In
Feb 1951 I received my call up papers for National service in the
RAOC.
I tried for the Paras but in those days you had to go into
another Regiment or Corps and after training apply for a transfer.
This I did but the condition was that I had to extend my service for
another three years. A month later I was at Aldershot doing my basic
training, |
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followed by a short spell at Blackdown and
Deepcut..
Approximately 3 months later and a plane journey that took three
days found myself at a vehicle depot in the middle of the
Egyptian desert about 60 miles from Cairo and about 40 miles from
Ismalia (commonly known as Ish). The name of the vehicle depot was
tel-elkibir where I was to spend 18 months, 3 weeks and 16 hours
with nothing but sand and flies-the only entertainment being 2
small cinemas where we could actually watch Charlie Chaplin and Roy
Rogers when we were not on duty. There was approx 60 squaddies
supervising a few hundred local workers preparing vehicles,
including tanks for delivery to all units in the Middle East (that
is those that were not thieved by the local W##Gs, as was quite common
in those days) It was normal to come out in the morning to find a
vehicle or two missing, complete with tyres and wheels . The
depot was a prime target for gangs of terrorists / guerrillas,
especially during the Canal Zone crises. (not to be confused with
Suez) |
Guard
duties were frequent-ie 12 hours static (sentry) followed by 24
hours mobile patrol. Followed by 12 hours rest. During this period
we were surrounded by a local guerrilla army (?) and for
6 months we were completely cut off from other British units. Our
daily ration consisted of spam, corned beef and hardtack for
breakfast, dinner and tea with only watered down lemonade powder to
drink.
I returned to civvy street in March 1953 but after a number of
dead end jobs including lorry driving I decided I'd had enough and
in January 1955 I enlisted into the Parachute Regiment for a period
of 9 years. It was whilst at Maida Bks. I was singled out for an
introduction to General Montgomery and Prince Philip. After basic
training, together with the rest of 43/44 platoon we were sent to
Abingdon for the Parachute course where over a period of weeks we entertained
Brigitte Bardot and Robert Wagner and others who were doing a basic
para course for films that were being made at that time. After
Abingdon, I was posted to 2 Para where I reached the dizzy
heights of Sergeant and served in 15 different countries. mostly in
the Middle East. |
Dave Mote Nov. 13th
1951
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Dave Mote Tel-el-Kib Oct
1951
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I saw
a bit of action at Suez, but unlike 3 Para who dropped in, 2 Para went
in by landing craft , we went back to Cyprus to hunt down EOKA
terrorists before returning to the UK. This was followed by some
back up duties in Jordan-Helping King Hussein to keep his Kingdom.
Then back to Cyprus, this time for a three year tour and for the
first time in the Regiments history we were accompanied by our
wives and families. Within weeks of our families joining us we were
sent to Malta/Libya/Tunisia and other unknown places to play
soldiers and do a few Drops.
This was followed by a few months on yet another policing
action in Kuwait with rest periods on Bahrain Island living in tents
on an airfield (no fresh water or air conditioning) during the most
humid time of the year. Within a short period of time the whole
battalion was declared non-combatant due to severe heat exhaustion
and for approximately the last year of my service I was medically
down graded due to a leg injury and declared
non-combatant.-therefore, losing my two guineas a week parachute
pay, a small fortune in those days. I was allowed to complete
my 9 years service and re-enlistment was out of the question. After
37 years on civvy street I was able to do what I have missed most
since leaving the Paras I joined Pathfinder so I could take up
parachuting again. So far I have jumped in Jordan (C-130) ,Holland
(AN2) and India (AN32) as a representative of Pathfinder UK-making a
total of 170 jumps from 11 different aircraft |
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