickers have represented The Regiment in London District Golf competitions, in one of which we lasted until the second round before being beaten by the Guards Depot. We look forward to next year when The Regiment is together and Lance Corporal Treble returns from parachuting.
The Regimental Cricket Team, captained by Staff Corporal Dugdale, and largely manned by the Orderly Room staff, played several enjoyable friendly matches during the Summer.
The 1977 Season of the London Services Cross-Country Running League began on 5th October with a race at RAF West Dray ton and despite manpower difficulties in raising a team The Regiment sent five members who produced a creditable result for our first fixture. The next meeting was at RE Mill Hill where the team of six runners again showed promise, especially as a large proportion of the field appeared to come from civilian organisations which were not present last year. As the season progresses we hope to build up a pool of runners to draw on, at least to be sure of sending an 'A' team to every league race. Training tends to be difficult with so many of the team in different departments but the average standard of fitness is high. (Note from Headquarter Squadron Leader - thanks to the Squadron 'Fit to Fight' trai ni ng!).
Three individual gladiators did well in 1977. Our PTI, Staff Sergeant McQuilkin, (who has now been posted to the U KLF PT School at Bulford) won the Individual London District Squash Championships, and was a regulr member of the Army Squash Team. Lance Corporal Johnson won the London District Cross Country. He is an Army runner and came third in the Army 3000m. During a quiet period on guard one night Lance Corporal Johnson worked out that he had covered 3640 miles in training during the season. LCoH Davey, C Squadron, entered the Army Intermediate Boxing Championships and did very well to get through to the semi-finals. This was a particularly good effort as it was his first competition and he was up against very experienced opposition.
Due to the unusually heavy ceremonial commitments this Jubilee year we have competed in fewer events than normal, however we have managed to achieve some satisfactory results.
The first event of 1977 was Crookham Horse Trials which resulted in W02 Varley, riding ling, winning the first prize for the best Intermediate horse in the Open Intermediate Class.
In the annual Hickstead Cross Country race
Lance Corporal of Horse Sanderson on Unisex and Major V.A.L. Goodhew on Yankee were in the team which finished fifth overall.
W02 Varley finished sixth on ling in the Intermediate Class of the Bucklebury Horse Trials.
At The Royal Tournament Trooper Haverley won the individual tent pegging competition which was a good result against some very experienced competitors.
SCM Var/ey riding Zing clearing the Elephant Trap at Badminton
Lance Corporals of Horse Flaherty, on Yasmine and Sanderson, on Burma, were in the team which won the team Jumping competition at The RMA Sandhurst Horse Show. This was a new competition where style and pace were judged in addition to the normal rules of jumping.
At the Army Hunter Trials we had a number of successes. The first being Trooper Ward, riding Churchill, who won the prize for the best Other Rank in his class and was second overall.
Lance Corporal of Horse Flaherty, riding Yasmine, was third in the Open Class and Lance Corporal of Horse 0' Flaherty partnered Lance Corporal of Horse Hague, The Blues and Royals, to win the pairs competition.
In the Cross Country team race at Buckby Folly W02 Varley on ling, Staff Corporal McKie, on lion, and LanceCorporal of Horse Flaherty, on Yasmine, came a very creditable second in a strong field.
(1st September 1916 to 16th February 1918) by
(Squadron Corporal Major) C.W. Frearson Esq.
More than 600,000 British infantrymen were killed or wounded during the ten weeks of the battles of the Somme Valley which began on 1st July 1916. The battlefields of Flanders and France had become a maze of trench systems, so complex as to require air observation to comprehend.
Trench warefare bore hardest on the infantry and in August 1916 it was decided by The King, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff and the Colonel of The 1st Life Guards, that the flood of recruits for the Household Cavalry would be diverted into badly needed infantry -a battalion, in fact, raised and trained within The Household Cavalry. On Friday, 1st September 1916, The Household Battalion formed at Hyde Park Barracks, under the wing of the Reserve Regiment of The 1st Life Guards. The battalion strength was 28 Officers and 900 men. Of the 84 Officers who eventually served in the new unit, 15 were 1st Life Guards, 11 were 2nd Life Guards, 8 were from The Blues, 22 were commissioned directly into The Household Battalion, 17 were Foot Guards and 11 came from cavalry and infantry of the Line.
Captain Wyndham Portal of The 1st Life Guards was appointed to the Lieutenant Colonelcy of the Battalion. He had served in The 1st Life Guards from 1908 to 1911 and rejoined from the Reserve in 1914. He was to command The Household Battal ion throughout its existence and thereafter a battalion of the Machine Gun Corps. During the 2nd World War he served in various Government Ministries and the Colonial Development Council and was created the 1st Viscount Portal of Laverstoke in 1945; In 1948 he was President of the Olympic Games. He died 6th May 1949 aged 64.
The new infantry battalion trained in Hyde Park and later in September, moved to camp in Richmond Park. Shortly after The Household Battalion entrained for France, on 8th and 9th November 1916, the Reserve of the Battalion moved from London to Combermere Barracks, Windsor, with the Reserve Regiment of The 2nd Life Guards. From here, drafts of over 2,000 men were sent out to the Western Front to replace casualties suffered by The Household Battalion during its 14 months of combatant service. The men were paid the cavalry rate of pay, a few pence more than the infantry, and they wore cavalry service dress on furlough with a distinctive cap badge, the design of which is perpetuated in the present-day Household Cavalry Forage Cap Badge.
Cap Badge of the Household Battalion. It was the precursor of the Forage Cap Badges of the Household Cavalry designed in 7927. It was bronze like the original
Cavalry.
'Order of the Bath' - Officers of the Household Battalion posing for a joke' photograph, Richmond Park, September -October, 7976.
The Somme Valley (8th December 1916 to mid February 1917)
Most of the men had merely 99 days service when The Household Battalion manned trenches for the first time on 8th December 1916 at SaillySailliesel, East of Combles and Morval in the Somme Valley. The Somme battles had petered out five days earlier but German artillery still rumbled and the sticky, red, Somme mud was just as deep. Over forty men had to be dug out and there were cases of total exhaustion during the period December - January, after which The Household Battalion moved to other trenches at Bouchavesne and went into the 'rest area' of Arras in mid-February.
The Scarpe, Arras, Fampoux and Roeux (8th April to 14th May 1917)
The misfortunes of Britain's allies in 1917 dictated ci rcu mstances in wh ich th ree major battles, (Arras, 3rd Ypres and Cambrai), were planned and fought. The Household Battalion was involved to the hilt in all three. The French commander Nivelle was replaced by Marshals Foch and Petain in Spring 1917 after part of the French army mutinied. Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig launched the Arras offensive on Easter Monday 1917 to draw German attention away from the disaster which had overtaken the French army, further South. As a cavalry officer, he saw the mission of cavalry as the exploitation of the eventual break-through in the trench-war stalemate and put the 3rd Cavalry Division into the attack on the Hindenburg Line at Monchy le Preux on Easter Monday, 9th April 1917. There was a general advance of the infantry north and south of the 45 foot wide, 6 foot deep Scarpe River, flowing east to west
through Arras. North of the Scarpe, The Household Battalion, as part of the 10th Brigade in the 4th I nfantry Division were allotted the task of advancing along the swampy banks of the muddy little river on the hamlet of Fampoux, (formerly pop. 1,015but now flattened and enemy held).
While their brothers of The 1st and 2nd Life Guards and Blues rode against barbed wire and machine guns with the 3rd Cavalry Division to Monchy, The Houshold Battalion stalked toward Fampoux with rifles and bayonets in the sleet. With them were the Warwicks, Seaforth and Royal Irish Fusiliers. It took the Brigade 11 days to take Fampoux and The Household Battalion lost 4 Officers and 166 non-Commissioned Officers and Men killed in action. Ahead was the smaller but even more formidable German defence at Roeux at a bend in the river, one mile from Fampoux and 6,000 yards from the Hindenburg Line itself.
Troopers - (although 'infantry' they were called Troopers) - with a hand-cart presumed to be for tentage. September 7976.
Roeux Cemetry (3rd May and 12/13th May 1917)
Roeux cemetery, 50 yards north west of the village, must have been among the least attractive pieces of land in northern France in 1917. Packed with Germans, well entrenched, it was even less desirable when The Household Battalion attacked it on 3rd May. With the Irish Fusiliers, who had attacked the village, The Battalion was forced back with above 230 casualties.
The attack was renewed on the 12th May, the same battalions taking the same objectives. Smoke shells gave a screen which prevented a clear pictu re of the attack from Battal ion Headquarters, but overnight, and in the early hours of the 13th May, The Household Battalion won one Military Cross and nine Military Medals and forced the Germans out of Roeux at bayonet point. The squalid little villages of Fampoux and Roeux cost The Household Battalion nine Officers killed and a total of nearly 500 casualties, that is to say, more than half the original strength of The Battalion.
The remnant moved to the cellars under the old city of Arras, ruined and bleak. They rested here for some days while their losses in manpower were made good by new faces - recruits from Windsor.
ARRAS 1917 and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battles of the Scarpe. 9th April - 14th May, 1917. (Fampoux and Roeux taken by The Household Battalion)
3rd BATTLE OF YPRES 1917. TH E 1st BATTLE OF PASSCHENDAELE, 12th October 1917. (Household Battalion attack west of Poelcappelle).
After the French Army mutinied, the British attempted to breach the new "Hindenburg Line" by breaking through with cavalry divisions towards Monchy. North of the River Scarpe, British infantry, (Household Battalion included), forced a way up to the German defence through the hamlets of Fampoux and Roeux. The Life Guards and Blues were engaged meanwhile in the cavalry attack on Monchy le Preux.
The 3rd Battle of Ypres reached its climax in the 7st Battle for Passchendaele. The sharpest actions were fought around Passchendaele and PoeJcappelle. The Household Battalion were fighting for a position known as Requette Farm to the North West of Poelcappelle. The attack failed all along the line.
Ypres 1917; Poelcappelle and Passchendaele (4th to 13th October 1917).
Russia, our eastern ally, had virtually ceased to be militarily effective against the Germans from July 1917 and the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 took Russia out of the war altogether. Italy suffered the crush ing defeat - at the hands of the Austrians - of Caporetto. The United States had come into the war in April 1917 but no United States troops arrived in France in any number until 1918. The British authorities were apprehensive of the arrival of new German Divisions on the Western Front from the Russian Front. The 3rd battle of Ypres began on 31st July 1917 and lasted to the 10th November. Its aim was to kill as many of the enemy as possible - not to gain ground. In fact, reckoned in killed and wounded per mile of territory gained, the 3rd Battle of Ypres was more expensive than the Somme 1916. 8,200 British casualties were inflicted per mile of territory gained at Ypres against 5,000 on the Somme.
On 10th October 1917, Colonel Portal's unit came under command of 12th Brigade and was instructed to be ready to advance on 12th October on extreme right of the 12th Brigade which was on the extreme right of the 4th Div with 18th I nf. Div on its right. The Household Battalion's objective was a few pillboxes and MG posts marked on the map as Requette Farm, left and east of Poelcappelle where fighting had been going on since the 9th October.
Early in the morning of the 12th October, Colonel Portal's men lost touch with the Royal West Kents, who were on their right and acting as extreme left flank battalion of the 18th Infantry Division. The Household Battalion also came under heavy fire from Poelcappelle which contained enemy. Part of a company of The Household Battalion were able to get into Requette Farm, capture its machine gunners and guns and hold it. Their hold was tenuous since no runner, (the only means of communication with Battalion Headquarters), could get by Poelcappelle on account of snipers. Nonetheless, this dwindling remnant of a company of cavalry-cuminfantry held out until the late afternoon. At 1500 hours, 12th October, only three Officers remained in the forward companies of the Battalion. They were Captain V.A. Cazalet, MC, (1 LG); 2nd Lieut. C.H. Davies, (2LG); and Lieutenant A.L. Martin (Gren. Gds.). All three had begun the action in the Support Company. The men under their command were utterly exhausted and not a single non-Commissioned Officer above the rank of Corporal remained. In the dark of the small hours of the 13th October, the 3 rifle companies still left at the rear had to be taken up in relief by the Commanding Officer, his Acjjutant, Captain R.W.G. Dill, and Battalion Corporal Major Wright.
To the right of the 4th and 18th Divisions, the attack on Passchendaele failed and wounded men, and some able, drowned in the mud beneath floating duck-boards. There was a withdrawal along the whole sector of the Poelcappelle - Passchendaele Front. The reckoning for The Household Battalion was a loss of over 400 men for a temporary gain of 600 yards.
In rest at Arras, The Household Battalion received its last draft of 500 new faces from Windsor in late October.
Cambrai 1917; Bourlon Wood. A Recommendation for The Victoria Cross. (20th November to 3rd December 1917.)
The Official History of the Household Cavalry in the 1914-18 War, Volume III of Sir George Arthur's "Story of the Household Cavalry", leaves much to be desired. It contains no maps, no chronological marginal notes and few references to formations, save names of their commanders and does not tie up the narrative with the previously published 'Official Names of the Battles and Other Engagements, etc etc" of the Battles Nomenclature Committee as Approved by the Army Council - HMSO 1921). This excellent and concise document, ratifies chronological, geographical and nomenclatural details according to its terms of reference laid down in August 1919, which were:
(a) to tabulate the actions fought in this war. (b) to classify these actions with a definitive system of nomenclature which will denote
their relative importance (e.g., the more important actions might be classed as battles, and the lesser ones as combats, and etc.)
(c) to define the geographical and chronological limited of each action.
Volume III of the "Story of the Household Cavalry" ignores this publication but has a single chapter devoted to The Household Battalion in which, The Battalion's last action is covered in the sentence; "Two months were spent in the usual routine of trench duty on the Cambrai Road sector."
THE DEFENCE OF BOURLON WOOD (30th November to 3rd December 1917).
On the 20/27 st November 7977, 324 British tanks attempted to take the Hindenburg line by storm west of Bourlon Wood. The tank attack failed. Infantry went in and took Bourlon Wood 23rd-28th November, but the Germans launched an attack with infantry, artillery and poison gas, 30th November to 3rd December 7977 and restored the former position.
This reference is to the activities of Colonel Portal's men during the battles near Cambrai between 20th November and 3rd December 1917. Here, in an effort to end the stalemate of trench warfare by the use of the mobility of tanks, the British army had been engaged in violent action, the vortex of which was a few acres of tree stumps and rain filled shell holes known as "Bourlon Wood".
The Battalion Padre, the Rev. R.E,M. Haines wrote of Bourlon Wood; "I doubt very much whether his, (a clerical acquaintaince) religious beliefs would have stood us in much stead in holding Bourlon Wood at Cambrai, living as we had to, under the most beastly shell and gas fire, simply in shell holes, and come away as we did with just 90 fit men." So much for 'routine trench duty'.
In another letter, the same Padre Haines writes; "I see the Cambrai despatch is out. We feel a bit disappointed as we thought one of our Troopers might have got the VC for which he was recommended. The Bosch began shelling us with his beastly gas shells and everybody dashed for his respirator. In the confusion, the Colonel could not find his and called for his orderly to bring it. It couldn't be found but in a few seconds the orderly came back with one in his hand and said, 'Here it is Sir'. Colonel Portal put it on. When we came to take them off, twenty minutes later, the orderly was seen dead without a gas mask. He had deliberately given his own respirator, which he was perfectly justified in keeping for himself, to the Colonel, knowing that it meant death for him in a few minutes. One can never take a mean view of life and men but we did think he might have been given the Victoria Cross."
The Household Battalion was disbanded on 16th February 1918. It had proved too much to fill the gaps in its ranks from The Household Cavalry in addition to the maintainance of drafts for The 1st and 2nd Life Guards and The Blues, who were due to lose their horses for the rest of the war and become The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Guards Machine Gun Regiments. Thus on 27th January 1918, the remains of The Household Battalion manned the trenches for the last time. It was as muddy, cold and unpleasant as ever, but this time, the mere handful of men were not called on for either offensive or defensive action on any large scale. By early February all that remained was Battalion Headquarters, which dispersed 16th February. George V wrote a valedictory, "You can rest assured that as an infantry battalion formed from The 1st and 2nd Life Guards and The Royal Horse Guards, you have added yet another chapter to the grand traditions of my Household Cavalry."
The Household Battalion never had a Standard or Colour during its existence but in 1919 a King's colour was made for The Battalion. It remains in the place where it was lodged by Colonel W.R, Portal, in Holy Trinity Church, Windsor on Sunday, 25th July, 1920 on the left of the chancel screen. On Sunday 16th October 1921, new altar rails in the church were dedicated to the memory of the 450
King's Colour of the Household Battalion. It is an infantry colour and bears none of the permitted ten honours, (7976 --7978), the Honours of the Battalion are carried on the Standards of The Household Cavalry. The Colour is in Holy Trinity, Windsor.
men of The Household Battalion who had given their lives during the War's darkest year.
The Colour is the normal Union Flag of the infantry colour but unique in respect of its goldstitched title, in the first quarter, "The Household Battalion" and, totally without any other device or heraldic embellishment, it bears at the centre of the crosses of St George, St Andrew pnd St Patrick, the Crest of The Household Cavalry and the cap badge of The Household Battalion. The finial is the spear-point of old days, before 1858 and not The Crown and Lion emblem.
The final gesture of this gallant Battalion came when it was given the choice of selecting its honours to be stitched on the Colour. Colonel Portal decided that the honours to which The Household Battalion was entitled should be embroidered on the Standards of the parent Regiments of Household Cavalry.
The Household Battalion Colour therefore bears no battle honours.
This year's Musical Ride was called "The Quadrille". It was trained as usual by Major (Riding Master) A. J ackson, MBE, and was generally reckoned to be quite ambitious. Certainly there were few members of the public who had seen Mounted Dutymen galloping in the 'kit' - not intentionally anyway. The Quadrille consisted of two Mounted Drummers, eight Trumpeters, eight Remount Riders/Riding Instructors and eight Dutymen. The old style, large ride is probably now a thing of the past because of the enormous expense of horse transport.
The year started with a very wet press day at Kensington Palace Fields, this was a foretaste of things to come at The Royal Windsor Horse Show, where again it was wet and again there was some 'dismounting without leave' (Trooper Nicholson playing to the crowd again!). One old lady wrote in to say how much she had enjoyed the Ride but asked that the horses no longer be made to lie down as there was far too much 'grovelling to foreigners' without The Household Cavalry becoming involved.
We had a very enjoyable trip to the Essex County Show in spite of Trooper O'Donnell's keenness to get back to the stables during two of the performances.
Next stop was the Basingstoke Show: The highlight of which was Trooper Leggott's police act. While on guard he discovered an intruder in the stables. Having struck the man with a jackboot tree he then marched him off to the police station wielding the farrier's hammer.
Remount Riders (left to right): LCoH F1aherty, LCoH Sanderson, Trooper Ward and LCoH Bevan - Dutymen Trooper O'Donnell, Trooper Cowling, LCpl Thompson and Trooper Milburn
From there we took the long journey to Builth Wells in the heart of Wales. Here there were Woodhouse looseboxes, a huge marquee for the soldiers, excellent food and a hotel for Captain Ellery and the Riding Master a suitable distance away. (Too far for collecting forgotten boots 15 minutes before a performance Trooper ELLIS!).
Deal was the next stop where we were very well looked after by The Royal Marines who reluctantly gave us their drill shed for a stable. They expressed concern about the smell but we assured them that the horses would get used to it!
The Colchester Searchlight Tattoo was hard work and made all the more exciting by sharing the collecting ring IN'ith The Royal Signals Motorcycle Team, during the firework display.
Finally the Ride performed at Summer Camp after leave and then at the Dunhill Christmas Show at Olympia where Troopers O'Donnell and Nicholson again found walking preferable to riding.
The year had been kept deliberately fairly quiet because of the Jubilee and a trip to America which was cancelled at the last minute. Wherever we went we were the recipients of much kindness for which we were very grateful. The best performances were undoubtedly in the places where horses and men were co-located and where the shows followed one another without returns to Barracks and this should be our aim in the future.
by Tim Carew
On a gloomy September afternoon I reported to the guardroom of the Household Cavalry Training Regiment at Windsor. Seated on a stool and gazing morosely into a mug of congealing cocoa was Corporal Bell. He eyed me with undisguised disfavour.
"And wot," he finally asked, "are you?"
This seemed to be an unprornising beginning, and I explained that I was a recruit.
Corporal Bell digested this piece of intelligence thoughtfully. At length he said: "Well, **** off, we don't want yer."
He started to clean his nails with a matchstick.
I explained as politely as possible that even though he, Corporal Bell did not want me, I had no choice but to stay and produced a bewildering array of documents that proved, hideous as it might seem, that I had in fact joined The Regiment.
He favoured me with a sour stare and summoned a Trooper who, lying prone on his bed, was reading a paper-backed novel entitled "The Dead stay Dumb".
"'Ere," he said, "take this 'orrible lookin' article away."
To-day, I believe, a recruit is introduced gradually and comparatively gently to the army. This system did not apply to the Household Cavalry in 1940. On arrival in a barrack room, I dumped my suitcase on the floor, sat down on the bed assigned to my use and gazed about m0. My escort had told me to Iisten for the "gru b tru mpet" and promptly lost interest in me. The room was totally deserted as it was 5.30 p.m., the time for evening stables. The stables were directly below the barrack room and I could hear a discordant sound made up of the shrill neighing of horses, kicking, scrubbing, and obscenity. I looked at myself in the one full length mirror and saw a tall and bewildered youth clad in his best suit. It was a nice suit and had been worn twice before, once at a cocktail party and once at a race meeting. Very soon I was to bitterly regret putting it on. I strolled to the window and looked out.
What I saw stripped the cavalry of much of its glamour. I saw men unloading wheelbarrows of manure on to a vast and foetid pit. Others staggered past carrying what appeared to be impossibly large loads of hay. Horses were being watered and groomed. A Trooper, holding a horse's tail up with one hand, was performing a menial office the animal with a sponge held in the other, which it clearly resented. It showed its resentment by periodically aiming a savage kick at the man which he dodged with extraordinary agility. I could hear the soldier cursing the animal with a flood of mournful blasphemy. A
cavalryman is reputed to love his horse, but if there was an undercurrent of affection intermingled in this conversation, I failed to detect it. Yet another soldier was squatting with a horse's hoof in his lap, scraping dirt out of it with an implement which went by the name of a hoof-pick. A magnificient skewball pranced past ridden bareback by a soldier in shirt sleeves. I wondered where I had seen that horse before until I remembered the Coronation procession of 1937. It was the drum horse.
Presiding over this activity was a Corporal of Horse. I gazed at him with interest. He was everywhere at once, and seemed to be charged with a frightening demoniac energy. I suddenly realized with a sick feeling of horror that he was staring straight at me. His gaze was not friendly.
Suddenly a terrifying shout rang out.
The reactions of beasts and men in his immediate vicinity was immediate and varied. A horse, which was being taken to the water trough, reared up on its hind legs. A soldier forking manure dropped his implement with a clatter. A young officer, who had been slapping hs superbly booted calf with a whip in a disinterested fashion, jumped and dropped his whip. The shout was directed at me and was accompanied by an imperiously beckoning forefinger.
The Corporal of Horse looked at me for a full twenty seconds. His steely eye raked me from head to toe. He put his face very close to mine and said in a soft voice, but with indescribable menace: "And what might you be?"
I said: "I'm a recruit, sir," and felt rather like a mouse wh ich finds itself confronted by a large and predatory tom-cat.
He said: "A recruit," He said it twice, savouring the words with his tongue.
I said, being anxious to help: "That's right, sir. A recruit. For The Household Cavalry," I added unnecessarily.
He looked at me for a further ten seconds. He said: "That's funny. I thought you were from the RSPCA."
I tittered dutifully, but there was no answering smile.
He pondered for a further ten seconds, and started to sweat.
He said: "Know anything about horses?"
Now, horses as a child were my joy (they still would be if I could afford to have any). At the age of four, I was part owner of a Shetland pony. I had been presented with a fox's brush for sustained effort in the hunting field at ten. I had performed in pony shows and gymkhanas, and had galloped round
sundry show rings with rosettes of different hues between my teeth, to the tumultuous applause of my proud relatives.
I said: "Yes, indeed, sir. Ridden all my life." I was to rue those brave words.
"Ever mucked out a stable?"
"Well, er If
"Get in there."
"1 get your pardon?" "Get in there!"
The voice was no longer soft. It had risen to the shout which had caused the earlier chaos.
I looked round and followed the directions of his pointing finger. There was a horse in a stall who, or so it appeared to me, was shaking with silent and sinister laughter. It had plainly been in the stall for some time and there was ample evidence of its tenancy.
"Clean it out," said the Corporal of Horse conversationally.
I asked him where I could find a fork or a spade.
Once more his face was close to mine. He said: "Gawd made 'ands before he made forks and spades. Move!,:'
I moved.
By now the horse was laughing unashamedly.
Ten days later found me in the riding school. This, I thought complacently, is too easy. I was riding a placid and friendly old bay which did everything quite mechanically. In my squad were a miner, a garage mechanic, a sheet metal worker, a bricklayer, a professional footballer, a hairdresser, a fruit hawker,
and a disdainful hunt servant. The hunt servant, who had been second whip to a famous hunt for five years and had served in a mounted yeomanry regiment before that, had said without batting an eyelid that he'd ridden very little. None of the others had ever ridden at all.
The hairdres!1er clearly had his hands full. Mounted on a raking black with.8 vicious eye, he had clung successively to its mane, the pummel of the saddle, and round its neck. The horse, who was clearly tired of him, had given a fin'al contemptuous buck and thrown him neatly into the sand.
Corporal of Horse Sallust ranged us in front of him and raked us with his gimlety eye. It finally fell on me. He said: "Aha, a horseman. Said you could ride. Seem to remember saying you'd ridden all your life."
I said: "Well--"
"On you get," said Corporal of Horse Sallust dispassionately.
I think I was on the brutt;l's back for thirty seconds. I suspected that the black horse was in league with Corporal of Horse Sallust. I described a neat arc over its head and landed at the feet of Sallust's horse. Winded, and with my mouth and eyes fu 11 of sand, I thought: "1 've broken my collar bone or my pelvis, or both. Now they'll have to invalid me out.
From what seemed a very long way I heard a familiar voice. Dimly., through the sand, I saw a moustache.
The voice saiEl: "And who told you to dismount?"
That night I was busily formulating plans to become a fighter pilot.
by Second Lieutenant W.S.G.Doughty
The Household Division Free Fall Parachute Course is a short and simple introduction to the sport of parachuting. A five day course in which most of the work is completed in the first day and a half. Instruction on landings, emergency procedures, flight and parachute packing is carried out at the
Free Fall Club at the Guards Depot. Once completed the student is well prepared for the next stage of the course down at Dunkeswell airfield near Honiton in Devon. A few more practice parachute rolls, aircraft drills and by the morning of the third day the student is ready for his first descent.
My anxieties over that short period of training were constantly changing. I began by being concerned about the landing. There seemed to be only one correct way. Any other, I convinced myself, would be, if not fatal, certainly painful. Then there was the steering of the parachute itself. Scenes from 'The Longest Day' flashed through my mind as I recalled paratroopers dropping into wells, clock towers and conservatories. A more recent story of a student landing on a barn roof did not fill me with great confidence. But then the procedures for steering seemed quite simple, provided that I found the toggles to pull. I was assured that I would. Finally, the worry that every student and parachutist, however experienced, must have - will the parachute open?
These worries, which must be common to all those who take up the sport, occupied some of my thoughts in those first few days. When the moment of descent came I didn't have time to think about any of them.
Midday on the third day and everything was ready. All that remained was to collect our parachu tes and reserves and make our way to the end of the runway. The aeroplane, a Cessna 185, had been stripped inside to allow room for four students and the jump master. It was uncomfortable to the extent that it was almost a relief to get out. A final check of the parachutes by the instructors and we climbed into the aeroplane. It seemed an eternity before we were flying at the dropping height of 2,500 feet and were coming in for the first run over the airfield. The first two went and then we were circling for the next run. One more went and then it was my turn. The
jump master motioned me towards the door. Slowly, very slowly, I crawled towards the opening and climbed out onto the step with my hands clutching the wing strut in front. The jump master shouted 'GO' and gave me a quick jab in the side.
I jumped. To do otherwise at that point would have required considerable stubborness and misguided determination. The sensation of falling was extraordinary, not unlike that which sometimes occurs in dreams. Almost immediately I felt the tug of the static line as my parachute began to deploy. I was no longer falling, just floating slowly towards the ground. My anxieties disappeared and, in the surrounding silence, I said out aloud 'this is fantastic'. Someone else was descending a hundred metres away and I shouted out to him. I found the toggles above my shoulders and began to experiment. By pulling them I could turn towards the left or the right. I looked around below for the Land Rover and finally spotted it on the far side of the airfield. The ground was getting closer now and I began to think about the landing. I avoided some concrete and by doing so I drifted sideways over the runway. At about 100 feet above there seemed little I could do to avoid it. I brought my feet together and moments later I landed. It was not particularly graceful but neither was it uncomfortable. I had a mixed feeling of elation and anti-climax. It was so much easier and safer than I had ever imagined. I stood up, waved my arm and shouted at some workmen weeding the runway. They either didn't hear me or they ignored me. They'd seen it all before. As one of the instructors said 'parachutes open with boring monotony.' As far as I'm concerned it was anything but boring.
Officers of the 2nd Life Guards, September 7974
This photograph shows Officers of The 2nd Life Guards in camp at Ludgershall in September 1914, shortly before embarking for Belgium. The photograph is in The Household Cavalry Museum at Windsor and was used by the ATV company in the production of the television series, "Upstairs, Downstairs". The Curator and Assistant have identified all but three of the Officers shown.
It is thought that someone may have a copy
Officers number 1,9 and 10, left to right, in the of the photograph with the names of the Officers, or row. Enlargements of the three unidentified Officer, that someone may be able to positively identify the are as shown above.
"I arrived safely at the Depot and shall be here for 14 weeks or more training to be a soldier. It's bad here; they kick us, beat us and make us run round like dogs. They all shout and scream and use language like you've never heard before. That information officer was lying - it's just the same now as it was a 100 years ago. Nearly every week someone runs away one of our troop disappeared on Monday".
Copy of a letter sent by the late Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) R.J. T Hills to SCM (later RSM Staffordshire Yeomanry) J. Ball.
98835 Maj RlT. Hills 'L' Sqn GHQ Liaison Regt No. 1 APDC Laidon
25 June 44
My dear Jack,
I have been trying for some time to answer your last letter but it has been a little difficult because a week ago tonight, in pitch darkness I drove in a jeep from the bowels of a Yankee ship on to a beach in Normandy. The above is , my address. The whole thing was very sudden but, like everything else in this wonderful show, efficient to the last degree. The Channel was so full of ships one could hardly see the way. And what comfort! Food & hot drink all the way, blankets for the men, berths for the officers. Everyone had ample good reserve rations. And the stuff here is fantastic. Nothing has been left out. Every road is full and every field a dump. We have some unpleasantness and sleep in fox-holes. The weather. is perfect and I have seen most of the interesting places, some of them very bad. We borrowed the local Church this morning and the General read the lesson. Oh, I must tell you every officer and sergeant was allowed to buy one bottle of Scotch as personal baggage. I have a tot in my hole every night. The boys are in excellent heart and if you saw the Yanks here it would surprise you.
All the very best Ray.
Brigadier H D.A. Langley, MBE (late of The Life
Commander. 4th Guards Armoured Brigade, about to hand over the Brigade Pennu .• t to the Major-General during the Disbandment Parade
We the Willing, We have done so much. Led by the Unknowing, For so long, Are doing the Impossible, With so little, For the Ungrateful We are now Qualified To do ANYTHING With NOTHING
Seeing the state of complete euphoria into which my twelve year old daughter passes on entering a stable and also the miraculous transition from bored dejection to vibrant interest whenever she merely sees a horse, I wonder whether something has happened to British horseflesh in the last twenty five years. My bewilderment is increased when I visit present day riding establishments and savour the air of kindly gentleness which pervades. I am astounded to know from whence it came. As one whose first acquaintance with raw horse was in the Army, I certainly came to have an implacable hatred for the military variety, anyone of which was a double dyed villian with a vile sense of humour shared only by the instructors, a bullying tendency to use its superior weight, and the dramatic genius of Sir Laurence Olivier whenever it suited its purpose. I was convinced for years that there was a mystic 'Open Sesame', some magic button of which it was essential to have knowledge before the Army horse could be made to do what its rider wanted. I frequently suffered the humiliating experience of being told to ... "Get orf 'is back, Sir, for Gawd's sake and let me get up or 'e"ll wake up the rest of the 'orses wiv 'is snoring!" When I descended, red-eared, the Sergeant Instructor would leap aboard. The horse which, up until then had been giving a startling caricature of a cart horse on its way to the knackers, would spring, phoenix-like, in to sublimely well disciplined action; the positive epitome of all that a dewy eyed Anna Sewell could conjure up. I never really learned the nature of the trick but I suspect that the horses got a copy of the Posting Orders of the instructors.
I am sure that one vi tal factor separating my early opinion of horses from that of my daughter, an opinion which she obviously shares with the hundreds of bright eyed, rosy cheeked slips of maidenhood one sees bounding round astride ponies on almost any open space these days, is the primeval hour at which army riding took place. My fellow subalterns and I, of nearly a quarter a century ago, were unfortunate in several respects, the first of which was that our initial Young Officers Course coincided with the sort of winter which is a positive battle honour for the Met Office. The leaves fell some time around the twentieth of August and by the time we assembled, the frost was taking nightly bites at the puddles.
Secondly, we were commissioned into an age in which you had to go to the cinema to see something even approaching present day standards of living. It was, one must remember, a time when the Second World War was only an Anderson Shelter away. The Korean War was in full blast and Britain, as only Britain could be, was in the grip of rationing worse than during the war itself. Cold dark austerity reigned everywhere, spiced with the heartfelt threat
of Russian hordes pouring into West Germany. It was
a pre-Beatle era not given to softness and central heating was still very much an American gimmick. The cavernous Victorian rooms in which we lived become cold enough on most winter's nights to freeze the water in the washstand and in three subsequent years in Germany I rarely felt as cold as in the pitiless half light of those December dawns. I am sure thatwe shared rooms solely so that there would be someone to raise the alarm if one or other of us froze to death whilst shaving, and it was common knowledge that the mice left the Officers Mess during the winter because it was warmer outside.
The third and possibly the most insiduous factor was that riding was only a small part of our course, or rather, that was all that it was intended to be. In all our minds it loomed massively large and is still etched into our memories as irrevocably as hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone. However, riding was in theory a lower priority subject and it was for this reason, as much as in deference to the creed that no Army horse should be abed after 0600 hours, that it was fitted into the cold, dark, top end of the day. Also, of course, anyone who could instruct in more important and compelling subjects, such as "How to inspect a Barrack Room", was very sensibly still hull down on his mattress at that hour. Because riding took place at such times neither we nor the horses were at our best, which may well be the understatemen t of the century. Never did I get to see them at more enlightened hours when, for all I know, they may have been prancing beasts of noble bearing. At the hour and in the temperature at which we saw them they bore as much resemblance to that image as George Brummel would to Beau after commuting on the Bakerloo Line.
Quite apart from these main reasons, the dress we wore added inconvenience to despair rather like the cannon ball chained to the leg of a convict in solitary. When my daughter prepares for the equestrian art she does so in about three minutes flat: leaping into all-ways stretching jodphurs and a sweater with a glad cry and slipping her feet nonchalantly into boots as supply as carpet slippers. Our dress for riding, on the other hand, made us look like a mixture of 1914-1918 soldiers and Displaced Persons. The whole ensemble was obviously designed to lower confidence in the ability to dress oneself to the level of a year old chimpanzee, and it succeeded. As far as the nether regions were concerned, we wore breeches, Army boots and long, long, long puttees. The upper half of the body was encased in a then conventional battle dress blouse which. parted company with the breeches at waist level on the very slightest provocation. Army boots, of course, require no explanation - except to say that anyone who feels they might have jammed in the stirrups has obviously not seen the size of Army stirrups. The breeches were built for strength and were issued to a size determined as a result of a single, penetra
ting, stare from the Company Quarter Master Sargeant. It was the sort of look which could get you arrested in Soho but was obviously effective as the breeches actually fitted. However that may have been a delusion as one could scarcely feel them when dressing because the nerves in one's legs cowered about three inches below the surface until eight o'clock.
On the subject of puttees, I should perhaps enlarge. We were not permitted the luxury of riding boots until much later in our course because, as we were crushingly but enigmatically told, we had to start from 'scratch '. The inevitable gap between the top of the boots and the bottom of the breeches therefore had to be covered with a veneer of military decency by a two yard strip of khaki material of hessian-like consistency. No more fiendishly ingenious form of torture than these puttees, with the possible exception of the Army bicycle, can be conceived. The aim was to wrap ones legs, firmly and evenly with puttees to achieve something which looked like a cross between a military mummy and a rather stylishly lagged salami. To do so, and above all to get the end of the puttee in the right place, bearing in mind that the puttee itself stretched with age, humidity, one's temper, state of health and about four thousand other variables, required a sound knowledge of the Calculus, the patience of a saint and the skill of an Ancient Egyptian from the House of the Dead. The whole business was made the more ghastly because it needed one to crouch at an angle which would have knocked the stuffing out of a Black Belt in Yoga, and, as an added refinement, it had, of course, to be done in the early morning when breathing alone was a penance and the puttees were as coldly unco-operative as a war dog on its trade test.
There was a dreadful temptation to tighten or slacken the last few wrappings as one's errors of length became increasingly apparent. To do so was fatal. One of the great laws of cussedness is that the too tight puttee tightens and the too loose, loosens. Puttees which felt no more than a little firm about one's calves as one left the bedroom, would tighten up to the tension of a tourniquet applied by a VCambitious RAMC Lance Corporal by the time one had reached the stables. Conversely, the somewhat comfortably slack puttee would unravel itself remorselessly like a modern Laocoon before one got clear of the Mess, to feigned disgust but actual delight of fierce elderly Majors. Even when the fiendish lagging had been wound to the correct tension there was the hazard of rain. A wet putteee could shrink or stretch acccording to which caused the wearer the greatest discomfort. It was small wonder that the British Army survived the horrors of the trenches and the German war machine between 1914 and 1918. Soldiers who could cope with long puttees could cope with anything.
The first dreadful morning of my acquaintance with the Army horse slunk querulously into my consciousness after a night of such refined bitterness that the Snow Queen herself would have invested in double glazing, and when we assembled in the riding school at seven o'clock,our breath hung about us like ectoplasm at a mediums' convention. The cold dankness of the school, lit by distant and coldly glaring electric lights, is difficult to describe. The nearest I can get to the atmosphere is to imagine oneself orphaned, on Waterloo Sation, at two 0' clock on a Christmas morning, during a rail strike. In those days, of course, no one liked subalterns but a subaltern in a riding school was not merely Daniel in the lion's den but Daniel smeared with something to give a meal lion-appeal.
As we stood shyly waiting, the gallery above our heads filled with a trickle of spectators. I remember being somewhat flattered at the time but I was soon disillusioned. Those spectators had as much interest in our progress as equestrians as Nero had in the lion taming prowess of early Christians. They came for blood or a good laugh. Preferably both.
As a preliminary we were addressed by a Sergeant Instructor on something like the following lines.
"Now GENTLEMEN ... your introduction to the HAWSE." Every now and then a word was almost shouted, as though to a distant observer who could not hear everything, but who, by this means, would have the benefit of a sort of verbal shorthand.
"We shall teach you the BASIC elements of RIDING and later on, if you WORK HARD ... (it was obvious from the tone of voice that the Sergeant felt this to be a remote possibility) we shall take you out for a TROT. NOW, we teach you the ARMY way of SADDLING UP and MOUNTING and it will .be DIFFERENT to what-any-of-Ydu-have-beentaught-outside-have-been-taught ... CAN ANY OF YOU GENTLEMEN RIDE ALREADY?"
This last sally was shouted in such a venomous tone that even a past Grand Master of the Spanish Riding School would have denied every having seen a horse before. Our time at Sandhurst had not been wasted ... we remained silent to a man and a faint glimmer of disappointment in the Sergeant's eye showed how wise our instinct had been.
Whilst this oration was proceeding, a groom, clad in much the same kit as ourselves but serving by its brilliance to show up our inadequacies, led in a horse, It was a nice horse. It stood quietly and docilely, nuzzling gently at the groom's arm with a comrades-in-arms gesture which plucked at the heart strings. Its soft brown eyes and pricked intelligent ears turned towards us with kindly interest. It was a lovely friendly animal, not too large, and it obviously had not a nasty thought in its being. Our spirits rose. If this was a sample of the horseflesh, all might be well.
"Now then GENTLEMEN. This is a HAWSE" ... there was no pause for a laugh so we all assumed, probably rightly, that the Sergeant really did think that he was uniquely introducing us to an example of God's creation... "The HAWSE gentlemen, has a head and four legs and is dangerous from ALL angles. The only SAFE place is to be on his BACK." Here there was a pause, filled by a hysterical outburst of laughter from the gallery. We tittered nervously.
"The HAWSE is controlled by NATURAL and ARTIFICIAL aids. The NATURAL aids are the HAJ.'lDS, the LEGS, and the BODY. The ARTIFICIAL aids are WHIPS and SPURS but you will NOT USE THEM HERE EVER!"
This last statement was shrieked with all the indignation of Thomas a Beckett excommunicating half the peerage of England. In the next few weeks I was to pray fervently and frequently for the use of these very, forbidden aids and if the Almighty had stretched an arm out of Heaven and given me a great cutting whip and a pair of spurs with rowels like Boadicea's chariot wheels, I would have been His forever.
"The HAWSE has a very sensitive SKIN" ... this was accompanied by a flat handed smack on the friendly horse's rump which would have felled a small bullock. It obviously made no small impression on the horse who seemed to feel that some of the humour was fading out of the situation. He edged discreetly away.
"A HAWSE can feel PAIN just like YOU or ME" looking at the speaker I doubted the truth of that particular part of the statement but the horse took it very much to heart and, seeing the hand rising again, moved his pain sensitive skin adroitly.
"FURTHERMORE, gentlemen. The HAWSE can HEAR. So we must always speak QUIETLY, CONFIDENTLY and FIRMLY. We must NEVER BANG or SHOUT or WHINE " At this point the Sergeant noticed that the horse had moved. He seemed to grow about a foot in every direction whilst his face went puce. He forgot us completely.
"STAND STILL YOU B B XYZ. '00 TOLD YEW TO MOVE? WHAT THE BLANKETY, SANGUINARY, HIGHLY DECORATED HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING OF? IN ALL MY BRIGHT RED LIFE I'VE NEVER SEEN NOTHING LIKE IT. GET AN EVEN MORE HIGHLY DECORATED GRIP ON YOURSELF!" He said quietly, confidently and firmly.
The friendly horse fixed him with a Medusa like glare and ground its teeth slowly and menacingly. It was very definitely no longer a friendly horse and I looked round carefully to revise my geography of the door.
After this prologue we were taken to the stables proper so that the horses could get a good
look at us and so that we could witness their party tricks. After that particular morning in the stables, I sat at breakfast next to an officer whom I knew rode very well indeed and whose knowledge of matters equine stretched back over many years. He was pale and shaking and when I asked him why he told me patiently of all the vices horses can have, from biting to weaving. I listened politely and was beginning to think that he had lost his nerve when he ended by saying: "And those horses had all of them. They should all be put down!"
The tour of the stables had obviously made a profound impression on him but it was no more than the due result of a theatrical ability which should have known the thespian air of Drury Lane. Each and every Army horse, as far as I can tell, can put on the most incredibly convincing act of being savage, noble or vicious in rapid succession, to suit any situation. Underneath they are all the same. Bone idle and with an intelligence quotient in the low teens.
As we proceeded up the stables that morning, a loud thudding heralded our approach. The head of the cruellest, meanest and wildest of God's creatures slewed round to look us over. From the flared nostrils and yellowed teeth to the flattened ears there was nothing but sheer hatred of mankind. The rear hooves were doing their best to convert the stall to kindling wood whilst the front ones leaped up and down in a demoniacal tap dance. It was awesome and we all shrank away from the teeth which gnashed at us after the Sergeant had discreetly been allowed to pass unscathed.
"Nice hawse that," remarked the Sergeant, "name's Bamboo." Bamboo fixed me, in particular, with a baleful glare which owed something to the Great Goat of Menon and in that instant I just knew that he would be mine. I was not wrong.
Our instruction proper began with a lesson in the gentle art of "saddling up". In good military fashion this was preceded by a demonstration of such incredibly professional slickness that everyone was immediately buoyed up by the completely fallacious notion that the whole thing was simple. Bridle, martingale, blanket and saddle flowed onto the horse with the smoothness and ease of a vacuum cleaner salesman's patter. Within a matter of a minute or so, the horse, obviously a highly co-operative 'demonstration purposes only' model, was fully kitted out and, despite the fact that its hooves had sunk three inches into the floor with the weight, seemed to enjoy the process.
We then set to work on our own saddles, having been spared the bridle which mercifully had already been fitted. Our horses were apparently beyond benefit of martingales. I was immensely grateful for the fitting of the bridle as I had no confidence that Bamboo would accept the bit as eagerly as the 'demonstration purposes only' horse which had
sucked it in like a child with candy floss. Looking at Bamboo's teeth I was reminded depressingly of the Maginot Line and my heart sank at the thought of future lessons when I would have to brave them.
To those who do not know the Army saddle I should digress to explain that the priorities for this piece of equipment which, after all, does the highly important job of separating you from the horse, were completely wrong. I deduce that when they were first decided, which must have been in time for the First Crusade, they ran on the following lines:
There should not be the remotest danger of the horse being put to any inconvenience.
The saddle should be repairable by a congenital idiot in the middle of the Arabian desert. Mine had been, I am quite sure.
It should last for at least a century.
These conditions were met so resoundingly well that the General Service Saddle had probably been held up as a shining example to developers of military equipment, ever since. At no stage, apparently, was the comfort of the rider given more than a passing cynical thought. However, the precious Army horse is protected from even the touch of this superb piece of equipment by a minutely folded blanket. The whole ensemble is wrapped securely round with a massive leather strap called a surcingle. The surcingle is intended to keep the saddle on if the girth should break but anyone who has seen the thickness and breadth of Army girth straps knows how laughingly remote such a possibility is short of a direct hit from a fourteen inch Naval gun. No ... the purpose of the surcingle is plain to anyone with an understanding of military thinking. Equipment is valuable but even more important, it has to be signed for and actually produced to Annual Stocktaking Boards. Ideally therefore, one nails equipment to something immovable or concretes it into the ground. As this is debatably not possible' with a saddle, the next best thing is to fasten it very securely indeed to the piece of moveable equipment most likely to return eventually to base namely the horse.
I rapidly discovered that Bamboo did not react, or fail to react, in at all the same way as the 'demonstration purposes only' horse. True he stood as rigid as a statue whilst I folded and re-folded the blanket.. This took some time as there is a great deal of difference between obtaining a neat mat from a new blanket and achieving the same from a time expired, old soldier of a blanket which has stretched and crinkled into lines of old and near forgotten sin. Having at last got some sort of compromise from the blanket, the second I heaved the thing onto Bamoo's back, he laid his ears back, snorted, and flipped it off onto' the tan floor with suspicious expertise. I picked it up and hurled it back on only to be stunned by a shriek from the Sergeant Instructor who was,
it appeared, astonished, astounded, horrified and appailed that any young gentlemen could think of not checking carefully that the blanket, in such circumstances, was free of all fragments of tan. Whether this was entirely out of concern for the horse or was in deference to the fact that the floor itself had been 'signed for' by someone, I do not know, but I checked the blanket in the approved manner by shaking it furiously and was then faced with the original problem of folding. Bamboo, watching me carefully, chose his moment and again the blanket was on the floor as a look of infinite smugness stole across the brute's face. This procedure was repeated for the third time and then I resorted to sterner measures. Applying my mouth to the beast's ear I told it quietly, confidently and firmly every good Anglo Saxon expletive I had heard in my twenty years of existence. Whilst Bamboo was puzzling out the more obscure and fundamentally rude, nursery originated ones, I got both blanket and saddle aboard and even managed to winch the girth up to a fair grip before the monster had recovered enough to remember to puff out his ribs like a barrage balloon. Most of the other horses were not so pre-occupied and by breathing in deeply as their girths were tightened managed to give their trusting riders the illusion that their saddles were as firm as if glued on. Naturally, the second the horse breathed out, the girth became slack enough to accommodate another small horse and the unfortunate officer drew down upon his head a good deal of sarcastic comment as to his intelligence, physical strength and hearing. The Instructors and the horses were permanently at war with each other but combined forces, in an unholy Axis against us, whenever the opportunity presented itself. However, on this occasion, I got the better of Bamboo and, when my efforts were inspected, I was merely told that every strap was wrongly adjusted and that Bamboo would have been flayed alive within two miles had I ridden him with such disgustingly applied tack. Later in my course such a prospect would have been Nirvana itself but these were early days and the Sergeant's comments were rare praise.
Whilst we were standing, holding our horses, there was a sudden and very loud bellow of pain from one of my fellow would-be horsemen. Despite the Sergeant's warning this had no effect at all on the horseflesh which affected an air of detached and bored indifference. It rapidly became apparent that one horse had stepped nonchalantly sideways, planting one hoof squarely on his unfortunate temporary owner's foot. It took some time even to persuade the brute that he was, in some way, responsible for the awful noise emanating a foot from his nearside ear and it was only the purposeful approach of the Instructor which convinced him that it might be as well to stand on his own feet. The 'casual hoof on foot' was an old time favourite it appeared from the bright condition of the gallery.
To my simple mind at that time, stirrups were surely one of the most useful aids to good riding after long whips and sharp spurs. Stirrups not only gave you a sort of swinging, one runged ladder with which to get on, but were highly useful for propping up your legs to the conventional stance whilst on top. I was extremely distressed to discover, therefore, that Army riders apparently do not use stirrups to mount, preferring to spring, gazelle-like, up the side of the horse, to rest their stomachs across the saddle and then, with a rupture-evocative sideways swing, to plump into place before the horse has made up its mind that the grass on the horizon is greener and the best way to get there is to gallop, and now.
Later I was to discover to my horror that stirrups are also intended to be largely superfluous when on the move. Certainly we spent much of our time without their benefit in the ancient belief that knees are a better adhesive. Possibly they are for Red Indians who, for all I know, may be born with sweat glands oozing gum arabic down their legs. By the time I had prepared for riding, walked half a mile to the stable, cajoled Bamboo into believing it was morning, strapped him into a hundred weight of saddlery and lurched into the saddle with about the same degree of vivacity and success as an octogenarian trying to imitate Olga Korbuts, I would not have given a butterfly even a feeling of claustrophobia if it had lighted between my knee and the saddle. The only real point of Army stirrups is to tax the novice rider with the problem of getting them to hang at the right length. The aims of Army riding, it appeared to me as a subaltern is to get the stirrups as low as possible and the constant cry of our instructors was to "lengthen the leathers". Whenever an instructor mounted one of our horses in consequence of some particular example of ineptness on our part, he would invariably give a snort of disgust and let the stirrups down a notch or two. This was so much a part of the act that one humorous officer, having noted the idiosyncracy, let his stirrup leathers out to their fullest ex ten t and then carefully tucked them up so that they looked reasonably normal. For ten _ minutes or so he suffered the muscle agony of trotting without putting any weight on the stirrups before his lumbering gait in the saddle drew forth the wrath of the instructor. He dismounted with a savage joy in his heart, letting the tucked up stirrup leathers fall to their full length as he did so. The Riding Master himself was taking us that morning and was intent on making in impression, which was, of course, riot difficult. He flung himself on the unfortunate horse, gripped it with his legs like a hungry grizzly bear and instinctively gave the required grunt of professional lothing as he seized the stirrup leathers, only to discover that the stirrups already hung six inches below his feet. The look of utter incredulity he gave the erst-while rider whose inside leg measurement was obviously several inches less than his own, made any previous discomfort worth
while. It being absolutely unthinkable for any instructor actually to shorten a pupil's stirrups, the Riding Master had to clatter round without using them. I am sure that did not bother him at all but the barely concealed grins of the class most certainly did and we suffered for our few moments of supremacy.
The vital business of getting on having been explained, we proceeded to do so. At least, some of us did. Some found the lighthearted Lochinvar-type vault into the saddle a little beyond their constitutions at that ghastly hour of the day. Others, having arrived at the end of the first movemen t, were carried off round the school, lying across their saddles like dead outlaws. Hysteria mounted in the gallery.
Eventually we were all topsides however and walking round as to the manner born, to the accompaniment of a volley of advice and much invocation of the Deity. From the way the diatribe continued it was apparent that the Almighty, very sensibly, had no intention of intervening in Number One Riding School that morning.
There is no doubt that anyone tends to feel like a belted Earl the moment he gets on a horse and we all suffered a rise in morale as we slowly circumnavigated the school. My heart began to warm to Bamboo who could not have been more docile. So well behaved was he that I called down no torrents of remonstration on my head for cutting the corners and drifting languidly towards the centre of the school. In foolish delusion I imagined that Bamboo realised that he had met his master and began to feel something of the thrill of horsemanship. Then I felt my leg touch the boarded side of the school and soon, impervious to everything I did, the brute had gauged the distance to a nicety and was trudging along, scraping my leg against the wall with the efficiency of a master carpenter using Number Five glass paper. Eventually I leapt off in self defence as it was obviously a straight choice between the Sergeant's wrath and being crippled, and I saw no point in abandoning the Field Marshal's baton in my knapsack quite as early as that in my career. The look Bamboo gave me dispelled any thought that the affair was accidental.
The walk was comparatively simple but we then progressed to the 'bump trot', assuredly the most truthfully titled manoeuvre in an age of half truths. In theory it requires little more effort or skill than the walk but the horse is moving somewhat faster in the basement whilst the rider is supposed to be doing much the same on the floor above. The Household Cavalry Regiment do it for most of the time but they do have the advantage of wearing a ballast of half a hundred-weight of polished mild steel to keep them in position. In general, all is well providing you have a grip with your knees which would crack coconuts - if not you tend to go one way whilst your gallant steed goes blithely on in another. This is painfully true at corners. Addition
ally, there is trotting and trotting. There are horses which trot with the smoothness of old brandy, putting their hooves down precisely and evenly and in such delightful co-ordination that the tears come to one's eyes. I regret that our horses were more like Irish stew than old brandy in their trotting. You never knew quite what to expect but it rapidly became apparent that just about everything possible was there. Bamboo flung his hooves down at the floor as vindictively as the successful participants in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, managing to trot so unevenly that I actually peered downwards to make sure that he still had four legs. At the same time his body swayed like Woolwich ferry and he approached each corner with an air of complete surprise, swivelling round at the last moment with a great shaking of his head and a lurch akin to a three decker going about it a Force 10 gale. We parted company frequently, as did most of the ride, and it was then that I heard for the first of a myriad of questions, those angrily jocular questions so beloved and typical of Army riding instructors.
"Wot are yew doing of down there, Sir?" '00 told yew to dismount?" The words should have been carved above the entrance to every Army riding school as a warning to all who entered. To my mind they were the key to Army riding instructions at that time and even now, if I fall off a horse, they echo unbidden in my ears, out of the past.
I could continue for hours as the memory of those now distant rides are seared in vivid detail into my memory. However, our course lasted for three months and space permits me only to pick out highlights. Suffice to say that as we sweated over that equisitely sadistic form of equestrian PT which involved such liver jerking exercises as dismounting on one side, ducking under the horse and mounting on the other, and dismounting at the trot and racing forward to catch and mount the horse in front, we swore an eternal vendetta against the Army horse. As we struggled to fit pack saddles and tie up the complicated wrangle of rope required to fix a ration box to the back of a singularly disinterested animal which had wandered off in the meantime, we vowed that the only horses we wanted to see in the future would be in cans. As we stumbled and fell over and under our horses in pouring rain, a vicious wind and black darkness on pack and night exercises, we learned to growl at them like true professionals. As we heaved frantically on the reins to try and stop our from re-enacting the Charge of the. LIght BrIgade, which was their favourite entertainment when, latterly, we were taken 'out for a trot', we swore bitter things about the horse's so-called a?d sitive mouth. Many - so many were the IndlgnttIes and discomforts we suffered because of those Army horses and even more intolerable was the frustration , . of being told, time and time again, after some partIcular piece of Machiavellian wickedness that It was entirely our fault and that, properly handled, the
horses would do anything. So very often I longed, just once, to give Bamboo a straight left between the eyes. It would, I am sure have done us both good, btyt those horses were better protected than the lower crested whooping crane. Smugly inviolate behind the armour of military convention and with the Army Act as a long stop, they could do their evil worst - and did.
However, maybe I do understand something of my daughter's feelings when she rushes back to the car after an hour's ride and demands my agreement to her heart-felt belief that ... "Rennie is the most intelligent and loveliest creature in the whole world". I would never go so far as to agree that any horse could aspire to such a description but I must admit tht after a while I began to see through the surface villainies of Army horses which, like a Regimental Sergeant Major's cataclysmic explosions of anger, were normally assumed to meet an immediate situation which might, otherwise, involve them in a lot of work. If I never actually saw a silver lining, I did detect something approaching EPNS. Slowly I came to realise that, despite displays of savagery which would have done credit to Ivan the Terrible, precious few Army horses will actually kick you, even in that dreadful moment when your backward somersault off the brute's back has landed you in a sprawling heap under its tail. I did also grow to have a healthy respect for an animal which, while appearing as clumsy as a drunken ox, could avoid a fallen officer with the agility of Nijinsky. My heart warmed a little, despite myself, when I realised that the wickedest, most God-forgotten, teeth grinding, stall crashing beast is a sucker for carrots and will, under temptation of an apple, become as amenable as a spaniel. I suspect in fact that my approach to horses is sounder that that of my daughter who classifies them generally as excellent but has, very sadly, to acknowledge that some have minute failings. I, on the other hand, know that they are aJ[ wicked, idle, savage, capricious, clumsy, wilful, greedy, stupidly boneheaded, humorous in a crudely Chaucerian way, over fond of demonstrating how much bigger and heavier - they are than you, and liable to go desperately lame at the first creak of the tack room door. Occasionally I meet one which does not have all of these failings and it is a wholely delightful experience.
Written
by Lieutenant Colonel N.A. W. Fincham for The British Army Review
Born on 14 Jan 1912 and joined The Life Guards on 25 May 1933 and retired with the rank of W02 on 24 May 1955.
Served overseas with The 1st Household Cavalry Regiment during the War and subsequently in the Middle East and BAOR and was one of the original members of The Life Guards posted back to London for Mounted Duties when the Horse Squadrons were reformed for ceremonial duties.
On his retirement from the Army he was appointed Comptroller of Stores at The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace. He held this post until July 1975 and for his services at the Royal Mews was awarded the MVO by Her Majesty. For a number of years he has been a member of The Queen's Bodyguard of The Yeoman of the Guard. Since 1958 he has been a member of the Committee of The Life Guards Association.
Born on 31 Aug 1924 and joined The Life Guards on 9 June 1943.
He was posted to The 1st Household Cavalry Regiment in Italy in June 1944 and was with that Regiment in BAO R from March 1945. Apart from a tour with the Inns of Court Regiment TA he served with The Regiment until his appointment as Regimental Corporal Major in June 1958. In March 1962 he was Commissioned in the Regiment for
service as Transport Officer to Headquarters 4th Guards Brigade in BAOR and returned to The Life Guards as their Quartermaster in February 1965, which appointment he held until September 1971.
He was then Camp Quartermaster at HQ UKLF from October 1971 to April 1975 and Quartermaster at CAAT in I ran from May 1975 to May 1977. He retired in October 1977.
Q for QUEEN'S Life Guards enormously tall, They sometimes make other folks seem rather small. You may possibly urge that the picture you view Really makes them a little too large to be true; I can merely reply, it was drawn with much care, Though I have heard they're not quite as tall as they were; But to settle the question you've only to go For a stroll in the Park, and you'll very soon know, For you'll see them like turtle-doves billing and cooing, Their long legs tucked under them, tenderly wooing The prettiest nursemaids that sit'neath the trees, While the poor little infants do just as they please.
by Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) A. D. Meakin
The 1st Household Cavalry Regiment, formed at the beginning of the Second World War, went to the Middle East as a horsed Cavalry Regiment and by the time of the Battle of El Alamein had been reorganised as an Armoured Car Regiment.
On 12th April 1944, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Eric Gooch (later Colonel Sir Robert Gooch, Baronet) The 1st Household Cavalry Regiment landed in Italy and came under command of 5th Corps. From 13th August to 3rd September 1944 they were under command of the Second Polish Corps, and as part of KAW force they led the advance of the Corps to the River Metauro, on to the Gothic Line and to the capture of Pesaro.
In view of their outstanding service with the Polish Troops, Lieutenant General W. Anders, who was commanding 2nd Polish Corps and Commanderin-Chief of the Polish Army of the East, decided to honour The Regiment by granting them the distinction of wearing the bade of the "Mermaid of Warsaw". This was approved by His Majesty King George VI and it was laid down that all members serving with The 1st Household Cavalry Regiment during their period of service with the 2nd Polish Corps, would in future be permitted to wear the badge on their left forearm in battledress.
The badge has continued to be proudly worn by members of The Regiment and the last serving member with this privilege was Major (Quartermaster) E. Sant who joined the Army in June 1943 and served with The 1st Household Cavalry Regiment from July 1944.
F olda House is located in the East of Scotland about sixteen miles North of Blairgowrie and twenty miles Sou th of Braemar. The House was once F olda Village School but now had accommodation for twen ty eigh t all ranks. The setting is a combination of lush green fields and rugged hills.
The Advance Party left Windsor on 29th August and arrived at Folda on 30th with overnight stop at Edinburgh. The weather on arnval was dreadful with rain pouring down. However Sergeant Donald (the caretaker) made the Party welcome and settled us into the accommodation. The afternoon was spent looking round the training area.
The Main Party arrived on the next morning at Perth Railway Station looking a bit tired but cheerful after a long train journey from London. Once settled into the House and after breakfast Major C.N. Haworth-Booth was eager to get us out as the weather had changed into ideal conditionscertainly a change from the day before. The party was divided into three groups:
It was surprising to see a lot of volun teers for this activity. It was perhaps due to the fact that they did not know what they were letting themselves in for! The party was dropped off about five miles north of Folda where they had to make an eight mile trek over the 'hills' to Glen Shee ski lodge. All aspects of safety and danger while in the hills were taken into account and a lot of emphasis was placed on map reading and compass work. On the route various species of animals and birds were seen and some breath taking scenery. On arrival back at F olda all were feeling more than a bit tired. This was thought to be the shock to the system!
by Lance Corporal of Horse Rothwell
This group under Sergeant Williams - APTC was introduced to the safety rules, knots and rope work of simple rock climbing.
The pony trekking was organised at a local riding school. This group was suspected to be the laziest or most sly, being content to make their horses do the work.
On day two the groups were changed round with some new activities being introduced such as fishing, grass ski-ing and cycling (the bicycles were borrowed from the Guardroom in spite of the Adjutant's reluctance). Everything was kept on a relaxed basis and voluntary efforts were called for, but if minds were not made up they were usually allocated to the smallest group. The evenings were spent watching television for those short on funds, bu t the remainder headed for Blairgowrie and 'The Gig' (a discotheque), which was taken over by The Life Guard contingent.
The third day was again different. Fifteen of the group were required to go grouse beating. At first this was viewed with some doubt but on the mention of wages (£5.50 each) the list was mysteriously filled in short order. The grouse shooting was taken seriously by shooters and the game keeper gave a creditable performance of a drill instructor, by standing on a hill, screaming, shouting and throwing 'wobblers' at his lines of beaters spread out along miles of the most exhausting moorland he could find for us. In fact the dressing achieved would do credit to a Trooping. At the end of the day everyone seemed satisfied with our efforts.
The final day was spent by some at the Braemar Games - something we had been told not to miss. Various local crafts and cultures were seen and another side of life was explored, not least the local hospitality. Four of us were needed for another spell of grouse beating and they went off happily for the hills and their £5.50 wages.
The trip was considered to have been a worthwhile and enjoyable venture provided one took advantage of the facilities offered. The general feeling was that a longer period at the House would have been of more benefit and evening recreational pastimes could have been made easier with better transport. F olda House is definately worth a second visit, perhaps a winter visit with ski-ing on the programme would offer a different incentive.
The Regiment was stationed at Knightsbridge Barracks, having moved there from Windsor in October 1936.
April
Lieutenant Colonel The Hon. E. H. Wyndham, MC, handed over command of The Regiment to Lieutenant Colonel E. J. L. Speed, MC.
May
Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The Life Guards found The King's Life Guard and The Sovereign's Escort. Officers of the Escort were Lieutenant Colonel R. A. F. Thorp, (Second in Command of The Regiment and Commanding the Escort); Major A. H. Ferguson; Captain R. J. Hardy; Lieutenants, Sir J. G. Fuller, Bt; The Hon. G. N. Rous; J. D. Young and B. R. Williams.
Major R. E. S. Gooch and Captain F. E. B. Wignall were marshals to the procession. The Earl of Athlone, (Goldstick), Lieutenant Colonel E. J. L. Speed, MC, (Silverstick) and the Silverstick Adjutant, (Captain A. H. Head), rode in The King's Entourage and had seats in the Abbey.
May
The State Drive of Their Majesties to the Guildhall was marred by inclement weather and The Sovereign's Escort was cancelled.
July
C Squadron marched to Pirbright for their annual musketry course.
August
2 Troops under Captain F. E. B. Wignall, marched to Braintree for 4th Guards Brigade manoeuvres.
October
The Life Guards moved from Hyde Park Barracks to Windsor.
The. Regiment is stationed at Comb.ermere Barracks, havIng moved there from Germany In October 1975.
January A Squadron troop training in Thetford.
A and B Squadrons live firing at Castelmartin.
February
C Squadron (the AMF(L) Squadron), under command of Major T. J. Earl, left by LSL for Norway to participate in Exercise-Hardfall.
March
A composite troop, under command of Second Lieutenant C. B. Oldfield, returned from Belize where they had been serving with The Queen's Own Highlanders on internal security duties.
A Squadron, under command of Major C. J. SimpsonGee, left by LSL for Denmark. The vessel collided in the Solent with an Algerian tanker and had to return to Southampton. (See photo in A Squadron's notes).
April
A Squadron left for Exercise-Gobi Dust in America.
B Squadron, under command of Major C.]. D'Oyly, left for Dungannon, Northern Ireland for a 4 - month tour in the infantry role.
May Lord Mountbatten visited The Regiment. June Trooping The Colour and Association Dinner.
July C Squadron live firing at Lulworth.
September
C Squadron left for Exercise-Arrow Express in Den mark, the last AMF(L) exercise before this role was handed on to The 17th/21st Lancers.
A Squadron replaced B Squadron in Northern Ireland for a 4 - month tour.
October
Re-organisation to the new Establishment (see below). November
The Major General's Inspection. Remembrance Sunday Parade.
B Squadron took part in Exercise-Avon Express on Salisbury Plain.
The Fire Brigade strike - Household Cavalry man Headquarters in London.
December
C Squadron, under command of Major C. N. Haworth Booth left for Londonderry, Northern Ireland for a 4 - month tour in the infantry role.
The Peacetime Establishment of 1929 applied. This was for:- 24 Officers, 419 Other Ranks and 263 horses. Motor transport was of the sketchiest kind, Bren guns and anti-tank rifles were not issued until 1938 and the main small arms were the Lee Enfield :303" rifles of the kind used in 1918.
The Life Guards now serve in 6th Field Force to provide reinforcement in Europe in time of War. To this end there are: 35 Officers, 415 Other Ranks and 171 vehicles. A and C Squadrons are equipped primarily with Scimitar and Scorpion (both tracked) and B Squadron with Fox (wheeled).
Lieutenant Colonel A.J. Hartigan
Major J.B. Emson
Captain P;R;L; Hunter
Captain G.B. Charters-Rowe
RCM Lumb
HEAOQUARTER SQUADRON SHQ
Major V.A. L Goodhew
Captain J.W.M. Ellery
SCM Shaw
SOMC Land
LCoH Carrington
LCpl Mills
Tpr Wood
Tpr Henley
Tpr Monk
Tpr Hembling
ORDERLY ROOM
OROMC Henderson
CoH Etches
CoH Walsh
LCoH Kallaste
LCoH Beck
LCpIO'Neill
LCpl Ridsdel
Tpr Holmes
RHQ Tp
SCpl Richards
CoH Burns
LCpl Wood
LCpl Sturgess
Tpr Maksymiw
Tpr Gibson
Tpr Collett
Tpr Bell 594
Tpr Rogan
QM's DEPT.
Captain (OM) D. Charles
RaMC Reed
SOMC Hoare
LCoH York
LCoH Bartlett
LCoH MacDonald
LCpl Bamber
Tpr Gummer
Tpr Softley
QM(E) DEPT.
Captain (OM) D.A. York
ROMC(E) Reynolds
CoH Edge
LCoH Short man
LCoH Gledhill
LCoH Haighton RHG/D
LCpl Matthews
LCpl O'Connell
LCpl Shaw
LCpl Yarrow
Tpr Bannon
MT
SCplOliver
CoH Monaghan
LCoH Hugman
LCoH Parsley
LCoH Wild
LCpl Seale
LCpl Wale
LCpl Crossan
Tpr Jarvis
Tpr Laird
Tpr Prior
Tpr Smith 939
Tpr Tomkins
Tpr Godley
Tpr White
Tpr Bell 291
Tpr Bingham
Tpr Birkett
Tpr Brazier
Tpr Crossan
CoH Rymer
LCoH Mayo
LCoH Rothwell
LCoH Petch
LCpl Fry
LCpl Dangertield
LCpl Theakston
LCpl Evans
LCoH Sutherland
LCoH Mussett
LCoH Chant
LCpl Harkup
WOs & NCOs MESS
CoH Davis
LCoH Boots
Tpr Fogg
Tpr Fitzpatrick
Tpr Smith 058
Tpr Pullen
Tpr Rimmer
Tpr McKay
RECRUITING TEAM
LCoH Beel
Tpr Mortimer
Tpr Gawthorne
LAD
Captain D. L. Judd
ASM Lodder
SSgt Kirrage
SSgt Iredale
SSgt Blackman
Sgt Gutsell
Sgt Roddis
Sgt Welch
Sgt Blundell
Sgt Penn
LSgt Griffiths
LSgt Spence
LSgt Mallinson
LSgt Masters
LCpl Campbell
LCpl Gilbey
LCpl Greentield
LCpl Howell
LCpl Hill
LCpl Sandells
LCpl Boynton-Ouinion
LCpl King
Cfn Mantle
Cfn Hands
Cfn Bright
Ctn Brodie
PAY OFFICE
Major J.C.C. Ward
SSgt Truelove
Sgt Meadows
LSgt 0' Leary
LSgt Eagle
Pte Hines-Randle
ACC
W02 Sinclair
Sgt Smith
LCpl Smith
LCpl Coutts
LCpl Houghton
Pte Blackwell
Pte Goodwin
Pte Vernon
Pte Shirley
GYMNASIUM
Sgt Williams
SHQ TROOP
Major C.J. Simpson Gee
Captain The Hon. N.J. Adderley
Captain J.L Morris
SCM McGloughlin
LCoH Renton
LCpl Hawkins
LCpl Loftus
LCpIO'Neill
Tpr Bray 349
Tpr Clipston
Tpr Hoskins
Tpr Jones
Tpr Kay
Tpr Kennedy
Tpr Roberts
1 TROOP
Lieutenant N.B. Holliday
CoH York
LCpl Willis
LCpl Jenkins
LCpl Corser
Tpr Bray 482
Tpr Davies 490
Tpr Huskisson
Tpr Kerrane
Tpr Oldman
Tpr Wallace
Tpr Wilde
Tpr Rose
Tpr Rea
2 TROOP
SCpl Saunders
LCoH Lowry
LCoH Beck
LCpl Hollman
LCpl Killean
Tpr Bisset
Tpr Bruce
Tpr Clapp
Tpr Garrity
Tpr Kelland
Tpr Pritchard
Tpr Thompson
Tpr Sanson
3 TROOP
Lieutenant M. Leatham
CoH Jones
LCoH Cusick
LCoH Rhodes
LCpl Fry
LCpl Rigby
Tpr Brooks
Tpr Bucktrout
Tpr Chowns
Tpr Clark 301
Tpr Kane
Tpr Terry
Tpr Whiteland
Tpr Sprague
4 TROOP
SCpl Willis
LCoH Jordan
LCpl Pickard
LCpl Lawrence
LCpl Reed
Tpr Batey
Tpr Cox
Tpr Farrar
Tpr Kilburn
Tpr Smith
Tpr Smithers
Tpr Walley
Tpr Pinnington
SURVEILLANCE TROOP
CoH Cozens
LCoH Harvey
LCplCarson
LCpl Gratton
Tpr Barnett
Tpr Birkin
Tpr Boyns
Tpr Clark 346
Tpr Court
Tpr Derbysh ire
Tpr Willis
Tpr Schubert
Tpr Guiney
ADMIN TROOP
SOMC Whyte
LCoH Kissock
LCoH Tuck
LCoH Cavin
LCpl Dove
LCpl Page
Tpr Brown
Tpr Coe
Tpr Carr
Tpr Davies 272
TPR Gee
Tpr Gynane
Tpr Hadden
Tpr Ormerod
Tpr Key
Tpr Stiff
Tpr Lewis
Tpr Evans
Tpr Walmsley
LSgt Brimicombe ACC
LCpl Ferguson
Pte Blaymies
Pte Yates
LAD
SSgt Stone
Sgt Smith
LSgt Iveson
LSgt Robinson
Cpl Weir
Cfn Hamilton
Ctn Garden
Ctn Street
SHQ
Major R.J. Morrisey·Paine
SCM Leighton
CoH Lawrence
LCoH Wise
LCoH Puddephat
LCpl Drennan
LCpl Bell
Tpr Ditcham
Tpr Goodchild
Tpr Waudby
;1 TROOP 5 TROOP
Second Lieutenant The SCpl Nicklin
Hon. C.W. Cayzer
CoH Mills
CoH Lodge
LCpl Tinsley
LCpl Slatford
LCpI Lewis
pr Strange
Tpr Airey
Tpr Brown 361
Tpr Angel
Tpr Worley
CoH Gries
LCoH Mitton
LCpl George
LCpl Wright
LCpl Pitt
LCpl Stinchcombe
Tpr Jeram
Tpr Austin
Tpr Lindsay
Tpr Clark 507
Tpr Lambert
Tpr Ingram Tpr Egan
Tpr GriHin
Tpr Sumnall
Tpr Cairncross
Tpr Sands
Tpr Ashton
2 TROOP
Lieutenant D.G. E.
Naylor- Leyland
CoH Finney
LCoH Ormiston
LCpl Martell
LCpl James
Trp Clarke
Tpr Layzell
Tpr Kidd
Tpr Braham
Tpr Pillman
ADMIN TROOP
saMC Wllliams
LCoH Jewell
LCoH Bevan
LCoH Snowden
Tpr Gaddas
Tpr Davis
Tpr Keyworth
LSgt Jordan ACC
Tpr Fenn Pte Harkins
Tpr Dickinson
Tpr Fletcher
Tpr Pearson
Tpr Pringle
Tpr Slade
Tpr Smith 88
Tpr Vince
Cfn Walden
CplOwen
Pte Drysdale
Pte McConnichie
Pte Mumo
Pte Pugh
Pte Swan
Pte Vernon
2 TROOP
Lieutenant P.J. Knipe
CoH Banks
LCoH Plant
LCoH Davey
LCpl McCance
LCpl Fenn
Tpr Arthur
Tpr Brown
Tpr Hancock
Tpr Kalisz
Tpr Knight
Tpr Newton
Tpr Parr
LCpl Blunt 2 T'ROOP
LCpl Cullen
LCpl Darley
LCpl Lucas
LCpl McCLure
LCpl Page
LCpl Price
LCpl Roper
ADMIN TROOP
saMC Knowles
CoH Ross
LCpl Jones
LCpl Treble
LCpl Foster
LCpl Moore
LCpl Brewster
Tpr Egan
Tpr Henson
Tpr Robinson
Tpr Pe'ar
LSgt Tipping RAPC
LSgt Murphy ACC
LCpl Cairns ACC
Pte Bevan ACC
Pte Davis ACC
Pte Lewis ACC
Pte Mercer ACC
Tpr Hodge Pte Powell LAD
Tpr Harrison Pte Simmons
Tpr Coole
Tpr Keach
Tpr Ellis 461
Tpr English
Tpr Page
Tpr Leach
Tpr Horton
3 TROOP
SCpl Townsend
LCoH Brunning
LCpl Liddell
LCpl Leader
LCpl Heath
Tpr Smith 65
Tpr Smith 67
Tpr Taft
LAD
SSgt Goodison
Sgt Lang
LSgt Midwinter
Cpl Bell
LCpl Dickson
LCpl Seymour
Cfn Scanton
Cfn Watson
C SQUADRON
Tpr Ellis 369 (Northern Ireland)
Tpr Plumstead
Tpr Trevethan SHQ
Tpr Preston
Tpr Elliott
Tpr Mansfield
Tpr Newton
fpr Herd
Tpr Williams
Tpr Doe
Tpr Graham
4 TROOP
Second Lieutenant
P.G. Daubeny
CoH Mead
LCoH Stephenson
LCpl Frape
LCpl Davis
LCpl Gilbank
Tpr Castle
Lieutenant H.S.J. Scott
CoH Bishop
LCoH Robertson
LCoH O'Flaherty
LCpl Scott
LCpl Wilson
Tpr Alien 180
Tpr Burge
Tpr Butler
Tpr Cooper
Tpr Dodson
Tpr Ellis
Tpr Haverley
Tpr Hearn
Tpr Hopewell
Tpr Leete
Tpr Lesczar
Tpr Seneviratne
Tpr Taylor
Tpr Thomas
Tpr Wilshaw
Tpr Wood
3 TROOP
Lieutenant J. R. Astor
CoH Craig
LCoH Thornton
LCoH Pennick
LCpl Redfearn
SSgt Davidson
Sgt Leeming
Tpr Wilson
Cfn Woodcock
Cpl Goodeve RAOC
LCpl Jones
Pte Curnow
Pte Goodman
Pte Graham
Pte Jones
Pte Mooney
Pte Smart
3 TROOP
Second Lieutenant
D.C. Waterhouse
CoH Stay
LCoH Jones
Major C.N Haworth-Booth
Captain L.O. Stratford
Lieutenant I.S.
Forbes-Cockell
SCM Hutchings
CoH Byrne
LCoH Powell
LCoH Smith
Tpr Ayres
Tpr Abel
Tpr Gaunt
Tpr Gee
Tpr Lee
Tpr Prior
Tpr Thorpe
Tpr Vickers
Cpl Hyndman (R Sigs)
Tpr Hunter 1 TROOP
Tpr Means
Second Lieutenant
l.CoH Pace
LCoH Coffey
LCoH Windebank
LCpl Hastie
LCpl Kelly
Tpr Aish
Tpr Appleyard
Tpr Ellis
Tpr Hunt
Tpr Kenniford
Tpr Langford
Tpr Lockett
Tpr Porter
Tpr Stanworth
Tpr White
Cfn Bray REME
Cfn AlIsop REME
Cfn Lafferty REME
Cfn Ryan REME
LCpl Jorlan RA/OC
LCpl Bownay RAOC
Sgt Hobson
L,Cpl Crilley
LCpl Slade
LCpl McDowall
Cfn Brannigan
Cfn Butfoy
Cfn Porter
Cfn Reynolds
MOUNTED DUTY
SQUADRON
HEADQUARTERS
LCpl Sadler
LCpl Hargreaves
Tpr Archer
Tpr Bennett
Tpr Bprkowski
Tpr Frawley
Tpr Grey
Tpr Hodson
Tpr Lawes
Tpr Pett
Tpr MacAllum
Tpr Rettalick
Tpr Roe
Tpr Snape
Tpr Sykes
Tpr Wilkinson
Major S.V. Gilbart-Denham SQUADRON
Captain N.J.D. D'Ambrumenil
HEADQUARTERS
W02 (SCM) Kelly TROOP
LCpl Boal
1 TROOP
Lieutenant S.F. Hayward
CoH Denton
LCoH Smith
LCoH Tucker
LCpl Thompson
LCpl Wood
Tpr Brown
Tpr Cowling
Tpr Drew
Tpr Hall
Tpr Haycock
Tpr Hayward-Percival
Tpr Ingham
Tpr Jones
Tpr Lanahan
CoH Hooper
Tptr LCoH Spencer
LCpl Clark
LCpl Hickman
Tpr Davison
Tpr Lawson
Tpr Lee
Tpr Leggott
Tpr Milburn
Tpr Ward
Tptr Orchard
SQUADRON STORES
SaMC Woodland
LCpl Tinkler
Tpr Morrey
Tpr Williams
Tpr Bellringer FARRIERS
Tpr Jackson
Tpr Stanton
Tpr Craister
Tpr Nicholson
Tpr Wood
Tpr Thomas
Tpr Collins
P.J.D. Marlow-Thomas
CoH Knowles
LCoH Hallas
LCoH McBride
LCoH Collins
LCpl Mullen
LCpl Johnson
Tpr Blowey
Tpr Chambers
Tpr Creagh
Tpr Cumming
LCpl Pillinger RAOC
INT. TROOP
Captain J.A. Black
CoH Daraz
CoH Potts
LCoH Frazer
LCpl O'Connor
LCpl Steele
LCpl Gale
Tpr Lewis
Tpr Margan
Tpr Mountford
Tpr Nicklin
Tpr Norcombe
Tpr O'Donnell
Tpr Schubert
Tpr Sims
Tpr Thornton
Tpr Watts
W02 (FaMC) Stewartson
FSCpl King
FLCoH Williams
FLCpl Carrington
FLCpl Jones
FLCpl Becker
FLCpl Airey
HUNTING STABLES
LCpl Leishman
Tpr Burns
Tpr Greig
Tpr Howard
Tpr Smith
RIDING INSTRUCTORS
Major (RMI A.Jackson, MBE
SCpl McKie
LCoH Sanderson
ORDERLIES
LCpl Seager
Tpr Alien 590
Tpr Le Fondre
Tpr Marsden
Tpr VanCraeyenest
Tpr Wright
COURSES
CoH James (Melton Mowbrayl
LCpl Evans (GO)
Tpr Harrison (Melton Mowbray)
Tpr Sutcliffe (Melton Mowbray)
HEAD QUARTER SQUADRON
W02 (SCM) Gook
LCplDiggle
ORDERLY ROOM
W02 (OROMC) Hendetson
CoH Morgan
LCoH Radford
LCpl Rodwell
PROVOST STAFF
CoH Thakston
Tpr Godden
Tpr Holden
Tpr Livings
OFFICERS MESS
LCoH Otton
WOs and NCOs MESS
LCpl Simpson
Tpr Stevens
Tpr Roberts
MEDICAL CENTRE
CoH Borthwick
LCoH Woleznski
MT DEPT.
Tpr Banks
Tpr Bear
Tpr Bryant
Tpr Ludlam
Tpr Morgan
BARBER
Tpr Grogan
QM DEPT.
Major (OM) J.W. Greaves
LCpl Wilkinson
Tpr Mateer
SADDLERS
SCpl Richards
Tpr Caste low
TAILORS
SCpl Taylor
LCoH O'Sullivan
LCpl Masters
Tpr Edwards
TRAINING WING
W02 Varley Tpr Coles
INSTRUCTORS
CoH Kelly
LCoH O'Flaherty
LCoH Bevan
RIDE NCOs
LCpl
LCpl Westaway
LCpl Hunt
STABLE MEN
Tpr Howe
Tpr Mamwell
RECRUITS IN RIDING SCHOOL
LCpl Gibson
Tpr Stephenson
Tpr Stone
Tpr Ward
Tpr Milton
Tpr Edwards
Tpr Hazlewood
Tpr Darvell
Tpr Mullen
Tpr Wright
Tpr Brooks
Tpr Hayes
Tpr Oldfield
Tpr Bartlett
Tpr Lish
Tpr Sangster
Musn Collier
Musn Grieve
THE GUARDS DEPOT
Major T.J. Earl
Captain P.S.W.F. Falkner
Lieutenant H.K. Hamilton
Second Lieutenant
W.S.G. Doughty
SOMC Alien
Scpl Alien
SCpl Alderson
CoH Read
CoH George
CoH Baxter
CoH Grant
CoH Meade
LCoH Callard
LCoH Wilkinson
LCoH Gilbert
LCoH Whatley
LCoH Mills
LCoH Hale
LCoH McDermott
LCoH Fury
LCoH Tinsley
LCoH Vince
LCoH Evans
LCoH Dobson
LCoH Richie
LCoH Carter
LCoH Parkinson
LCpl Hollingswood
LCpl Shipway
LCpl Alien
LCpl Croager
Tpr McAlpine
Tpr Anscombe
Tpr Dixon
Tpr Elliott
REGIMENTAL HEADOUARTERS
HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY
CoH Smith
CoH Dean
CoH Charlett
LCoH Starling
LCpl Smith
Tpr Brady
Tpr O'Daly
Surgeon Lieutenant
Colonel J.M. Stewart
SCpl Mitchell
LCoH Darby
LCpl Clark
Tpr Tanner
LCpl Leak
Tpr Nixon
LSgt Barrett RAMC
LCpl Murray RAMC
LCpl Plumb RAMC
Major (OM)
A.J. Richards
W02 Frost
SCpl Marsden
CoH Fletcher
CoH Davies
CoH Jolley
CoH Taylor
CoH Wood
Cpl Harman
Cpl Robinson
Cpl Mean
Cpl Whitworth
LCpl Barnes
LCpl Lund
LCpl Morris
LCpl Bourne
LCpl Watts
LCpl Nichols
Musn Poland
Musn Jarvis
Musn Hopkins
Musn Alien
Musn Bole
Musn Collier
Musn Davies
Musn Fensom
Musn Hamer
Musn Harris
Musn Harrison
Musn Harrison
Musn Hart OFFICERS WHO HAVE RETIRED
Musn Manfield
Musn Meikle DURING 1917
Musn Morton
Musn Owen
Musn Pankhurst
Musn Pope
Musn Redford
Musn Sandell
CoH Veal
CoH Rhodes
Major J.R. Bedells
Captain P.T. Fletcher
Captain H.P. Reed
Captain N.P. Hearson
Lieutenant H.C. Belfingham
Musn Szreider Major (OM) E. S.ant
Musn Tibbels
Musn Wiltshire
Musn Wood house
OFFICERS SERVING AWAY FROM THE REGIMENT
Brigadier H.D.A. Langley, MBE - Royal College of Defence Studies, London
Lieutenant Colonel S.C. Cooper - GSOI Junior Division of The Staff College, Warminster
Lieutenant Colonel A.B.S.H. Gooch - Deputy Controller Army Display, Aldershot
Major C.J. D'Oyly - GS02 SO RAC Centre, Bovington
Major C.S. Harcourt-Smith - GS02 Intelligence, SHAPE (BAE) Brussels
Captain G.C.T. Musgrave - Staff Captain O. Headquarters, Detmold Garrison
Captain A.P. De Ritter - Staff Captain Headquarters, Household Division, Horse Guards
Captain P.G. Huntley - Intelligence and Security Group, Northern Ireland
Captain S.D.G. Vetch - Watch keeper 3rd Infantry Brigade, Northern Ireland
Lieutenant C.B. Oldfield - Armour School, Bovington
Second Lieutenant H.F.J. Langley - Durham University
Major W. Jones - S02 MOD (OAR) London
Captain C.T. Rodger - RAC Gunnery School, Lulworth
Captain D. Bentley - Headquarter 7th Armoured Brigade, Hohne
Captain B.P. Payne - Driving and Maintenance School, Bovington
GUNNERY SCHOOL
Tpr Greest
O&M SCHOOL
SCpl 1I0yd
(Det. to CAAT Iran)
CoH Miller
CoH R ichardson
JUNIOR LEADERS REGT. RAC
W02 Lawson
W02 Cherrington
SCpl Griffiths
SCpl Daysmith
CoH Redford
CoH Ward
HQ Trg. Gp. R.SIGS. & SIGNALS SCHOOL CATTERICK GARRISON
CoH Cruddaee
RAC SALES TEAM
LCpl MeKenzie
W01 (GCM) Walley
RAC TRG. REGT.
CoH Milne CoH Marshall
CoH Belza
ATDU RECRUITERS
W01 Miles
ARMOUR SCHOOL
SCpl Dugdale
RMCS
LCpl Hardaere
ARMY APPRENTICE
Musn Graves
LCoH Holbrook
Musn Grieve
COLLEGE ARBORFIElD
CoH Pearson CoH Jewell
Stoke CoH Lea & LCpl Bagnell
Preston CoH Turner
Leeds CoH Lee
Nottingham CoH Bourne
Liverpool CoH Collier
RMAS
Se pi Slater
LCpl Stockwell
