 |
|
| My Pictures |
 |
| 23898634 |
| 1961-70 |
| I signed on for the Grenadier Guards on the 14th of December 1961 and was posted to the Infantry Junior Leaders Bn at Park Hall Camp Oswestry Shropshire on the 8th of January 1962. This was the start of two and a half years service with this battalion along with other boys who had joined the five regiments of the Brigade of Guards (as it was then) and the forty nine regiments of the line. The purpose of this battalion was to produce the future non commissioned and warrant officers for the Infantry. This I think it did well, as I know from personal friendships, boys who have gone on to be senior NCO�s and WO1�s at both battalion and Depot level as well as other establishments. Even to being commissioned. This junior battalion took callow youth and gave them further education and a good solid grounding in all things military. We young guardsmen were kept as a separate company from the line regiments, although the majority of our education and military training was done together with them. I left Oswestry in the summer of 1964 having attained the rank of J/L/Sgt. and having enjoyed my time there. I was then posted to the Guards Depot Pirbright, a place known to all guardsmen old and new, where I joined No.24 platoon. (Apparently the first all Grenadier platoon for a number of years). This pln. was made up of men who had joined the regiment straight from civilian life us ex Jnr. Ldrs.and ex boys from the Jnr Guardsman�s Coy. Our platoon Sgt. was the late lamented Ray Barnes. A magnificent bloke it was he who honed up our final skills of being proper Guardsmen. Admittedly we weren�t perfect and I do know what the sand jump can do, from personal experience with my comrades at that time. Nonetheless we passed out and I was promoted to L/cpl and put in charge of the party being posted to the 1st Bn in Wuppertal. We arrived on a black dirty night having been met by the piquet sgt. and distributed to the various coys. within the Bn. I myself go to No.2 coy. Of course the stripes didn�t last. I was soon for the adj�s memoranda and my little bit of glory was gone. One of many visits over the years I settled in to the running of a Bn. In Germany and was a member of no. 6 pln. My pln cmdr. If I remember rightly was a young officer who joined the Bn. a short time after myself and is now the President of the Association, having had a distinguished career both in and outside the Regiment. In 1965 the Bn. me with it, was posted to Cyprus for a tour of duty with the United Nations peace keeping force. Set up after the EOKA troubles had been settled. Here I was again promoted and attended the first cpls. course run by the Bn. Under the supervision of Peter Lewis the finest guardsman I ever met. Surprise surprise who else was on the course apart from Richard Harris but none other than the man who is now the Hon Sec. of the Assn. So I�ve had close contacts with them both. Both President and Secretary. When our tour was up we returned to Germany and shortly after in 1966 to England, where we assumed public duties for London District. The Bn. was stationed at Caterham. I, by this time had moved on to being a member of the anti/tank pln. As time progressed I joined No.3 Coy and eventually when it was set up, the Support Coy. I returned to Cyprus during my time at Caterham once when the Bn. took over from the Royal Anglian Regt. for a short spell for training purposes. I also was posted to Sharjah with the Bn. and found this an amazing experience. The anti tank pln. being turned into the machine gun pln for most of the time. It made quite a change. I was lucky enough to be sent for a month back to Cyprus to spend a little time under the wing of the RAF mountain rescue team at Akrotiri. Here I was able to polish up my climbing skills again. Something I had learnt as a boy at Oswestry. I returned to England as a L/sgt and attended the anti tank gun course at the School of Infantry Netheravon and then it was back to Caterham and public duties. Until the troubles started in Northern Ireland and off we went again. We returned, this time to Chelsea Barracks to resume our public duty role. Again I was lucky enough to be among a few members of the Bn. who went off to Cyprus as enemy to young officer cadets on exercise. But this was all too brief and it was back to the old trip down Buckingham Palace Road on a regular basis. Fortunately for me I secured a place on the Regimental Recruiting team that was to last me for my last 6 months of service. I returned to Chelsea and was demobbed on the 13th October 1970. As I sit and reminisce I know that I met my greatest friends during my time with our Regiment. Some I see on a regular basis others I only see now and again. But they remain my friends, always. Stuart Davis 23898634 |
| Stuart Davis |
|
| My Pictures |
 |
 |