4 minute read
Screwjack Letters
Posted with the Gurkhas
Near the end of my time at Westlands we heard the dreadful news of the assassination of President Kennedy on 22 November 1963. It is true that people remember where they were at times like that. I had just got out of the bath.
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In December I received a posting order to be OC 34 Company Gurkha Army Service Corps (GASC) Workshop REME in Kluang, Malaya, replacing Captain Arthur Soar REME. I was now a Captain, having passed the promotion exam sometime earlier. I had to leave Gill with her parents in Yeovil as she was due our first child in March. On 14 February 1964 I boarded a De Havilland Comet Mk4 at RAF Lyneham. I had never travelled on an airliner before. Our pit stops were at RAF El Adem in Libya, RAF Khormaksar in Aden, and RAF Gan Island, where I saw real coconut palms for the first time in my life. The last hop was to Paya Lebar Airport in Singapore.
I remember walking down the steps from the Comet and thinking I had met a wave of heat from the engines. But no, everywhere was like that and would be so for the next two and a half years. Arthur and Jane had travelled 80 miles south to meet me and they took me for a curry dinner in Bugis Street Singapore. It was Chinese New Year and there were firecrackers everywhere. Our table was on the paving outside the restaurant and not far away was a flat-roofed public convenience. Strangely ostentatious girls(?) entered and left it. When our curry arrived I saw some British or Australian sailors involved in a sort of dance on the roof having set fire to some toilet paper. Very odd. I googled it many years later. Don’t go there. It’s not pretty.
The Garrison Officers’ Mess was on a slight hill and beside it was an outdoor swimming pool. I was allocated a Chinese batman called Cheong. My new tropical uniform was green shirt and shorts, with long lightweight trousers to be worn if on duty in the evening when mosquitoes were about. Cheong’s first task was to sew the Gurkha crossed kukris and the old 17th Indian Division arm flashes onto my shirts. The flash was a black cat on a yellow background. Cheong made meowing noises and chuckled happily as he sewed.
The other British officers of 34 Company were all from the RASC: Major Alan Price (OC), Captains John Horne, Gordon Spence, Rob Evans and Stan Yates. The Supply Depot was run by Captain Ray Vincent RASC. Years earlier Ray had served in Glubb Pasha’s Camel Corps. (Respect!)
The senior mess member was the Garrison Adjutant, Major Alan Parker of the 13th/18th Hussars. Alan Parker’s wife was Olga. One of Olga Parker’s claims to fame was that after an on-board cocktail party, for a bet, she had jumped, wearing very little, into the sea from a battleship in Trincomalee harbour. Doubtless many volunteered to crew the boat to fish her out. 34 Company had an operational role but was also the driver training Company for the GASC. The other two Companies were in Hong Kong and Singapore. The Workshop gave REME support for about 100 Bedford RL 3-tonners, two garrison fire engines, two ambulances, a few BSA M20 motor cycles and some Land Rovers and buses. The Kluang Station Workshop commanded by Captain Ken Mobbs REME, with local civilian staff, was our second line support. Our recovery truck was a slow but reliable 1934 Scammel 6x4 with a Gardner diesel engine. We occupied three large sheds clad with corrugated iron. It was common practice for the Brits to wear shorts and no shirt when working inside. I soon found that I had inherited a group of excellent men from Arthur Soar. These included WO2 McKenzie, WO2 Noons and Sergeants Beale and Winton. At the time the British Army were there to counter a threat from President Soekarno’s Indonesia.
One day in early April we received a signal warning that the Indonesians were ready to send a Parachute Division into Malaya. Alan Price ordered that the trucks be lined up so that their lights could illuminate all approaches to the company at night. As luck would have it, I was Orderly Officer that night and Sergeant Nicholson (REME), who ran the Garrison Servicing Station, was Orderly Sergeant. I drew my pistol and ammunition from the armoury, then inspected the Gurkha guard at 6pm. I had to remember to check and admire the sharp edge of each kukri at the “present kukris” using a thumb. Sergeant Nicholson collected an SMG and after dark we walked around the Company area for an hour or two. All was quiet, so we went to our bunks. I didn’t sleep much that night.
Screwjack
