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THE EAGLE The

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ROYAL

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JUNE. 1950

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THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

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LIST OF CONTENTS

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'7 i 'rES i l)AND No

EDITORIAL

A SKI-ING LEAVE 1950

SPORTS NOTES . .

SERGEANTS’ MESS NOTES

HOCKEY

SQUADRON NOTES “A” SQUADRON ..

RUGGER ..

TIIE ADVENTURES AND FINAL ESCAPE OF

SGT. RAPKIN AND His MEN

“ B ” SQUADRON

L L 0 YD S B AN K L l M I

SQUADRON

ARMY &

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JUNE, 1950

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THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS THE JOURNAL HF 'l'lllé ROYAL llRAGOONS

EDITORIAL The older one gets the quicker the days and the weeks and the months pass. It seems impossible that it is six months since this editor was wondering what to say in this column. Since the last Eagle. went to press we have had a fairly uneventful period with the exception of the Business at the Steel Works.” There was of course Christ— mas when we all had a good time and we have just had Easter. This was unevent— ful ; and no Rocket ” from the Padre this year. Material for this journal is always harder to get for the June edition but con— tributors have again made the Editor's task easier by producing their contribution with— out, in most cases, more than one reminder l

The Old Comrades’ Association Notes are being held until after the Annual General Meeting and, to enable the journal to be ready for distribution in June, are being sent straight to the printers, without first being sent to B.A.O.R. But there has been nothing from individual Old Comrades, to whom an appeal for contributions to the Journal was made in the last Eagle. What about it Old Comrades ? This is about the only appeal you will ever get for kind, and not for cash.

This edition contains the names and addresses of new members of the O.C.A.,

who have joined since Ist January, 1950. They all joined on, or before leaving the Regiment, and it is hoped that they will

remain members for many years to come. The training season is almost on us, and we shall certainly be having many stories to tell in the next Eagle. To all of those who will contribute to the December issue the editor earnestly asks them to start now, and makebrief notes of interesting or amusing events.

A SKI-ING LEAVE 1950 It was with some misgivings that we decided to avail ourselves of the advantages offered by the Army/RAF. winter sports holiday scheme. The advantages sounded attractive, they included free hire of Skis and boots, free instruction in Ski-ing, skating or toboganning, free tickets on the funiculars and Ski lifts accommodation in one of the luxurious Hotels at St. Moritz, and when

this all-in charge had been paid, about a third of one’s allowance of Swiss francs left

for spending—money. Such schemes are, however, not always what they are cracked up to be, hence our misgivings. Our party consisted of wife, self, bov aged 8, girl aged 5. We decided to go by car from Wolfenbiittel partly from motives of economy and partly to see South Germany. Our first night was spent at Stuttgart, a distance of a little over 300 miles from VVol— fenbiittel, where we were very hospitablv put 11p by Captain Burton of the US. Army and his wife. From here we made St. Moritz a distance of a little over 200 miles by the next evening; covering the last 5‘0 miles over snow covered mountain roads, in the dark and in a blizzard, with no chains

on the car wheels. We were glad to reach the warmth and comfort of the Kulm hotel about 7 p.111. The rest of the party which had booked for this period of a fortnight had already arrived by train from England, and had drawn their skis and equipment from the store.

The party consisted of about 58 in all, of which about threequarters were R.A.F., and a quarter Army. The Kulm Hotel annex had been entirely taken over for our accommodation. We had our own dining

Those who did not wish to ski could try their hand at either skating, curling, the Cresta run, or the Bob Sleigh run. If anyone finds that ski-ing does not hold enough thrills for him I advise him to try the two latter sports. ‘ On the Cresta run, the novice is depen— dant, at some 70 m.p.h.-r- 011 his own devices, while lying on a single—seater tob0g~ gun, for reaching the end of the run which is about a mile long. 011 the Bob run, he will, if wise, persuade

an experienced pilot to take him on a two or four—seater bob. He Will travel at an even greater speed but with inﬁnitely more safety, down the run which includes two

hairpin and several hair—raising corners. At the end of these two experiences he will struggle with his conscience and self esteem in telling his friends whether he has really enjoyed either or both. , To sum up the “ scheme’ as a whole I would say 2-— I. You get a ski—ing holiday at a first class centre far cheaper than the ordinary tourist to Switzerland. You are not regimented, and made to do what you do not wish to do.

You may take your relations and even your friends, both male and female, on the scheme with the same concessions as yourself. Your standard of comfort and feeding is very good, if not luxurious. Your ski—instructor is as good as you would get anywhere in the world. Last, but not least, I must say that the scheme at the Swiss end is run most efﬁci— ently by an R.A.F. Group Captain, who does all in his power to make one’s stay a pleasant one. He hopes that the scheme will continue and be enlarged next season. As far as our own family party was con— cerned, we left St. Moritz with the usual

feeling of returning to school from the holidays, and are counting the weeks, if not the clays, to our next visit. For those contemplating taking a car to Switzerland, I would say that the saving in train fares is easily worth it, but that owing to the high cost of petrol and garage fees in Switzerland, there is not much left at the

end of a fortnight, out of the ten pounds worth of extra Swiss francs allowed for a car.

room, lounge and bar, but were, of course,

at liberty to visit the other (and more ex— pensive part of the Hotel) whenever we wished. On arrival we were shown two very comfortable double rooms, and were soon settled in. Next morning we were ﬁtted with skis and boots from the store and sallied forth to the practice (or Nursery) Slopes. To reach these entailed a short walk to the funicular station, and ten minutes in the

train. We got out at the half—way station and after another short walk arrived at the ski school some 800 to 1,000 feet above St.

Moritz. Here we were sorted out and allotted each to a class according to his or her skill on skis. Normally those of the party who skied had a lesson for an hour or two either in the morning or afternoon and spent the rest of the day either on runs from the higher sta— tion, or practising on the practice slopes. The latter was made easy by a ski lift which pulled one some distance up the slope. At the ski school was the hut or restaurant common to all Swiss Ski—ing resorts, where one could sit in the sun and eat one’s picnic lunch and buy anything one fancied (or could afford) to wash it down with.

SERGEANTS’ MESS

NOTES

ENTLEMEN, it is only four months ago

Witch complete with broomstick; and on

since our last edition, hence

asking a ﬁgure closely resembling Mae West for her identity card, found her to be Sgt. Appleton, he murmured “ T’aint possible " took refuge in the Guard Room crying “ Water—Cool \Vaters.” On the return of ” A " Squadron members to the fold we began to realise how much sop— histicated town life we have missed, when

our notes

this time will obviously be shorter than in our last edition in spite of the fact that during the past three months we have had quite a busy time. ” Christmas comes but once a year, and

when it comes it brings good cheer ”750 runs the popular jingle. Christmas 1040 was certainly no exception to this rule, in fact, it has been mentioned in fairly high circles in the Mess, to have been one of the

best Christmasses we have enjoyed. Apart from the usual functions, the outstanding event was the Fancy Dress Dance on New Year's live. lt has been rumoured that the scntries on duty at the gate on that memorable evening asked for reliefs and have since signed the pledge. Evidently the strain of the holidays, plus the extraordinary events of that evening proved too much for them. Having seen hot chestnut vendors complete with barrow; tame snakes in baskets; gentlemen in leopard skins ; a

such names as Hohenzollendamm, Kurfur—

stendamm and Reichskanzlerplatz are men— tioned in the Mess by their members with the same case as we talk of Lange Herzog— strasse. Since their return we can new issue an official denial to the rumour that Paddy Nash gave up his seat in the plane to four sergeants. This is deﬁnitely untrue, they only wanted to make room for two new engines for two armoured cars in Berlin. It is only fair to add since his return from Berlin he has begun to ﬁnd his appetite once. again. Our underground channels, however, in— form us that S.S.M. Palmer and his members

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

say that during this period we became familiar, and quite ﬂuent in translating into their R.A.C. equivalents; C.S.M., C.Q.M.S., and Battalion Orderly Sergeant. During the “ business hours ” at the Reichswerke, we are told a German demon—

strator had the audacity to throw a brick at Bunny Austin, and an international situa— tion was averted by his exercising his pers— onality on the unfortunate. The L.A.D. had the almost impossible task of ﬁtting an armoured car to take Paddy Nash and crew. There was no truth in the story going around

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

All members will be sorry to hear of Duck Colyer’s admission to hospital after three months of indifferent health. We all wish him a speedy recovery. At the time of going to press, intensive preparations are being made for Horse Shows, Waterloo Day, Old Comrades visits . and of course more schemes and training. At the moment most of these are in the paper stage and no comments can be made. Hence our notes end with our usual greeting and wishes to all Royal Dragoons past and

present, wherever they may be.

a Quiz with the men against the Sgts., who were really quite good—they beat the men in the ﬁrst round, and drew with the beer-

bar team in the second round, maybe due to N.A.A.F.I. beer. Table tennis and snooker are still going strong. W. Chapman and H. Lock both of HO. Squadron qualiﬁed to play in the

B.A.O.R. Table Tennis Championships by winning all their matches in the 7th Arm— oured Division at Hanover. W. Chapman reached the semi—ﬁnals of the B.A.O.R. Singles Championships at Bad Oeynhausen.

at that time, that the Mess member seen at

“ Bring ’em back alive—Cosgrove and Little Nell"

maintained the high standard of hospitality, for which our Mess is noted. Our congratu— lations go out to them in this effort. Their difficulties can be appreciated when we remember our Regiment was represented by one Squadron in the former German Capital and there were, at the time, three infantry

battalions stationed in the city. The riots at the Herman Goring Works at Salzgitter provided an extra spate of duties and social events in the Regiment, and the Mess was involved in no small way. During this time we re—welcomed old faces to the Mess, and had the pleasure of making new friends.

Mr.

Platts,

The

Sherwood

Foresters, and his members were once again our Welcome guests, also Mr. Knox, of The \Vorcesters, and his members, although the latter were called away from our midst, half way through their estimated stay, owing to the fact that their presence was required elsewhere. This unpleasant event was dic— tated to them by that mysterious body known as ” Higher Authorities.” Our best wishes go with them in their new venture wherever this may take them. Our new acquaintances were Mr. Thompson and members from the Durham Light Infantry. Mr. Thompson’s infectious laugh will long be remembered by all members. \Ve wish them luck in their move to other ﬁelds of activities and hope their stay in our midst was a happy one. It is only fair to

A my Cznrrplrm'Mls}7

the works in a sheepskin dufﬂe—coat was the British Resident . . . The Leica camera gave the game away. Fortunately, we have said goodbye to less of our members than usual during the last three months. The biggest blow was the loss of Taffy Evans who has gone to help in the supervision of H.M. Prisons. No longer shall we hear his excellent renderings of Kipling’s ” If ” or excerpts from ” Hamlet.” We did think, however, when he heard that Ernie Weller was returning to us he would have changed his mind. Never the less, we wish him good luck in civilian life. . Yes, Ernie Weller has returned to us and

is now well established in “ B ” Squadron. Evidently “ austerity” civilian life proved too much for him. At least his powers of debating will once again be heard at the Bar. Dumpy Dover (and trumpet) is once again in our midst. Welcome back to you both. 1: “ Let us now praise famous men . . .

Congratulations go to :—S.S.M. Edwards, O.R.Q.M.S. Crockett, S.S. Slade on their promotion. Sergeant Old on entering the Mess. S.S.M. Edwards on a good and steady game in the 7th Armoured Division Cup Final. S.S.I. Taylor on becoming a father . . . another Royal Dragoon ! The Old Comrade Mr. Rapkin (senior) and his wife on their adventure into Darkest Germany. The pained expression on the face of the senior ranks during the Army First. The pained expression on W.O.II Maple’s face on seeing the results of the Army third. The Mess Caterer who has all the right drinks in stock at the wrong time, and all the wrong drinks at the right time. The Tpr. who told the QM. how to play football, and is still seen walking about uninjured. Bunny Austin and his anti-burglar devices.

W. V.S. Since the last edition events have moved fast—at least we think they have, although those who grab at the calendar at our club each day to count the months, days and weeks (often it gets to the exact hour) to their release, do not think the same.

A lot of the old faces are missing, and new ones continually replace them (we are not suggesting that any of the men have had their faces lifted—although it seemed like that when the boxing tournaments were on). Apart from selling stamps, we have had a broadcast in the Old Comrades Programme ;

The Sunday trips to Hahnenklee and Bad Harzburg were very popular with the Winter Sports fans, many of them reaching great heights, literally and otherwise. Naturally we like to hear about their achievements on the high jumps, but when they got to demonstrating the same on the one and only settee in our ofﬁce (which has about one spring left in it, anyhow) we were not exactly dismayed when the snow disappeared. We shall now sit back and wait for what the P.R.I. has to say about the settee, as we

have pointed out, very gently, that a one springed settee is not a very comfortable piece of furniture.

THE As inf/88: a 'l’llli «I 01' [\‘N.\l. Ul-

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Squadron Notes

‘Kssw‘

“A”

SQUADRON

HESE Notes are becoming with each issue of the “ [fag/tr ” a sort of half yearly review of Squadron affairs, which is a good thing because with the variety of interests on and off duty, one tends to for— get the highlights of life out here in Germ— any. In our last report we said that we had maintained a hundred per cent record of men joining the O.(‘.:’\. on release, that still goes on, and it is interesting to realise that a great number of ex—‘A’Squadron Royals, apart from the news they receive by corre:— ponding with friends still serving, are maint— aining contact with us through this magazine. Maybe the Editor will give us a ” rake—off " for Squadron Funds! ! l Diggingy back into the bag this time we go back to the start of the winter, before any— one had thought of moving us from Berlin. As the days grew shorter, maintenance be— came more irksome, but under the direction

of M.S.S. Douglas we managed to keep the majority of the cars “ on the road.” Many drivers were introduced to anti-freeze : Sentries became "weather-conscious” using a ﬁlled bucket of anti-freeze—water mixture as a thermometer, and with this and other

routine checks we got through the cold days without any calamities in the form of cracked cylinder blocks. A few successful indoor training cadres were run, and, although of necessity we.

“ No wonder you’re ashamed to reach your toes. Those Boots are crying their eyelets out for a rub of CHERRY BLOSSOM BOOT POLISH!”

were hampered by not having access to Regimental training equipment, the winter’s allocation of fuel made indoor work quite pleasant. On November the 4th a Bunker was blown up by British sappers about 50 yards from Barracks, and great was the fall thereof. In spite of precautions we suffered some privations for a few days, and clerks and storemen hungr notices reminiscent of the Blitz outside their doors :7” Bombed but still carrying on ,” “ Still open for business,” “ We never close ” etc, etc. The S.Q.M.S. Stores (3 Rooms) had doors smashed, and while the debris was still dropping, the S.Q.M.S. was seen to run (Yes to Run ! l) to collect sentries from the provost. The M.T. Oﬁice and Guardroom worked quite happily with no dividing wall. The Z/i/c found some of his important documents lying suggestively near the waste paper basket. lirom far away in \Volfenbiittel the QM. is rumoured to have remarked “ The Quartermaster’s Dream.” Many people (in the Squadron) will be anxious to know what exactly happened over Christmas. It was a glorious letting,r down of hair for all of us, and no unit could have had a happier holiday. The Ofﬁcers and Sergeants lost 3—2 to the Other Ranks at football, and on the debit side several window panes were temporarily dispensed

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nights [or a change. The Families were as usual at Christmas most kind in their hospitality and entertaining. Throughout the winter we kept Ruggcr, Soccer, and Hockey teams going, and often played representative games in all three on the same afternoon. “'0 did reasonably well in the Berlin Leagues, especially at Hockey, and at one time we had six Rugby players in the Berlin Side. “'0 trained and entered a team for the Inter—Unit Cross Country Ruinibeing the only small Unit

Poulter Baguley, Osinski, Last but

to do so ; (‘pl. Collins distinguished himself

We welcome Capt. Timbrcll, M.C. to the

by coming in third. In January we held a very successful

Squadron as 2 i/c and z/Lt. Birbeck as a Troop Leader. Schemes and T.E.\V.T.S. are the main interest as we go to press. Sgt. Phillips for some reason or other insists on taking a steel bottomed kettle as part of his " Brew— ing-up—kit.” We miss Tpr. Hall’s canteen establish— ment of the Berlin days and suggest that the hat be passed round to compensate for his loss of unclaimed pennies!

dance in our canteen, and had the services

of the excellent Regimental Dance Band, and on February 18th with the advanced party already at Wolfcnbiittcl for our return to the fold, we held a “ Smoker " which was notable for the wealth of talent,

until then dormant in the Squadron. Capt. Diamond and Sgt. Joyce did their inevitable turns.

Visitors from the Regiment came and went except the T.Q.M.S. who just came! The Commanding Officer carried out his last inspection of us as a detached Squadron, and bought shares in KIWI boot polish (SSM. for information). The day came for us to move, and with

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appointment in ‘ A‘ ” Branch, 7th Armoured Division, having been Squadron Z/i/C for the past 3% years. “'0 congratulate Sgt. Vowlcs and Cpl. Kimble on their marriages, Sgt. ,loycc on the birth of a (laughter, S.S.M. Palmer and S.Q.M.S. Bowen on receiving long Service and Good Conduct Medals.

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THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

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numbers in the Royal Horse Guards, leaving behind a good reputation and lots of friends. We have had to loose a number of people to other Squadrons, we were very sorry to see them go, and we wish them luck in their new Squadrons, and thank them for having put their backs into their various jobs while they were with us.

And so ends our review. Many of the minor incidents of every day occurrence, some humourous, some annoying, some sad,

which make up the life and character of this Squadron are omitted because they mean something only to ourselves, but we have conveyed to our cx—memters and friends the fact that “ A ” Squadron is very much alive, and endeavouring to serve the Regi— ment in the way it expects and deserves. This would—be author can now stop racking his brain in the knowledge that something or other has been achieved, and the Editor’s

pestering for ” copy ” will cease until the next time.

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SQUADRON

Since our last notes were written the Squadron has been much in the Regimental Sports News. On 25th November, 1949, the Buckley Trophy was won by the Squadron Novices Boxing team for the second time running, and we are looking forward to doing the ” Hat Trick " this year. On the let of December the Cross Coun— try team took the Katzal Cup for thc Squad— ron by a good margin, and on the soccer

field the Regimental Inter—Troop football trophy was won by 2nd Troop. Among the individuals special commenda— tion is offered to Tpr. Lane and Tpr. Evans 55 who won the light—weight and welter— weight fights respcctivelv in the InterSquadron Open Boxing Championships. Many old faces have disappeared from the Squadron in recent months and many new ones have come to fill their places. In March we said “ Cheerio ” to Captain

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

Barker who has gone to Brigade Head— quarters, and we welcome Major Macdonald as our new Squadron Leader with Captain McKelvie, who recently came from ” C ” Squadron, as second in Command. Sgt. Edwards has left us to become Squad— ron Sergeant Major of HQ. Squadron, and we wish him the best of luck in his new job. We wish to extend a hearty welcome to all the other newcomers to the Squadron amongst them being Sgt. Perry, who has come to us from the P.R.I.; Sgt. Weller,

whom we understand, couldn’t take it in

“Civvy Street"; Sgt. Kurpiewski from ” C ” Squadron, and Sgt. Brown who has returned to us from ” A ” Squadron. We also congratulate S.Q.M.S. Baker on his recent promotion, and we wish him the best of luck. As these notes are being written the training season is getting into its stride, and we hope that in our next edition we will have some interesting stories to tell.

“C” SQUADRON

271d Troop ” B " Squadron—W mners of the Regimental Inter—troop Foolball Competition. Back Row-left to right .'

Captain Barker, Cpl. Smith, L/Cpl. Johnson, Tpr. McCracken, Tpr. Lane, Tpr. Evans I

S.S.M. Austin. Centre Row .' Tpr. Hickman, Tpr. Slatei, S.Q.M.S. Edwards, Tpr. Smith, Tpr. King. Front Row .' Tpr. McCormack, Tpr. Nobbs, Tpr. VViddup.

M AJOR STARKEY left the Squadron in November to go farming in Warwickshire. His going was a great loss, not only to the Squadron, but to the Regiment. Under him the Training wings were moulded until they reached efﬁciency. Probably the best tribute he could have came from 3. Trooper X who said, “ He knew all the answers and you couldn’t hot him.” The ever changing scene continues. Our drafts of NS. Men join us, are hammered 4 on the square, crammed with technicalities in the Training Wings for the examiners on the T.T. Board and ﬁnally seek rest in

‘ A ’ or ‘ B ’ Squadrons.

Now that the

training course has been extended, they have twice as much time in which to learn their divers trades, and, according to some instructors, twice as much time to forget all they have been taught. We were narrowly beaten by ‘ B ’ Squad— ron in the Novices Boxing, but managed to produce two champions in Tpr. Smith and Tpr. Chowdhury. Tpr. Chowdhury also was judged the best boxer of the evening. In the Open Boxing, after a close ﬁght with HQ. Squadron, we emerged as winners by points. Cpl. Howley, forgetting his age, but remembering all the tricks of the trade,

became Heavy—weight champion of the Regiment. Other winners were Tpr’s. Sad— ler and Smith. Tpr. Sadler was awarded the medal for the best boxer of the evening, and Cpl. Hamilton, after a very plucky display was awarded the medal for the best loser. In the match against the Foresters z/Lt. Lewis and Tpr. Greatrex both won their ﬁghts. The rumour that 2/Lt. Lewis is turning professional is quite untrue: a

career as a professional would interfere too much with his people and his G.M.T. The Squadron has not distinguished itself at football this season though Cpl. Raftrey has played regularly for the Regimental team throughout the season. L/Cpl. Snow organised a very successful Squadron Concert on Monday, 6th March. Unfortunately this was cut short by the lmmendorf Interlude. We hope to have a concert of some sort for each draft of NS. Men. Since the Eagle was last published, we have said goodbye to many who were leaving the army on release. We wish them very good fortune in the future, Con— gratulations to S.Q.M.S. Rapkin and Sgt. Fletcher on the new arrivals in their families.

“C” Squadron Training Wing The Training wing, together with other departments in the Squadron with their own peculiarities, has at last been given the chance “to get a word in edgeways”! Since the last ‘C' Squadron notes were published, Lt. Ferrand and Sgt. Link have both left us for the chairborne glories of M.T. Troop. Cpl. Michelagnoli goes to ‘A’ Squadron in May ; Cpl. Eggar has departed for the TA. after a brief sojourn in ‘B’ Squadron on the way. We welcome Cpl. Poulter and Cpl. Bujko to the wings, and take the opportunity of congratulating Cpl. Pritchard on his marriage, and Cpl. Ranson on his engagement. In February the training Wings were reorganised as one wing under a Wing Ofﬁcer,

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

\..\._ .

“ Instructors ‘ C ’ Squadron Training Wing.”

Back Row : Cpl. Carter, L/Cpl. Grifﬁths, L/Cpl. Gunn, Sgt. Nash, Cpl. Ballard, Cpl. Ransou, Cpl. Raftrey, Cpl. Paul, Cpl. Michelagnoli. Front Row: Tpr. Burton, Cpl. Pritchard, Cpl. Bujko,

Lieut.

Bucknall,

Cpl.

Poulter,

Vaughan.

Tpr.

Lt. Bucknall, and it is hoped to co-ordinate training more easily under this system. As far as training goes, the Ioth Draft of NS. soldiers left us in early January, and the 11th draft started work in the wing on 13th February. They will be leaving us after their Trade—Test Board on Ist May, and we wish

them

luck,

then,

and

thereafter !

Meanwhile the 12th draft start with us on the 17th April which gives some idea of the pressure of work here. However, there has been plenty to keep our sense of humour going during the last few months. L/Cpl. Gunn surveying a class of drivers i/c busily writing notes, noticed one man sitting motionless, who a moment before had been industriously writing. “ Where’s your pencil? ”,

“ I don’t know Corporal,”

“ But

you had one a moment ago.” “ I’ve swallowed it Corporal,” (Messing Oﬂicer for action). Cpl. Raftrey was sitting in the co—driver’s seat with a driver under in—

“ A break during driving instruction.”

really intended! For the beneﬁt of those who have yet to be put through the machine

that produces ” Royals Mk. I " 2* Our Instructors at present are: Gunnery .' Wireless .‘ Sgt. Nash. Sgt. Horsﬁeld. Cpl. Paul. Cpl. Tester. Cpl. Pritchard. L/Cpl. Griffiths. Cpl. Michelagnoli. Driving and Maintenance .' Cpl. Ranson. Cpl. Raftrey. Cpl. Ballard. Cpl. Poulter. Cpl. Carter. L/Cpl. Gunn. Cpl. Bujko.

29th B.M.H.-—we don’t think liamkiri was

the French schemes was to run the annual range course for the Regiment. At this stage the wing consisted of 2/Lt. Lewis, Sgt. Jones, Sgt. Fletcher (then Cpl.) Cpl. Simpson, Tpr’s. Tilley, and Pavey. The range course lasted about six weeks, the first five of which the course was fired in most delightful weather. It was a great pity that the shooting was not as good as the weather. The shooting completed, Sgt. Jones left to attend a weapons course at Hythe and Sgt. Brennan who had just returned from the same course took his place. In the middle of December, the majority of the staff retired to England to collect the next draft from the 12th Royal Lancers, leaving Sgt. Brennan and L/Cpl. Snow to train twelve assault troopers who were due to go to ‘ B ’ Squadron. On arrival at Barnard Castle just before the new year it was found that the complete draft was on leave. It managed to return from leave in time to be checked and put on the train. In the meantime the 12th Royal Lancers entertained us lavishly.

The ofﬁce, which tries to cope with army

gramme will go on). Third Troop arrived at the Regiment just in time for the New Year celebrations and started the New Year as the ﬁrst draft to be trained under the Chief Instructor’s new sixteen week programme. The ﬁrst few weeks of the programme were carried out come wind and rain. The drill

forms with varying degrees of success has had changes like everyone else. L/Cpl. Clemence has managed with unfailing regu— larity to stir the Tech. Adjt. with his works of art. Sgt. Kurpiewski has left and we welcome Sgt. Link who has come with the Troop Leader from the D. & M. Wing. Tpr. Barley is preparing to take up the struggle in place of L/Cpl. Clemence. Cpl. Howle and L/Cpl. Banner gravitate round the Tech. Stores and numbers of tools Bi-Hex—Jinks may be heard floating from the tool stores although there were slightly and ofﬁces to allow ‘A’ Squadron a little

struction, who suddenly complained that he

was unwell and ﬁnally collapsed foaming at the mouth ! We always thought it was the instructors who cracked up ﬁrst ! Cpl. Carter now always carries his own private haversack rations ever since his troop lost the pricker for the petrol oven and buried the tins of milk with the empties ! It is a relief to all of us now that the gleam has left Cpl. Ballard’s eye—he’s had his U.K. leave at last! Finally we are glad to see Cpl. Paul back with us after his short stay at the

to the fore when there was trouble at Salzgitter. Tpr. Wickenden is still wonder— ing how to close down in three seconds. Many old faces have left us in the last month, so numerous in fact that it would be impossible to name them, so we just say good—bye to them as a whole, and hope that they enjoy civvy-street as much as they enjoyed the M.T. Troop!!! It has been reported that certain members found it harder to leave than they thought. If they ever wish to return, we will only he too glad to welcome them back. We have obtained replacements from ‘ B ’ and ‘H.Q.’ Squadrons and we hope that they enjoy their stay and may it be a long one (Troop Leader’s Dreams.) Though we have mentioned the past and the new, the notes at this point must pay regards to the old Contemptibles, some not We would so old but all Contemptible. like to congratulate L/Cpls. Kirkley and VVatorski on their promotions, and Tprs. Bradford, Wesley, Johnson, Sarll, Collins, and many others, who have managed to get through the year ‘without breaking their necks. The Devil looks after his friends.

different words, when we moved the stores

“C” Squadron MT. Troop Notes At last the backbone of ‘ C ’ Squadron have their own little niche in the Magazine, and perhaps we come into View at an ap— propriate moment as we have now got in to our stride and at last know what we are trying to do. The size of the troop has been increased and is still increasing and we hope to be able to deal with any transport problem in the training Souadron. We occasionally have our ﬂaps and the troop was

room.

However,

ﬁnd

that

are

saving shoe leather. It will be seen that though M.T. Troop has had its difﬁculties, we are just keeping our heads above oil, petrol, and water, and

though we do not always give satisfaction, to those in high places, we at least give satis— faction to the members of the Military Police Whom we encounter. “ Another one without a driving licence, Charlie.”

“C ” Squadron Dismounted Wing The ﬁrst job of the dismounted wing after

III TROOP NOTES (Motto, The pro-

was the hardest of all to keep going.

The

band turned out valiantly on several occasions but unfortunately Trombones froze up on lower notes, the climax being

when Trumpet Major Dover froze to his trumpet and only the odd drum could

carry on. It was decided to have a general knowl— edge and Regimental History test after the ﬁrst three weeks, and we came to the conclusion that the Regiment was formed in 1619 as the Trojan Horse. The Squadron now being commanded by Major Maguire with Capt. Reed—Felstead commanding the Regiment. L/Cpl. Snow ran a very good snicker for the beneﬁt of the Troops. The subject was Old Comrades—Cpl. Simpson taking the part of Captain Neville Powley almost better than it was done a fortnight earlier by B.F.N. The smoker was broken up most dramatically by a ‘Call to arms’ by Lt. Ferrand. For the next two days the

'l'lllé AIOURNAL OF THE ROYAL |)l\'A(lOONS

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

troop was ﬁxing and unﬁxing bayonets as an assault troop at the ” battle of Immen— dorf.” The only casualty was sustained by ‘ C ’ Squadron, Lt. Ferrand being grievously wounded, received a Purple Heart, retired

to bed with ﬂu and since this experience, explains how he was able to sit through ‘Desert Victory ’ without a qualm. After delving into the. intricacies of name and similar virgin subjects the troop set out on its ﬁrst scheme. This was a dismounted exercise involving a move at dawn before the morning brew. It is hoped that Cpl. Carter’s squad will have learned that they do NOT bury milk tins with other empty tins. The next scheme was a mounted one, under the Squadron Leader and in future we have many more to come. In the meantime the ‘ Programme will go on.’

The ‘ Flap ' unfortunately left Cpl. Ham— ilton with only one Rifle with which to instruct ﬁfty-three men. Although their G.M.T. Training has been slightly muddled as a result of this;no doubt it will be made up by their training in the wings.

WELL

KNOWN

FIGURES

Yes—Sgt. Evans, D.C.M., has unfortunately

decided to relieve us of the pleasure of seeing him marching around with his big stick ” tucked underneath his arm.” In a short time it is expected that the guests of H.M. Government at such well known “ hotels " as Dartmoor and Wormwood Scrubs etc.,

will have this privilege. Before leaving he offered to accommodate old members of the Regiment (particularly Sgts.’ Mess) if they were ever in need! His place as Provost Sgt. has been taken over by Sgt. Linehan— who also knows all the ropes—warning to would be detenus! One other personality who has left us is of course Sgt. Empringham of workshops fame who has gone to join his brother in the

7th Hussars.

“ WHAT are these faces I see before me ?' so might well the Squadron Leader and S.S.M. ask judging by the comings and go— ings of the last six months. So much so that if we were to try and list them all there are visions of a harrassed Eagle editor wondering where he is going to ﬁnd the additional £20 to cover the cost of paper, etc. ! It must be said, however, that for every— one who goes another comes—thanks to the remarkable conjuring capacity of the Adjt. Where he gets them from goodness only knows—but wouldn’t we like to know! Once again some of our more notable personalities are no longer with us. Captain Houston decided Scotland was quite a good place in which to grow his moustache (and also of course, it is understood there is a

certain amount of shooting there !). He there-upon left us to become Adjutant of the Fife and Forfars—handing over his petrol accounts, plus M.Q.M.S. Cosgrove and

T.Q.M..S. Mantle, to Captain Evans.

Inci—

dentally congratulations to Captain Evans

Lieut.—No, you can’t use that stirrup pump— Ferrand.

like a little open air life in “ B ” Squadron.

Captain Evans (Technical Adjutant), and Lieut. Chappell (Australian Army attached).

Sgt. Benson is out of the stables and is now feeding Sgts. instead of horses (did someone say what is the difference ? !) We welcome back some of our old specia— lists who were with “ A " Squadron in Berlin. Judging however, by the number of applications from these chaps to go back to Berlin on leave it doesn’t seem as if we see very much of them. (Wonder what can be the attractions in Berlin that we haven't got in Wolfenbiittel ?—d0n’t tell me ! !) There are many other old faces gone and new ones take their place—too numerous to mention. To all those who have gone we wish the best of luck wherever they may be and to our newcomers We hope their stay will be a long and happy one. In the ﬁeld of sport we could perhaps have done better. In the Boxing competition we lost to ” B " Squadron, and in the inter— troop Football we did the same——to their one troop which had seven Regimental players—did someone say it was packed! ! We did however, have the satisfaction of beating one of their other troops 15—0.

I ON

SATURDAY..

on his promotion. We hope he will not get too grey worrying over Sabre Squadrons who use the wrong vehicles. After many months the “ powers that be ” ﬁnally decided to produce a Squadron 2 i/c.

in an abortive attempt to arrest the rapid deterioration of the Squadron. Leaders hair! The unfortunate chosen is Captain Davies-Cooke to whom, while giving him a

hearty welcome, we express our sympathies and hope that his tour of duty will not be as expensive as some we have known ! Another who decided he preferred Scot— land and the TA. life is S.S.M. Bayliss. We wish him and his family the best of luck and would say that, popular as he was, he (or perhaps it is his family!) appears to have

been missed most by Tpr. Cavill!

In his

place we welcome S.S.M. Edwards—that stalwart of the Regimental and B.A.O.R. Football Teams for so long. We congratu—

late him on his promotion and look forward to his long stay with us and the reorganisa— tion of the Squadron Football Team— regrettable though it may be that we cannot

We were all pleased to see

him and his wife at Luneburg when the Regimental Football Team went there to play the Greys. Other changes~—Lt. Porter is now M.T.O. in place of Lt. Bradish—Ellames who is (we hope) learning all the mysteries of D. and M. at Bovington. Sgt. Colyer is P.R.I. Sgt—Sgt. Perry having thought he would

§ LIFE

H.Q. SQUADRON J

” pack "‘following the example of a certain team which shall ” B ” nameless. Our habitual frequenters of the Guard Room jumped for joy when they heard that the terror of the Regiment was leaving.

IV TROOP NOTES (Sgt. Nash, Cpl. Hamilton, l/Cpl. Brindle). Fourth troop became Royal Dragoons in the ﬁrst week of March. Two days after their arrival the troop had to turn—out and d0 guards whilst the rest of the Squadron turned out for the ‘Flap’ at Immendorf.

ISEMENT PAGES. I4

W!!!,TEHA'-!-, 25.09

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

In spite of the self confidence of " A n Squadron, we won the 7—a-side Rugby— getting both our teams into the final. Inci— dentally over the past season we could pro— duce two Rugby fifteens ourselves not a bad effort thanks to the energies of Sgt. Lynd. The inter Squadron Hockey League is at present in full swing. So far one of our teams has beaten both ”A” and “B " Squadrons, and we have great hopes of finishing at the top. The Inter—Squadron Football Cup Competition begins next week. With the addition of S.S.M. Edwards and the shooting abilities of Cpl. Shipton there should not be much doubt of the result ! Of course the cricket season will be on us ’ere long’weather permitting. It is a little early to say what our talent will be

Clerk respectively ; Tpr. Geyton. who spends most of the day up to the neck in ﬁling and ACT amendments ; Tpr. Mayhew, the man

who sends W.O.s and Sgts. to Caterham for six very enjoyable weeks of drill ; Tpr. Horn and Tpr. Standing. “’8 are soon to say good-bye to the latter and wish him all the best. We have already bade farewell to Tprs. Ellis and Bennett and wish them Good Luck in Civvy Street. L/Cpl. Burton also left us early in the year, and we con—

gratulate him on his appointment at Echelon Captain Hodgson will soon be leaving us for an appointment at Sandhurst. This will be a great loss to the Regiment. but he is being well replaced by Lt. Cubitt.

rvr

u MAJOR CRAUFURD 7 ~— never heard of him. . . so you might say.- But _ the rnodern soldier has as much to thank hirhfnr as the soldier illustrated here. For Major Craufurd was one ofthose wha.just before the South African War, founded the Canteen & Mess Co-operative Society which established

the principle that canteen profits should beneﬁt the soldier.

overseas. Corporal, RA. (Field) 1897

like—we do know, however, that, much to

our regret, We shall be losing one of our stalwarts—Captain Hodgson. \Ye hope to hear though that he has represented Sand— hurst before the season is out. The ﬁshing season has just opened with the result we hear that the Cook Sgt. is already short of potatoes—thanks to the activities of Cpl. Welton who we under— stand considers ﬁsh should be fed on boiled potatoes.

Finally, a word of praise for our Signal Troop who during Operation ”CHAOS ” (dismantling Hermann Goering works) man— aged to show Brigade Signals how a wireless net should be worked. God help them if they don’t keep it up during summer train— ing ! ! Did I say “ ﬁnally ”—these notes would not be complete without offering our hearti— est congratulations to Captain (Q.M.) Lewis on his well deserved award of the M.B.E. in tlle New Year's Honours List. ORDERLY ROOM History is made—the Orderly Room have at last found a slack period to contribute a note or two to the Eagle. The hub of the Regiment now consists of Captain Hodgson and O.R.Q.M.S. “ Bill ” Crockett, still valiantly coping with each other; L/Cpl. Parker, very ably doing the duties of Orderly Room Cpl. ; L/Cpl. Welsh ignoring all expedites from Echelon re casualties; L/Cpl. Blacktop and Tpr. McCarthy, the two most popular men in the

Regiment, being Leave Clerk and Release

“ Frequently seen near the orderly room .—Tprs. Reddish, McCarthy, Mayhew, Chesterman, Sigmn. Ousley.”

Most of the Regiment believe we have an easy time in the Orderly Room but this is not so. They would be surprised if they knew what trouble we had worrying the Adjutant for weekend passes and dodging the R.S.M., who believes that barbers are

always underworked. Still, we get by, even if life is hard. We are represented as regards sport. Tprs. Bennett and McCarthy played for the Regiment during the Rugby season. Captain Hodgson, O.R.Q.M.S. Crockett and L/Cpl. Parker played in the Squadron hoc— key team. ALL the staff RUSH to have their names on PT. Parade States, as also

with Adjutants’ Parade States, but far too often these joys are not permitted, due to pressure of work. Still, as usual, We get

by—the odd ones being lucky !

From this, has

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All for now, as it is time for the Duty Clerk to bolt and bar all doors in R.H.Q., and the staff to retire to their rooms, fatigued and headsore, but looking forward to a well earned weekends rest. STOP PRESS Heartiest congratulations to O.R.Q.M.S‘ Crockett whose promotion from S.Q.M.S~ came through as these notes were going to press.

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THE JOURNAL 'OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

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certainly helped to keep our name well to the fore. The White Scout Car Wireless Control Vehicle, which has been recently handed over to us complete with advert. “ Frying tonight at 1730 hrs.” will now have an amendment——“ Served hot at all times.” Who was the Regimental operator who whilst on a scheme was offered a Tac R report and his reply was Do you mean you want a tuning and netting call?’ He’s out in ci\v_\ street, no“ . .Bless him I

' » HELP TO FEED THE

and («iipany Limited

The present sparks in the troop have a lot to learn yet but scheming time is now in hand and it is hoped that two or three days in the field per week will help them in filling the operating seats of the old gang. The Royal Signals and Regimental Signals are now combined as one troop and things are working quite well. At least we are all in the picture I A little competition exists as regards operating, but this should even itself out with the forthcoming exercises. How can one lose when the R. Signals have men who go to the S.Q.M.S. for a tin of Elbow Grease, and on being told by S.Q.M.S. Finch that he was out of stock until the following day went again the following evening to collect it I I The Troop Leaders ‘ In tray’ has had a fair amount of ‘bumph ' in these days and the smell of manure still lingers on, but the old proverbial 406 book still gets through (often with the remark on indent ”). We still await the arrival of 6 new Royal Signals drivers. According to phone calls and letters they should be well in debt with our pay office, from the time they have been on the road. It was only by chance that ngn. Fogarty was pulled in just in time for the Immendorf scheme, and what a blessing he was.

sweet:

Regiment. The R. Q. M. S who has only completed a mere 24 1/2 vears has recently been appointed Class II Hockey Umpire. Al— though he admits that thisis not as good as an M. B. E. he thinks heis better off because he has a very large umpires badge and people will be able to see it more easily.

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS THE jOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

The rumour that: he and the QM. were going to do a swop is reported as being false. Anyway, an M.B.E. and an umpires badge isn’t bad for a grand total of 50 years. Once again the ration storemen have been changed. \Ve certainly do get a lot of new faces. The remaining members of the group are now convinced that the only reason for these changes is the fact that the ration storemen always manage to gain at least two stones in weight in a matter of only a month. The Regimental football team under the guidance of the QM. have been doing very well. With the 7th Armoured Division Shield won and a semi-ﬁnal to play off things are looking very cheery. The pedestal for the Cavalry Cup, however, has been put away for another year. Beaten bv the Greys I—o away—a very bad blow to the QM. and all of us. Sgt. (I’ll never come back) \Veller (General Fuller), has recently returned to the fold for 10 years security. We welcome his return equally as much as the Sergeants’ Mess. Apart from changes in the group, one

past few months. In fact, group members were fairly convinced that he was supposed to be a moveable arms rack because every time they saw him he was always in the

midst of riﬂes, breech, covering, sights, spring return bren automatic. It's some— thing like that anyway. Thauks to his advice and hard work, however, during his three years with us we still continue to receive very good reports from all A.I.A.s. \Vith a ﬁnal round up we would like to congratulate Sgt. Bailey on his recent marriage and wish him the very best luck. (He'll need it). \Ve now return to the grind— stone and start worrying about what to put in the next [fag/a edition.

Apart from his own ofﬁce work he covered quite a lot of ground in helping other de— partments in the group. He was offered various sums of money from all group members in an effort to make him change his mind and stay with us.

him well in Cupar.

Alas, it was of no

avail and now we have to do our work with— out his fatherly advice. The battle of the Herman Goering \Vorks (Operation “ CHAOS ”), provided plenty of flaps throughout the Regiment. We, however, were provided with nothing more than extra work, and this we managed to cope with quite well. The sporting members of the group com— bined well with our partners in M.T. to form a good team in the Regimental seven—a—sidc rugby tournament. After fighting—and we. do mean fighting—our way through four matches we reached the final only to be beaten by another team from H.Q. Ex~ cuses for loss—L/Cpl. Viggars suffered

injury. Injury . . eyes black (very black) . . I The fact that he is Regimental butcher and had plenty of steak to put on his eye helped to calm him down. We would like to thank A.Q.M.S. Pettitt for the amount of work he has put in these

Since the last issue the M.T. Troop has had a considerable reduction in vehicles and many of its former commitments are now carried out by G.C.L.O. (German Civil Labour Organisation). With the cutting down of Vehicles we also have had to say goodbye to a number of drivers who have gone to other squadrons. Tprs. Allen, Roberts, lrlegarty and Cavill have gone across to “ C ” Squadron to help train the new drafts of drivers. Tpr. Cavill has almost created a record by being in the troop for nearly four years ; to him and the rest we wish the best of luck in their new surroundings. We have lost a large number on release namely Tprs. Mooney, Brunton, Fish, Stapleton, Grayson, Burns, Smith and

Technical Group The group has had a very busy half year, there has been a change in management and a few changes in staff but we have worked on despite the difficulties imposed by Ord— nance and R.E.M.E. The groans and moans from below the Technical Adjutant’s office now almost equal the noise of the Band above, consequently the Office Staff is con— sidering moving to the preservation bays. We were extremely sorry to see Captain Houstoun leave in November and we wish

notable loss is Hasse, the German clerk.

M. T. Troop

In his place we welcome

Captain Evans. Sgt. Empringham has left us for the 7th Hussars, rumour has it be— cause he will ﬁnd it easier to change his battle dresses. M. S. S. Douglas has rejoined us with his staff from Berlin and has taken over A.F.V. Section. He would like

to take this opportunity of saying he has no knowledge of his section asking for

“ Mule Train ” to be played over B.F.N. for him. \Ve congratulate Sgt. Empringliam, Sgt. Brunton and Cpl. Bush on passing their cl.II exam and note with pride that Sgt. Brunton is the first Electrician Sgt. in the Regiment. As far as sport goes the group started the Inter troop football competition in high heart and led the field for a long time but owing to a lot of unavoidable absences criti— cal games were lost. But although we were not among the first three we had a good season and had the satisfaction of defeating our great rival the M.T. troop.

Rooney ; to all these we wish the best of luck in their new jobs. Tpr. Wilde has also left us for the R.A.V.C., in order to manage War dogs, a job I myself do not envy. Tpr. \I'arburton has also departed to the Regimental Workshops as also has L/Cpl. Holliday. Tpr. Rockall has left us to go to the Regimental Signals Troop. Tpr. Sim is leaving us to try his hand at driving a Tank in the R.T.R.,——so beware any drivers who should ﬁnd themselves on a detail near

Detmold.

With the departure of Tpr. Fish,

the Feline population has not been increased by any more “ two cigarette ” purchases, although we still ﬁnd bodies of cats in the cellars killed by a canine inhabitant of the QM. Group. Cpl. Ayrton has left us to take over the paying of the underpaid drivers of the troop. With all these departures we have a num— ber of replacements who have quickly settled down to the spirit of the M.T. Troop, so we welcome Tprs. Crompton, Dean, Janus, Layton, Oates, Pascall, Sale, Staton, Willi-

ams and \Vookey and hope they will enjoy their stay. News has just come through that we are expecting two electric vehicles With top

speed of I5 mph. An advertisement will shortly appear in Regimental Orders re— questing a mathematician who is capable of working out ‘ Miles per Kilowatt’ instead of miles per litre. A rumour is about that M.T. carries “Steel Water "Ithis is defi— nitely denied! On the Sporting field the troop has easily held its own and records show that during the winter months we were certainly not idle. In the Troop Football league we finished secondia stout effort. In the field of Rugby we finished runners up to another H.Q. side in the seven—a—side Tournament just held, in which we were ably assisted by the QM. group. We look forward now to a successful cricket season and also to ath— letics. Now that we have been cut down we hope that no longer will we have to take ” C " Squadron trainees out on driving instruc— tion, and the M.T.O. wishes it to be known

that he will not wish to hear“ ‘ C ’ Squadron Trainees did it, Sir” (which being inter— preted refers to any torn canopy, smashed mudguards, or broken windows and doors). Here is a typical answer to any accident which occurs. Subject Accident Statement. Sir,

Whilst on driving instruction on the 2nd February 1950 in Bedford 124671, I was instructed by Tpr. Smith, driver of the vehicle to reverse out of the Car Park, I

thought I selected reverse and I released the clutch and accelerated, it was then I rea—

lized too late I had selected the second gear instead of reverse, The vehicle jumped for— ward and before I could regain control the offside of the vehicle caught against the wall surrounding the park and the door inge was broken, also the offside wing was slightly dentend my own excuse for this is lack of experiance in the tipe of vehicle. I remain your obediant servant

Tpr. Suodgrass.

BAND NOTES WE are now well into our third year in B.A.O.R. and with the amount of travelling we have done throughout the British Zone during that period, we are quite convinced that we would make ﬁrst . ' rate guides for M.T. drivers. Quite a number of bands have arrived in

B.A.O.R. during the last twelve months consequently Band engagements are shared and have been few and far between. How— ever, we do hope to play at a couple of Leave Centres this coming season. “'0 have supported two “ Old Comrades ” programmes for the B.F.N., one for the

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

R.E. at Lagenhagen and the other was held in our own Troopers Canteen. Both programmes went off very well but as our audience now knows it is more enjoyable to listen to these programmes on the radio than to actually participate in the show. The Dance Band were engaged to play for the Farewell Dance held by “ A Squadron in Berlin during January. S.S.M. Palmer must have looked after them very well as a few Bluelights " were circulated in the Band about transfers to Berlin. As " A ” Squadron have now returned from detachment the transfers have been forgotten. A Silver Trumpet Competition was held in January, the winner receiving a very handy prize of ﬁve pounds with the honour of using the Silver Trumpet from the Serge— ants’ Mess for twelve months. As far as the “ Old Sweats ” can remember this is the ﬁrst competition of its kind to be held in the Regiment. The Silver Trumpet is of historical interest and was actually presented by H.I.H. The Crown Prince of Prussia and the German Empire to his escort ” C ” Squadron in Agra, India. The Judges were Bandmaster Holt of the Greys, and Bandmaster Price of the Sherwood Foresters. Congratulations go to Bandsman Thornton for winning the com— petition, also to Bandsman Herriot who was only half a point behind and had two pounds awarded to him as a consolation by the Commanding Officer. After the Trumpeters had dismissed, “Dozy” was seen to be in possession of a notebook hurriedly booking ” subs ”—«pay— able with interest on Friday ? P Congratulations go to the following on their recent Band promotions :~Sgt. Slade

to Staff Sgt, Cpl. Old to Sergeant, Cpl. Dover to Trumpet Major, L/Cpls. Wade, Shipton and Kemp to Corporals, Bandsmen Hammill, Mountiﬁeld, Kerr, Tait and Mott to Lance Corporals. We take pleasure in recording the birth of a son to T/M and Mrs. Dover and at the

same time wish every happiness to L/Cpl. Tait and Bandsman Darling on their recent marriages. We are very pleased to welcome the latter two back from Kneller Hall and to congratulate L/Cpl. Tait on his ex— cellent report. On the debit side we were sorry to say farewell to Paddy Majury who was an ex— cellent solo cornetist and Fuzzy Alcock. The latter joined as a boy in 1938 and has at last decided to try his hand in civilian life. “'0 wish every success to him and his family in their new life and if he doesn’t find it suitable he will receive a warm wel— come should he choose to return. The football season is almost at an end and the Band Team has acquitted itself quite well finishing about fourth in the Inter— Troop League which is quite a good effort. \Ye all hope Cpl. Shipton will still be with us next season as he has been the mainstay in the Band Team and in the. Regimental Team. Hockey is not finished yet as we have been awaiting ” A ” Squadron’s return from Berlin so that the Inter Squadron Hockey shield can be competed for. The Band will be competing as a Squadron for the Shield and we hope to have that element of luck necessary to all competitions and pull it off. We hide our faces in shame after being beaten by the Ladies at Basket Ball. ’Nuff said. Before concluding we would like to wish a very speedy recovery to Mrs. Trythall who has spent so long in Hanover Hospital.

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

The early part of the season started rather badly, for we had to play eight games before winning one, this did not upset the team spirit and it was not long before we were winning regularly. We had the usual tem— peramental trouble but it was easy to seed out the agitators. The building of our team began slowly un— til the draft containing Tprs. Lane, Hickman King and Slater arrived. It did not take long before they were slected to play for the Regiment. Our supporters were reinforced when A.Q.M.S. Churcher sent his German Workers to the ﬁeld on home games, complete with Parade State. We all appreciated their excellent criticism. we had one serious setback when Tpr. Glennan broke his thumb when playing against a German team. Tpr. Glennan delayed his demob to assist us in the cup matches. We all thought this was a wonderful example of sportsmanship. A great shock was registered when the Royal Scots Greys beat us in the 3rd Round Cavalry Cup. After a gruelling game in which we must confess our opponents were the better side, we lost I - o.

The Q.M.’s Ofﬁce was placed " Out of Bounds ” for a week, and only special cases were given consideration. To bring you into the picture more fully as to our team personalities, I shall introduce you to our members. Goalkeeper: Tpr. Hickman has represented the English Boys International side ; he certainly shows polish. Played for B.A.OR. Rig/it Back .' Tpr. Lane would beat an Elephant in a bun eating competition. He has a double stomach and hollow legs. Left Back .' Cpl. Raftery (Twinkle Toes) ; he sometimes gets impatient and decides to assist the centre forward (go back Raftery). Cpl. Raftery scored a unique goal against Hickman. He apologised with the excuse of trying the goalie. “ Nothing like keeping him awake ! " he said. Right Half: Cpl. Smith, a real old Trooper has improved immensely this season, he has

played for B.A.OR. The Came Half and Captain is still S.S.M. Edwards. I do not think the nick— name “ Big Head ” is becoming but we must comply with facts. Captain of B.A.OR. team Left Half: Cpl. Lawrence is also an old member of our side. He is content to ski into his tackles.

1 i ‘ ‘ (I

Boys are required for training as Bandsmen in The Regimental Band. Applicants are accepted from r5 to I7 years of age and are trained on all classes of instruments. Some musical knowledge is preferred but not essential. Apply in the ﬁrst instance to “ THE BAND PRESIDENT.”

SPORTS NOTES — SOCCER The Regimental Team. NOW that the Soccer season is drawing to a close, we can relax and take time off

for reminiscence.

First and foremost at the beginning of the

season, was the forming of a committee which included ” Rambler ” Captain (Q.M.) C. W. J. Lew1s, 31.13.11, “ Feet ” T.Q.M.S. Mantle, ” Nodder ” S.Q.M.S. Edwards and

“ Muscle ” S.S.I. Taylor.

Winners of the 7th Armoured Division Cup and semi—ﬁnalists for the B.A.O.R. Cup. S/Sgt. Taylor, A.P.T.C., Tpr. Slater, Tpr. King, Tpr. Hickman, Cpl. Shipton, Tpr. . Glennan, Cpl.Raftery, Tpr. Smlth.

Back Row—Left to right .'

Front Row : Tpr. Bix, Cpl. Smith, Tpr. Laue, Lieut.-Colonel Heathcoat Amory, S.S.M. Edwards, Capt. (Q.M.) Lewis, Cpl. Lawrence, Tpr. Evans, Tpr. Hunter.

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

Our forward line is very lively, and well directed by Cpl. Guss Shipton at Inside Left. Considering that he broke his jaw last season, he has made a magniﬁcent come back. Outside Right : Tpr. Slater is the Matthews of the team and he certainly keeps them guessing. Inside Right: Tpr. Glennan should do well iu civilian soccer. Centre Forward: (Dasher) Tpr. King is always seen trying his best. Outside Left: Hopperlong Bouncy Evans is a typical cavalry man. I once knew a story about stopping a pig. Talking of handy legs after a reception at the 15/19 Hussars we all felt a little leg weary, such battle hospitality cannot be surpassed. It was returning from Lubeck that cer— tain incidents happened which still seem a little hazy. We never found out who it was that unhooked the coupling links on the station truck at Hamburg. During the ride between Hamburg and Celle, I decided to stay awake in case we missed our desti—

they did. I.t.—Col. I-leathcoat—Amory pre— sented the Football Trophy and medals to the B Squadron team. which rounded off a successful competition. After a replay in the ﬁnal of the 7th Armoured Division Soccer Cup at the Hind— enburg Stadium, Hanover, our team proved the ﬁttest and after ninty minutes of good solid football we won 2—0. (A little compensation for being knocked—out of the Cavalry Cup). The majority of the team will remember the celebrations for a long time. Especially those members who took it lying down. All those that served on the committee and who have assisted the running and or— ganising of the team were thanked by Cpl. Raftery, the team’s spokesman. As the majority of the present team will be demobbed before next season, we hope that the new drafts bring forth fresh talent. Before closing we would like to thank the reserves, especially those who, although worthy of their place, just could not be

nation.

injuries during the season. Lament to our team Captain, who manag— ed to score a goal for the “ Blues” (R.H.G.), “ Clumsy Clot I ”

Approaching Celle station, I went

around waking everybody, and started get» ting ready to detrain. Everything went well until the wicker basket in which we took the kit, broke I

ﬁtted in the A team, thanks to the lack of

we reached the station and

then the fun began. The train started to steam out again and my last memories were soccer kit being thrown recklessly on to the platform at varying intervals. The last

Sing the following to the tune of “I Don’t See Me in Your Eyes Any More.” He didn‘t see Hick, in the goal (my

team member baled out and missed the

He booted the butt, and Hie/B’s UH the ﬂoor, Who shall we blame, for [his (tuft/t shame,

“ Torgager ” Edwards, 011! what a

heme. There was a time he played ﬁne, (pause for photograph) That was years ago, And how we doubt what the outcome

will be. We hope and pray, he’s on his best form 10—day, Or we lei/t h—[l-v—e, Dixie’s hair firming

grey.

HOCKEY therefore ample time in which to play Hockey, our team this year was certainly the best the Regiment has produced since

Our results speak for themselves ;—~ Played 14;

Won 12;

Goals For 46 ;

the War. Unfortunately ” A” Squadron was away the whole time though Major Greaves and Sgt. Lineham came down for some matches.

Lost 2.

Goals Against 15.

The best game of the season was against HQ. B.A.O.R. in the Army Cup which we lost 2—3 after extra time. It was a very fast game and very level. In the last minute of full time a shot from Capt. Barker hit the inside of their Goalpost and trickled along the line and alas, out of danger to them. Then in extra time our Goalkeeper, Sgt. jones let through a ball which he thought was hit outside the circle and a goal was given. Our only other defeat was in the 7th Armoured Div. Cup when on a “ sticky ” pitch, and with a side at half strength we were beaten 1—3 by the 7th Hussars. They do, however, deserve great credit for making the ball do what they wanted on a pitch which we found extremely difﬁcult after our ashphalt surface. Our best wins were against the “ Blues ” 9—0, Ist Bn. the Parachute Regiment 6—0, Brunswick Garrison and HQ. 31 Bde., both 5—0. However, the victory achieved with the greatest difﬁculty, was against the Worcesters as in a tight for time 300 men

cleared the pitch of ice in 1% hours, so that we could play at 2.30 pm. I I R.Q.M.S. Old has umpired all our games this season with great skill and accuracy and I am glad to say that he is being up— graded to Umpire Class II. The following have played for the Regi— ment : Major Greaves, Capts. Barker, Reid, Evans, Lt. Chappell, S/Sgt. Slade, Sgts. Jones, Linehan, Baker, Hall, Brennan, and Nutton, Cpls. Old, Shone, Unitt, and Smith,

L/Cpls, Gallagher, Grifﬁths, Wade, Lewis, and Robinson, Bdsn. Kerr, Mountiﬁeld and Smith. At the time of writing only one game has been played in the Squadron League, but in a 7-a—side tournament on New Years Eve, “ B ” Squadron surprised everybody by beating the Band in the final. The Band deserves great credit for providing a team which has more than held its own against other squadrons. As can be seen from the fact that 24 people have played for the Regiment and similar numbers for each Squadron, a larger number of men than ever before have at least wielded a Hockey stick which bodes well for the future especially as only one member of the team, Captain Barker will not be available for the next season.

RUGGER

more,

platform completely. I think nine of the team got their wings—plus*the T.Q.M.S. who practically passed his 9ft. Battle Effici— ency Test in one go. The Q.M. scared one of the German staff so much that he jumped the train and was last seen making for Munich. The Inter Troop Soccer League had an exciting ﬁnish when B2 clashed with A Considering B2 consisted of nine Regimental players, it was astounding how the A Squad— ron team managed to hold their opponents. It was obvious that S.S.M. Austin’s boys would eventually get the upperhand and

OWING to changed working hours and

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

HOUGH this season has not been crowned with the best success, we have had a better season than the last, and we

have managed to enrol the support of a good grounding of regulars, and have shown the Sight of a Rugger ball to many who had not seen it in play before. Of the. new members, we have obtained

useful additions in 2/Lt. Lewis and Tpr. Morton, who we hope to see in great form next year. L/Cpl. Viggars and Luff have been introduced to the game and have pro— gressed steadily during the season and should be in good form next year. Bdsn. Maberley was found in the Band, while Sgt. Forder and Tpr. Clarke have played well at Scrum Half. When Clarke forgets league Rugger we shall have a very useful member of the team. As these are all regulars there is promise of things to come. Tprs.

Bennett, Stapleton,

Daniels, and

Sigm. Martin have now left us but we would

like to say how much we counted on their help and their presence will be missed next year. Tpr. Cooper will no longer be with us by next season but his presence in the team has been of great value at full back and later at stand—off half. Tpr. McCarthy will be here next year to carry on at full back, though not for the whole season. Of the Old Brigade, Sgt. Lynd has been the driving force to the rugger and without his enthusiasm the season would not have been the enjoyable one it was. Of the Captain, all that can be said is that the legs and arms were still ﬂailing in every direction. We thank the many members who also gave valuable help. The Matches will be reported on at the end, but particularly we would like to thank the 3R.H.A., and the 5 R.T.R. for the matches we had against them. Of the Regimental Seven—a-sides a note

IQH

must be made. On the ﬁrst day 80 mem— bers of the Regiment were gathered to— gether. It was seen at once that HQ. had a good one! At the end of the ﬁrst day, two H.Q. teams remained. They then played “ A ” Squadron teams who had just arrived from Berlin, and in the end the tWo HHQ teams were left in. Sgt. Lynd’s team eventually won and were presented, by the

H+>w+ Her

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

B Teaui. \Vorcesters \Von Hanover Garrison Lost Greys \Von 3 R.H.A. (BAOR (711p)l.ost I R.T.R. Lost Bays lost 5 R.T.l{. Drew

C.O., with the Cup and Medals. Great excite— ment was felt when the Ass. /Adjt. was seen in the fore-front of the battle, and Sergeant Major Edwards was marked down as a future 100 yards sprinter. In this famous seven—a-side meeting mention must be made of those members who could not for— get the 7th Armoured Div. Football Cup. We wish to thank everyone who took part and we hope to make it a regular event. During the season three teams were actually run. We managed to produce two teams in the Regiment, and “ A " Squadron combined with the Police in Berlin and had, I believe, a very successful season.

look forward to having some of them next season, some of them being old friends of the team. We are competing in the B.A.O.R. seven— a—side a week after these notes are being written and we are the only unit in Rhine Army to produce two teams for this event. Results. 28/ 9/49 16 A.B. W/S Won _ ?— Ig/Io/49 Foresters Lost 22/10/49 R.H.G. (Blues) Lost Army Cup. 26/10/49 HQ. 31 Bde. Lost

9/1 I /49

Hanover Garrison

Lost

3/12/49 7/12/49

R.H.G. (Blues) HQ. 31 Bde.

Lost Won

have long had the pleasure of supplying trophies for all Service sports.

May we have the opportunity of submit“ Seven A Side”

ting ideas for the consideration of your Sgt. Lynd, captain of HQ. Squ. " A " team rece— iving the Cup from Lt. Col. Heathcoat»Amory, Lt. Ferrand, the Rugby Ofﬁcer in attendance. committee P

THE

ADVENTURES

AND

FINAL

AND

HIS

ESCAPE

SGT.

RAPKIN

The GOLDSMITHS &

MEN

SILVERSMITHS ON

the morning of 18th April, 1945, 5 Troop was told that they had rather a cushy job on. All they had to do was to

liaise with the Yanks and, incidentally, to do a spot of advancing themselves.

The weather was very nice, and as both Tpr. Digweed and the driver, Tpr. Stoker, were “sweating” on ” Blightv” leave, they both felt pretty good. The Troop pushed on up the road towards \Vintergen

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THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

(where there were su posed to be Americans) at a good speed. V hen they got there, they found no Yanks, but some British P.O.W.,

who were delighted to see them. They then decided to push on to Bodentich to see if the Yanks were there. They now felt very safe and secure ; but soon this peace of mind was to be shattered. Sgt. Rapkin saw some infantry at about 600 yards range. They then gave them a good brassing up with the besa. This must have annoyed the infantry, because they replied

With a spandau. This didn’t worry 5 Troop; but at this moment Sgt. Rapkin’s gun jammed and while he was trying to clear it, jerry let ﬂy with a 20 m.m. ﬂak gun. Sgt. Rapkin got behind the reverse steering wheel and started back to some houses. Then there was heard a loud bang

and Sgt. Rapkin shouted out ” I’m hit l ” Just as he said this, the car was hit again, this time by a 37 m.m. They promptly ” baled out.” Tpr. Digweed unfortunately jumped out the wrong side with bullets whistling all round, but somehow managed to get into a shallow ditch alongside the road. Dvr. Stoker was lying close to Sgt. Rapkin, who was hit in the shoulder and leg. Digweed crawled along to them and between them they patched up Sgt. Rapkin. Jerry knew they were in the ditch and kept ﬁring with a spandau at them——not very pleasant !— Jerry now discovered that they did not have a weapon between them. As they watched their car burning out, thoughts were bitter. 24 bars of chocolate and 600 cigarettes were going 11p in smoke. While I stayed with Sgt. Rapkin, Stoker crawled back to a house: he had to run about 20 or 30 yards before he made it. Meanwhile an old woman calmly cycled down the road in the midst of the MG. ﬁre.

Then the ﬁring stopped and about 30 yards from them were two of the “ Master race ” with tommy guns. They were “ in the bag " : It is difﬁcult to say who was more scared as the jerries were afraid of the rest of the Troop coming back. They got Stoker out of the house and together they were taken over to the German Comd. They told him about Sgt. Rapkin and the Germans brought him into the village on a stretcher. Tprs. Digwood and Stoker were then sent back to a village called Bevenson, Sgt. Rapkin being left behind.

4 Troop came up and relieved the rem— nants of Mr. Browne’s Troop, who had in the meantime pulled back three miles down the road. Mr. Browne put Mr. \Vynne in the picture, and Mr. \Vynne said that he thought it was a bit fluid, especially as he saw four S.S. men approaching the house that his Troop were by. They were suitably dealt with. Mr. Browne had been negotiating with the German GO. in Bodentich for the ex— change of the wounded Sgt. Rapkin for SS. prisoners, which we had taken. ther much argument, they agreed that the ex— change should take place beside the “brewed up ” Daimler at 2Ioo hrs. that night. At 2100 hrs. Mr. Wynne took the ambu— lance with Cpl. Young and Tpr. Poland to the appointed place. It was an eerie journey going up those three miles. When they at last arrived there was no sign of Sjt. Rapkin. Our white flag was fluttering in the breeze, and gunfire could be heard close at hand; even the screams of some Wretched devil who had been hit was heard. We sat in that ambulance for 90 minutes and still no sign of Sgt. Rapkin or, in fact, anyone else. The tension was becoming greater: were the Germans going to play the dirty on us ? I do not think that any of us felt too happy. Tpr. Poland asked

Rapkin on our journey home.

As we were

leaving the SS prisoners shouted that they

would rejoin us the next day. . Sgt. Rapkin was in much pain, but was remarkably cheerful on what must have been a very uncomfortable ride for a man badly wounded.

\Vc went back about four miles,

where we found Major Fisher and 4 Troop.

They seemed to have given up hope of us returning. We wasted no time and our little convoy, now happy in the thought that we had recovered Sgt. Rapkin, left for a hospital manned by German personnel. Here Sgt. Rapkin was dressed and bandaged and then we had a long journey back to the English Hospital.

FAMILIES’ CLUB NOTES slNCE last September the activities of the Club have been many and varied. The Regimental Gymnasium has been continu— ally in use, and we would like to take this opportunity of thanking S/Sgt. Taylor and

the RT. Staff for their help and encourage— ment, and also for the reliable tips they have given us in trying to teach us Basket Ball. We sometimes doubt whether the very rough game we are apt to play is recognised as such ! The club has run two very good dances during the winter. The ﬁrst in November was to raise funds for the Children’s Christ—

mas Party, and the second we held in February. For both occasions all the food was home made and given by the families and judging by the times our guests came back for more, it was certainly appreciated. The food was served by a team of wives and they

were kept hard at work all the evening. Our Christmas Party was a perfect suc— cess owing to the unrestricted efforts of the P.R.I., and was well attended.

The after-

noon started with a ﬁlm followed by an excellent Punch and Judy show, games, tea, and ﬁnally the entrance of an almost un— recognisable Father Christmas who distribu-

“ \Vould he get his leave? ”, and Cpl. Young repled, ” Yes, you bloody fool, in Stalag B3.” ‘ We all brightened up when we heard a noise which sounded like the bark of a fox. My mind went back to the many times I’ve heard that same bark at my home on a frosty Winter’s night, as I have been giving the dogs a run out before going to bed. Someone heard the noise of horses coming on down our road ziwas this going to be a German Cavalry Troop sent out to capture three unarmed British soldiers? No! a minute later a white ﬂag was seen being carried by a horseman and behind him a cart with two very slow cart~horses. Was Sgt, Rapkin in this cart ? The horseman pulled up 100 yards from the ambulance. We got out and shouted ” Greetings from the Fatherland ! ” He replied much the same and said that he had brought the British wounded Sergeant. After much heel—clicking, saluting and exchange of cigarettes, we handed over the 5.8. prisoners and departed with Sgt.

Cast of Play, “ Shepherd’s Pie ” Left to Right, Standing: Mrs. Barker, Seated : Mrs. Old, Mrs. W'ade, Mrs. McGuire, Mrs. Cosgrove, Front : Mrs; Mott Mrs. Bayliss, Mrs. Brennan.

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOUNS

ted toys.

Thus ended a happy evening for

the children.

Our Play “ Shepherds Pie " by Mabel Constanduras and Howard Agg was prov duced on January 12th. We were very kindly helped by Mr. Trythall and the Regimental Band and the result was a most enjoyable evenings entertainment. The success of the. play was largely due to the enormous amount of work and energy Mrs. Barker put into producing it. A

special word of praise for their work and co-operation must go to the cast who were as follows :— Aunt Popsy . . . Mrs. Old Jane Fogden . . . Mrs. Mot! Lizzie Fogden . . Mrs. .llag'uz're Cowslip . . . . Mrs. Wade. Miss Iggulden . . Aft/s. C osgrot'e The Visitor . . . Mrs. Slade Miss Holland . . . .M‘rs. Bayiz'ss We started playing Basket Ball in real earnest after Christmas and up to date we

Our new S.S..~‘\.l<‘.:\. Sisterwrllliss (Sard— ner has recently arrived and she specially remarked that not only is the Royals Families (‘linie the most attended in the area but how noticeable is the friendly, help— ful spirit throughout our homes. “'0 are very glad to have the families of “ A " Squadron back with us again, and we welcome Mrs. MacDonald and Mrs. liel— stead. we also congratulate. the parents of Masters James, Finch, Taylor, and of Misses

Empringham and \Vatson on their safe arrivals. And may we just add our regret at saying Goodbye. to Mrs. Empriugham, Mrs. Bayliss and Mrs. Massey.

. . . .

Lost Won

33 Io

28 IO

Royals Band . .

Won

H.Q. 7 Armoured Division Families .. Won 33 — II Mrs. Barker has captained our team with great ability and we are all very sorry to lose her owing to the posting to just lorried Infantry Brigade of Captain Barker. Mrs. for enthusiasm at tennis this summer.

Cpl. Unitt 2, Tpr. Fuller I, Cpl. Chandler I,

and Cpl. Parker I. The Seasons bag is shown under :— Red Stag .. 2

Red Hind

Wild Boar . . Roe Buck . .

21 7

Roe Doe

FIFE

“ Dawn in the Harz Mountains.”

AND

FORFAR YEOMANRY

Although the winter is the ofﬁcial quiet

season of the T.A., life for the permanent

Basket Ball Team at \Vesendorf.

Left to Right :

Greaves has taken over and we are hoping

Cpls. Unitt, Chandler, Parker, Griffiths and

Tpr. Fuller, wiped the eyes of a large Control Commission party of twelve and four private Germans, by shooting seven out of a total of nine pigs, which was the days bag. The good shooting came from Lt. Cubitt 2,

And we reckon it a successful one, too.

have played four matches. Blues Families Blues Families

noon in which the Royals party of ten guns including Captain Davies—Cooke, Captain Evans, Lt. Cubitt, Lt. Chappell, Lt. Hanmer,

Mrs. Lynd, Mrs. Thornton, Mrs.

Wade, Mrs. Bayliss, Mrs. Brennan, Mrs, Rapkiu,

Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Barker, Mrs. Mott.

staff of the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry has been by no means at a standstill for the last six months. One major event has been the periodic re—shufﬂe of permanent staff. The biggest gap in our ranks was made by the departure of S.S.M. Stevenson to the R.A.C. Depot on 18th April, en route for civil life. His absence will nowhere be felt more keenly than in Dunfermline, where he was lately responsible for the success and vigour of our “ B ” Squadron, whose P.S.I. he has been since it was reformed in 1947. At a farewell party given for him in Dunfermline shortly before he left, S.S.M. Stevenson was pre—

SHOOTING NOTES The seasons shooting activities have been chieﬂy concentrated on Wild Pig and Roe with the occasional Stag and Hind thrown in. However, it would be unfair to pass over those of us who chased the wily part— ridge till it came out with wings up—raiscd (ask Major Graham) or to overlook how 2/Lt. Bradish Ellames cheated death in December by standing up to there, in ice bound ponds, hoping a duck wouldn’t spot him. We cherish their memories. Nor will we forget the startling appearance of a hare, very much dead, tumbling out of HQ. Squadron Ofﬁce cupboardiprovender

by God they needed a rest I and to get down to the best part of this story Pig Shooting. The Guard were about the only personnel who witnessed each and every departure every Sunday morning. Theirs was the lot that made them. It has been said that it is easier to get fifty men to one place than seven Ofﬁcersiwell, that's true. However, some fresh, some tired, and all dressed rather

peculiarly, ofﬁcers chased pig regularly each Sunday, till now is the time to talk of what

was gained.

\Vell, the answer is simple—

pig and excitement. We congratulate the Bandmaster, S/Sgt.

collected by Cpl. VVelton and distributed

Slade, Cpls. I'nitt, Chandler, and Parker and

amongst starving married families—a peace offering we presume ! But to leave fur and feather aloneiand

Tpr. Fuller, who contributed to the bag and enjoyed themselves. Here must be mentioned a. classic after—

sented with a wrist watch suitably inscribed by the members of “ B ” Squadron. Others who have left us are Tprs. Bolton, Humphreys, and Johnston, whom we wish the best of luck back with the Regiment. Our new arrivals are S.S.M. Bayliss (replacing SSM. Stevenson) and his family, Cpls. Mellors and Eggar, Tprs. Blackman, Fletcher, Magee, Andrews and Baldry.

“’6

Welcome them all to Fife, and hope they will quickly learn the language and settle down to a happy stay here. Our congratulations go to Cpl. Pemberton and L/Cpl. Coutts on their marriages, and to Sgt. and Mrs. Hards on the birth of a daugh— ter 011 12 February, 1950. So much for the Hatch, Match and despatch to other stations department. The Yeomanry continued their activities throughout the Winter with only a short break for Christmas and the New Year,

(T.A.)

when the Squadron gave children’s parties and ﬁlm shows. At the time of writing the summer season is on us and training is in full swing. It will be no breach of security to tell that while these notes are in the post, the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, under the badge of the Thain of Fife, will be passing through Dunsinane, to meet the Scottish Horse from the Birnam area in pitched battle. Our Summer Camp this year is planned to take place from 24 June to 8 July at Crail on the extreme right hand corner of Fife, and the Eastern end of the Scottish Riviera. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to be in camp at the same time as the North Irish Horse, as was originally planned, but we hope to see something of them while they are at Crail in early June. We were glad to seeCaptain Hodgson the other day. His visit, by a happy coinci— dence was on the same day as our annual Ofﬁcers Ball. We are of course always pleased to be visited by past, present and future members of the Regiment although we cannot always guarantee to stage a dance to celebrate their visit, there are

always opportunities for them to absorb the spirit of Scotland, under our guidance I We are shortly, and it should be added, quite voluntarily, moving our headquarters to the old Jail where. we will be able to welcome any who visit us in more lavish surroundings than our present nissen huts. In conclusion we all send our best wishes to the Regiment, and will be, as always,

glad to hear any news of its doings.

THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

Colonel G. R. D. Fitz atrick, D.S.O., M.c.

OLD COMRADES’ ASSOCIATION NOTES

Farrell, F. H. Finch, GTFreebury.

HE Annual Reunion held on Saturday, 29th April, at ‘ The Red House,’ Bishopsgate, E.C.2., has been acclaimed

by far the best so far, there were about 175 members and serving members present. The names of those attending appear in these notes so that those who were unable to attend may see who they missed meeting, and thus be encouraged to attend the next one. It was very noticeable that many old pals once more made contact and that is always the main reason for our Reunion. We are sorry that the full party of serving members could not get over from Germany owing to a late G.R.O., but we did apprec— iate the presence of those who were able to come along. The business of the General Meeting, presided over by the Colonel of the Regi— ment (Colonel F. W. Wilson—Fitzgerald, D.S.O., M.C.) was soon disposed of. The retiring members of the Committee were re-elected to serve for another period and Mr. ‘Billy’ Burchell was elected a new member. After the General Meeting, a rush was made back to the bar to resume chatting and drinking. Just after seven o’clock a party started singing the ‘ Dinner Call ’ and ended with shouting ‘Feed,’ a sorry mess we made of the nicely laid out food. We again collected in the large room and

the Colonel proposed the toast of our Colonel—in—Chief,

H.M. The

King,

which

was followed by the toast to the Regiment. In response the Commanding Ofﬁcer (Lieut— Colonel R. Heathcoat—Amory, M.c.) gave us a brief outline of the Regiment’s Pro—

gress in duty and sport since the last Re— union. We cannot state at what hour exactly the Reunion ended for we were all together again on Sunday morning for the Parade and Service of the Combined Cavalry Association. It was again noticeable that a large party of old and present Royals took part and we thank all present for coming along. Regarding our other social functions, your committee are not satisﬁed with the attend— ances although we must admit that on each occasion the weather had been against us. We should be very glad to hear the views of any member as to ways and means of making our social functions more successful

and in the meantime we shall do our best to

work out an attractive programme for the

next winter season. By the time you read this edition of ‘The Ifag/u', a party of (lld t‘omrades, consisting of 1}, members, of whom (1 will be

accompanied by their wives, will soon be on their way to Germany to Visit the Regi— ment and will this year be led by our Colonel (Colonel 19. \V. \Vilson—Fitzgerald, ll.S.O., .\I.(‘.). \Ve thank the Commanding Otlicer for giving us this pleasure again for we are sure a grand time will be had by all. It is with the deepest regret that we report the deaths of the following members and tender our deepest sympathy to their relatives z—Sergeant R. Bishop, of the Royal Hospital Chelsea; A. R. Manton; E. T. Burgess; W. F. Shirley; T. E. Her— bert; (Paddy) J. Smythe and S. A. March—

Major R. Houston, Capt. A. B. Houstoun, M.c., Colonel H. M. P. Hewitt, J. Heyworth, J. Hannah,

Capt. L. R. Plumb, F. E. Precious.

Hedges, D. Hartland, J. Hepworth, W. Herbert, A. G. Hobbs.

The Earl of Rocksavage, Major D. M. Rogers, R. G. Rapkin, E. F. Richardson, J. Rickeard, D. L. Rogers, G. Rork, M. S. Royston.

‘ Capt. J. G. Jubert, T. A. James, E. R. Jeffrey, S. Jennings, G. A. Johnson, G. A. Jones. V. King, G. G. Kinnane, A. H. Knight. Colonel H. W. Lloyd, Lieut. O. J. Lewis, Maj01 W. J. S. Lavender, H. Lambert, R. Leighton, S.

Lezaid, H. J. Lockyer, \V. J. Luck, J. C. Lycett. Brig. Gen. Sir Ernest Makins, K.C.B., C.B., D.S.O., Colonel. R. B. Moseley, Major P. Massey, Major H. R. Morton, M.B.E., I. S. Maitland, R.S.M. Morgan, N., J. McGlasham, S. G. Macaulay, R. MaeBride,

W. Marlan, F. J. Mander, B. May, J. H. Miles, C. W. Moore, S. H. Morgan, A. E. Montforte, W. Munson.

THE Sgt.

Slade

Tpr.

Hufton

The Committee of the Old Comrades Association is as follows ziPrasident—Col.

190486 16 22029428

Tpr. Tpr.

Warwick . Underwood . .

22231706

Tpr.

Burton

14638209 22063044 22069854 19038738

Tpr. Tpr. Tpr. L/Cpl.

Snow Clemence Weir Williams

Tpr.

Sager

Tpr.

Bromley

19048172 750334 22073261

Tpr. Tpr. Tpr.

Percival Stirling Lewis

22069030 22067699

Tpr. Tpr.

Smith Evans

22095600 14919705 409 1 1 7

Tpr. Tpr. Sgt.

McMahon Hubble Edwards

21023958 19032299

Tpr. Tpr.

Bliss . Macpherson

222856 1 3

Tpr.

Renshawe

399198 401395

Cpl. Cpl.

Old Dover

401395 32 1307

Cpl. L/Cpl.

Dover Wade

Alven.

321815

L/Cpl.

Shipton

Major K. G. F. Balfour, J. W. Bertsch'mger, Major J. F. Houston Boswell, Capt. Bradish

555817 554991 322987

L/Cpl. Bdn. Bdn.

Kemp Hammill . Mountiﬁeld

7961635

Bdn.

Tait

32064 1 7961541 320729

Bdn. Bdn. L/Cpl.

Kerr Mott Taylor

Tpr.

Kirkley

A. Douglas, L. Doust, Tptr. Major J. Dover, W. Drage, A. Duncan, J. Dyer. Major K. A. Evers, Capt. J. B. Evans, J. Eastwood, W. H. Earle, W. Edwards. Colonel F. W. Wilson-Fitzgerald,

D.S.O.,

M.c.,

J. Valleby.

”Capt. H. de Pinna Weil, Lieut. W. R. Wilson— Fitzgerald, R. C. Waghorne, H. Walker, A. G. Warren, J. E. Watson, W. Watson, W. S. Watts, F. H. VVilsher, W. R. Wilsher, W. R. Wood, T. N.

Wright.

REGIMENTAL

GAZETTE

19036558

x/2 106 1615 Tpr. Watorsln' 410980 S.Q.M.S. Crockett 409117 S.Q.M.S. Edwards RE-ENGAGEMENTS 320576 Sgt. White

Promoted S/Sgt.

w.e.f. 12 Nov., 49.

Appointed L/Cpl. L Cpl.

w.e.f. 15 Nov., 49. w.e.f. 18 Nov., 49.

L/Cpl.

w.e.f. 18 Nov., 49.

L/Cpl.

14471842

Ellames, A. Barnes, Tpr. D. Beal, Sgt. L. Benson, W. Blackburn H. A. Blundell, C. Bowles, M.M., J. H. Booth, M.B.E., G. Bridgewood, G. Broadbent, J. Broadbent, W. D. Burchell. Capt. F. Chadwick, Lieut. D. R. Chappell, R. H. Callaway, E. C. Carter, H. R. Carver, S.S.M. Chin— nery E., C. Cannon, E. Chinnery, A. Clark, E. B. Cook, J. Coomes, \V. J. Copas, F. J. H. Creask, D. Croov, W. J. Cuslmie, F. Couzens. F. Dandy, S. Darling, J. Davidson, F. Dawson,

son, L. J. Toop, B. Turp.

L/Cpl. L/Cpl. ,, L/Cpl. Promoted Cpl.

2 1 1 25065

F. T. C. Adams, H. J. Allen, W. J. Allen, C. E.

Brig. H. F. B. Scott, D.s.0., G. E. Scully, A. C. Saunders, W. Seabrook, W. G. Skinner, B. Smith, S. J. Stares, W. J. Stephens, P. Stevenson, J. Sutcliffe. C. Taylor, C. Thomas, W. Thomas, Tpr. Thomp—

PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS 401503

The following members and members of the Regiment, attended the Reunion :—

n.s.o., L. J. A. Phipps, I. Paley, E. Parkin, C. Parrott, R. E. Pascall, A. D. Payne, A. W. Qayne, E. Pearson, J. W. Pittkin, G. Pitts, S. C. Plumb,

S. Harris, H. M. Healey, P. H. A. Hatherill, D. F.

22044946

Hon. Treasurer—Captain H. de. Pinna Weil ; Hon. Secretary—W". Thomas; Asst. H071. Secretary—H. Grace ,' illembcrs Major Gen— eral J. Buckley, C.B.E., D.s.o., M.c., Brig. A. H. Pepys, D.S.O., Messrs. C. Bowles, M.M., H. W. Earle, J. J. Hewitt, P. H. A. Hatherill, VV. Seabrook, W. J. Stephens, D. H. Gunn, D. Crook, T. N. \Vright, G. A. Johnson, J. C. Lycett, M. J. P. Read and W. D. Burchell. Co—opted Member, sem— mg in Regiment—Capt. C. W. J. Lewis, M.B.E.

A. C. Nash, H. E. Nichols, H. Norris. S. Oxford. Brig. R. Peake, D.s.o., O.B.E., Brig. A. H. Pepys,

I J A.

7‘ Major E. F. Gosling, J. Giles, C. Goodwin, H. Grace, F. E. Gregg, D. H. Gunn. Lient. Colonel R. Heathcoat Amory, M.c.,

ant.

F. W. Wilson—Fitzgerald, D.S.O., M.C. ; Chairman—Brig. R. Peake, D.s.o., 0.13.11;

w.e.f. 7 Dec., 49. w.e.f. w.e.f. w.e.f. w.e.f.

13 13 16 16

Dec., Dec., Dec., Dec.,

49. 49. 49. 49.

L/Cpl. L/Cpl.

w.e.f. 19 Dec., 49. w.e.f. 19 Dec., 49.

L/Cpl. ,, L/Cpl. Appointed L/Cpl. L/Cpl. L/Cpl. L/Cpl.

w.e.f. 19 Dec., 49. w.e.f. 4 Jam, 50. w.e.f. 4 Jam, 50. w.e.f. 4 Jam, 50. w.e.f. 4 Jam, 50. w.e.f. 4 Jam, 50.

L/Cpl. w.e.f. 13 Feb., 50. S.Q.M.S. w.e.f. 16 Feb., 50. L/Cpl. w.e.f. 23 Feb., 50. ,,

L/Cpl.

w.e.f. 23 Feb., 50.

L’Cpl.

w.e.f. 23 Feb., 50.

Promoted Sgt.

w.e.f. 20~March, 5o.

,, S . w.e.f. 20 March, 50. Appointed T/Major w.e.f. 20 March, 50.

Promoted Cpl. ,, Cpl. ,, Cpl.

w.e.f. 20 March, 50. w.e.f. 20 March, 50. w.e.f. 20 March, 50.

Appointed L/Cpl.

w.e.f. 20 March, 50.

L/Cpl.

w.e.f. 20 March, 50.

L/Cpl.

w.e.f. 20 March, 50.

,, ,,

L/Cpl. L/Cpl.

Promoted Cpl.

w.e.f. 20 March, 50. w.e.f. 20 March, 50.

w.e.f. 20 March, 50.

Appointed L/Cpl. w.e.f. 20 March, 50. ,, L/Cpl. w.e.f. 20 March, 50. Promoted PA/WO.II w.e.f. 24 March, 50.

,, 319942

PA/WO.II w.e.f. 24 March, 50. Sgt.

Brown

3 1 9965 410894

Sgt. Sgt.

Colyer Brennan

410980 14415084

W.O.II Crockett W.O.II Mantle

5 54991 400007

L /Cp1. Hammill W.O.II Old

69 13972

Sgt.

Whitbread

6140796

Sgt.

Baker

THE JOURNALDF THE ROYAL DRAGOONS

DISCHARGES 319707 Tpr. MARRIAGES

Allcock

22206158

Married at 31 Lor Inf Bdc on 5 Nov, 40 to EruaHe‘sch. Married at Garrison Church \\’()lfc11l)iittcl on 12 Nov., 49 to Alexia Hirsekon. Married at 31 1.01 Inf Bde on 3 Dec., 49 to Carolina

19033195

Tpr.

Thompson, H. S. Rockall, F.

553579

L/CPI-

19044924

Sgt.

Bailey, P. S.

19044630 14591866

Tpr. Sgt.

Johnson, P. Vowles, E. G. G.

21128184

L/Cpl.

Underwood . .

19038520

Cpl.

Pritchard, E.

Tpr.

Mooney

Maria Mathilda Erica Brachrogel. Married at Goslar on 20 Jan, so to Friedel Skaloud. Married at Goslar on 18 Jilll., o to Ursula . ' Greta. Gertrud Glasmer. Married at Rother Valley in the county of York on 1 March, 50 to Gerda Lisbeth Bertram. Married at Garrison Church \Volfenbﬁttel on 11 Man, 50 to Hannelore Dorethea Trippler.

BIRTHS 4386761 409140 19044572

A daughter Margaret Patricia on the 10 Jan., 50.

Cpl. Watson, R. .. S.Q.M.S. Rapkin R. W. L/Cpl. Parker, W.

A son David Michael on the 23 Oct., 49. A son Barry Hulme on the 24 Dec., 49.

LIST OF NEW MEMBERS OF O.C.A. JOINED SINCE IST JANUARY, 1950 “ Ty-Canol," Abergele, N. \Vales.

Burton, C. M.

The Mill House, Gt. Missenden, Bucks. 56, Calder Street, Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Snowden View, Penyball, Holywell, N. Wales.

Lezard, S. Gallagher, J. Bamford, K. McGowen, E. Whittaker, L. Munroe, J.

304, Calder Road, Sighthill, Edinburgh. 27, Whitley Avenue, Latchford, Warringt 1, Lanes. Richmond Cottage, Castletown, Caithness. 19, Birley Street, Beswick, Manchester 12. 27, Cecil Street, Carlisle, Cumberland. c/o. Mrs. D. Osborn, 7, VVentworth Avenue, Holderness Road, Hull.

Smith, G. Burns, 0.

Hufton, R. L.

60a, Gibson Street, Newcastle—on—Tyne.

Carver, C. .. Wright, W. R. Walker, G.

38, John Street, Howden, Nr. Goole, Yorks. 4, Robinson Street, Salford, Lanes. 191, Briscoe Lane, Newton Heath, Manchester 10.

Parker, '1‘.

King, R.

138, High Street, Pensford, Bristol.

Marathy, G. W. Brandick, A. W. Coornbs, T.

48, Ash Crescent, Parkside, Seaham Co. Durham. 1, Stag Hill Road, Barden Walsall, Staﬂs.

Hodge, D.

26, Long Grove Road, Epsom, Surrey. 49, Alwyn Gardens, Upton, Chester. 116, Trevor Terrace, North Shields, Northumberland. 45, Martin Burn Road, Grove Hill, Middlesborough. 8, Avalon Drive, East Didsbury, Manchester 20. 59, Water Royd Lane, Mirﬁeld, Yorks.

38, Victoria Crescent, Tottenham, London, N.15.

Sadler, G.

Fell, A. D. Reid, B. Daniels, B.

Gibbs, T.

107, Mill Street, Bradford, Manchester 11.

Crooks, E. .. Evans, R. A. . .

Stapleton, A. Rickuss, R. . Atkinson, H. .. Russell, J. ..

6, Canterbury Road, Davey Hume, Nr. Manchester. 7, Havana Street, Beswick, Manchester 11. 8, Bothwell Street, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland. 45, Melling Street, Longsight, Manchester 13. 13, Deepdale Terrace, Loftus, Saltburn, Yorks. 34, \Valker Street, VVar-rington, Lanes. 22, Croftnappock, Place Crieﬁ, Perthshire, Scotland. 37, Broad Lea Street, Sandford Estate, Bramley, Leeds, Yorks. 20, Granville Street, Flatts, Dewsbury, Yorks. 83, Bradleys Place, Tipton, Staffs. 5, Copley Street, Little Horton, Bradford, Yorks. 29, Ramsey Road, Middlestown, Nr. Wakeﬁeld.

Sgt. Colyer, P.

The Royals, B.A.O.R. II.*

Hughes, F. A. Crawshaw, H.

14, Prospect Place, Thornaby on Tees, Yorks. 36, Beckett Crescent, Dewsbury, Yorks. 27, Guidon Road, Abercarn, Nr. Rivvhort, S. Wales. 28, Mayﬁeld Avenue, Newton Cramlington, N. Wales. 13, Norton Avenue, Ashton on Mersey, Sale, Cheshire.* 24, Sutton Crescent, Tyersall, Bradford! 9, Newbounds Road, Barrow in Furness, Lancs.*

Jennings, R. J. B. Mauchline, S. C. Foster, D. .. King, W.

Grayson, J.

Smith, G. T. Dixon, M. J.

Cpl. Clarke Tpr. Cooke Cpl. Collins Sgt.Lynd Sgt.Old,F. Redfem, H.

.. .. ..

.. .. .

.. .. .. .

.. .. ..

The Royals, B.A.O.R. II.* The Royals, B.A.O.R. II.* 25, Vancouver Drive, Winshill, Burton on Trent, Staffs.

‘ Serving Members.

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