Foreword written by Brian Brenchley
Jim Whites �Grenadiers Reunited News Letter on 2nd September 2005 made my day. On the first page was a mention of John Sheppard who now lives in New Zealand. He and I go back an awful long way, in fact to the late 40�s at Sennelager with the 2nd Bn. We were both in No 1 Coy, the company I joined in August 1949 when I left the Corps of Drums. If my memory serves me correctly, we both went on the same Cpl�s Course in the September of that year, and in October were both sporting two stripes. Our friendship continued, and John even came up to Doncaster when we were home on leave in 1950. The photograph above shows us both in the back garden of my parent�s house. Our friendship continued until 1951 when I was posted to the Guards Depot and it never really got back on track again, as John followed me to Caterham and I went back to the Battalion and so it went on, never both being in the same place at the same time, but that�s Army life for you. Unfortunately John had a serious road accident and left the Army and we totally lost touch. It was so nice to get back in touch with him again after all these 54 years, and there is an awful lot of catching up to do. Since re-establishing contact at the beginning of the month, we have generated over 100 emails between us � good job we are not paying postage.
The following is a �Potted History� of John Sheppard from 1948 to 1958.
I enlisted in the Regiment on 12th April 1948 at the West Croydon recruiting office, and before the day was out, I was at the Guards Depot, Caterham. Where I was put into L/Cpl W. Scotts Squad and completed my normal recruit training, at the end of which I was sent to join the 3rd Bn at Windsor. The 3rd Bn then went to Malaya, and I was posted to 1st Bn Welsh Guards for a short period of time, and in January 1949 I was moved to join the 2nd Bn at Sennelager in Germany. During the course of the next 2 years I moved up through the ranks, and by 1951 I was a L/Sgt, and as such Squad Instructor material, so was posted to Caterham to do just that. I took through 3 squads and was then sent back to the 2nd Bn who by this time had returned to England and were at Chelsea Barracks. I was then promoted to Gold Sgt and posted to Pirbright, and much to my surprise, very shortly afterwards to the 1st Bn at Wellington Barracks. Then off I went again, this time to the 3rd Bn in the Canal Zone, and remained there when the 3rd Bn came back to England to a stint of Public Duties, and once more joined the 2nd Bn when they arrived in the Canal Zone, and ended up as Police Sgt of the Battalion. 1955 saw me packing my bags and moving back to Caterham this time as a Supt Sgt. This was the first occasion since leaving Krefeld in 1951 I had met up with my old mate �Boy� Brenchley, he was just ending his 3years as Supt Sgt. At the start of 1956 I was given the task of taking a Brigade Squad through. At the end of the first week, things were progressing satisfactorily, when I was involved in a serious Road Accident, and ended up in Croydon General Hospital. I was in hospital for an extended period, and was never able to return to duty. I eventually returned to Caterham in 1958 to be discharged. During my 10 years service I was in the 1st Bn once, 2nd Bn twice, 3rd Bn twice, Guards Depot twice and Guards Training Battalion twice, so everybody and their Uncle had a share of my service |
