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John's Story
John Tazey. John enlisted into the Tank Regiment  in 1949. He served in Hong Kong, Korea, Middle East and BOAR. This is his story in his own words.
After I enlisted in 1949, I did my basic training at Catterick Camp. At that time not knowing I would remain in the army for so many years.
I joined the 7th RTR in Bovington with my first posting abroad being Hong Kong. This great posting , which incidently was the first time I had left the British shores, was supposed to be for  3 years. This was in the time of the Korean War so being already in the Far East there was no escaping our Regiment from not being posted to Korea in 1951/2.
I was re-trained as a 'Flame Gunner' on the Churchill. Being posted to 3 Troop with most of action I saw being to the North of  Seoul. Towards the Imjin River, and today's 38th Parallel. Then is was known as the 'Kansas Line'. This war was to cost the lives  of 4 million civilians and soldiers. Armistice was signed on 27th July 1953, to leave  North and South Korea.
Churchill Crocodile
Later I was to be posted back to Catterick, the Regiment taking on a training role. Many posting took place between 1953 and and the early 60's.
By then I had transferred to the 4th Royal Tank Regiment. My next action would take place in Aden, Yemen in the early 1960's with the 4th.
I had by now left the tanks behind and the 4th's main fighting vehicle was the Ferret Armoured Car.
It was versatile, and moved well under the conditions of semi- desert terrain. Our prime duties were escorting supply convoy's from Aden to Dhala. A tedious but necessary task  supplying the troops patrolling that region of Yemen.
Dhala Yemen
Over the next months we were constantly being ambushed by Guerrilla forces. These bands were being led by Albadir the son of the Imam of Yemen.
One specific convoy I remember very well. Our troop leader had fallen ill and had been transfered back to HQ for medical attention. We were rewarded with the  replacement being a young green 2IC. We completed the downward journey to Aden from Dhala with no problems at all. On the way back between the high wadi's we came under attack. Bullits rained down on us. I shouted to the 2IC to start returning fire with the Browning Machine gun. I received the unwelcome reply from him, 'How does it work'. I scrambled out of the drivers seat, jumped atop and started returning fire. Thankfully this, and the same being done by other escort vehicles, dissuaded the bandits and we were then able to reach Dhala.
Our troop was later awarded the Military Medal for this particular episode, with one  person actually getting the medal.
There are many more stories I could tell over my long service with the Tank Regiment, but this one  came first to mind.
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