Tidworth and Libya I remember Cambrai Day 1963,a new thing for those who had previously not been RTR.
The officers and senior NCOs brought early morning tea with rum to the beds of the other ranks. At lunchtime they served the other ranks with a special Cambrai meal.
On this day no man in the RTR can be charged with a minor offence and this gave a bit of licence to those who were deemed the big jokers.
Just before lunch we had to parade in front of the HQ. A General had arrived to take the salute. The Cambai band played My Boy Willie the Regimental march.The General turned to salute the raised Brown, Red and Green RTR Standard and Union Flag. Fluttering in the wind above the standards was a pair of ladies panties and a bra. The General did not flinch. He turned and addressed the ranks. "1917 at Cambrai a great victory was achieved, and it would seem someone did the same last night".
Part of the Allied War Cemetary at Tobruk
Over the winter of 1963 football played a major roll in our life at Tidworth. We had a fantastic team and we took on all comers and beat the lot of them.
Christmas of 63 I got leave and drove home with Ginger Friend who was from Deal.
The first break in our mundane lives came in May 1964. We were informed that we were to join a scheme in of all places Libya.
The scheme centred on Tobruk. Approximately 2,000 men were encamped at Pilastrino above the town and on the opposite side to the German Fort cemetery.
To cater for 2,000 men was a pretty large task. Each unit set up their camps arranging 4-6 per tent, so you can imagine the size of the area used. We were on C rations so each unit catered for themselves. Latrines were purely and simply long dug out ditches. A horizontal pole each side to put your backside on. It was one place in the world you made very sure you kept your balance.
The reason for me to bring up this unpleasant subject is to explain a strange phenomenon.
One evening I went off with my newspaper parked myself on one of the poles next to another lad. At the same instance we both looked at each other in disbelief and both nearly toppled into the pit. I was looking at an old school chum of mine Smudger Smith who lived in the same town. We had not seen each other for years. He had joined the RASC at 18 and basically, except for leave, had not been home. Back at my camp we hit the bottle a bit and brought each other up to date.
Many years later we met and the first thing we remarked on was the possibilities of a meeting like that taking place, the odds must have been in the millions.
We did get time off on this scheme and I was able to walk the famous wall leading down to Tobruk. It was covered in graffiti inscriptions of every Unit that had passed along this way during WW2, they were to numerous to count.
I was also lucky enough to visit Derna ( Darnah today). The carpet town of Libya and a fantastic old town, which would take longer than few hours to explore, but the time, I did not have.
 Halfway House Gazhala Beach The next scheme in April 1965 believe it or not was back again to Libya. This time to the Tripoli area and Gazhala beach. It was nice to get back to old stomping grounds and see if any changes had taken place. Except for the political climate it was as though time stood still there.
Again we were tented on the beach and we had plenty of time to visit Tripoli.
On and off a partial squadron of 2nd RTR had been placed under the umbrella of the UN this was coming to an end. I had fleetingly been to Cyprus in 1963 with this squadron as a fill-in but soon had returned to Tidworth.
|
