RAOC Gazette - page 15
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1980 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1980 |
| Late date | 1980 |
| Transcription |
it with fresh minds tomorrow." And next day almost invariably we found the solution. Even small home alterations were of absorbing interest to him. I remember listening enthralled as he told me with almost boyish enthusiasm how he was building a wall in his garden. His own home, his own handiwork; family approval—perfect! So far as I know he never aspired to any particular dis- tinction in the athletic field, but when mental agility was required he could hold his own in any company. Always ready to help other people he gave serious thought to a matter before expressing an opinion. But close under the surface was a readiness to see the lighter side. His occasional flashes of wit and his almost impish sense of humour would cast a warm glow on an otherwise formal or mundane situation. In BAOR, for example, a Staff Officer wanted to see an Officers' Shop. Cutters advised him to visit a particular one, and added: " The quality of the goods there should be excellent for it is run by two officers called Waring and Gillow." Apart from the qualities that would naturally be found in a man of his calibre, he combined a quiet and imperturbable nature with an acute instinct for differentiating between what seemed obvious and what was actually at the root of the matter. A genius has been described as someone who aims at a target that others cannot see and hits it, and this Cutters did frequently. Unconsciously, perhaps, we all pay him a unique com- pliment. He is not referred to by his Christian name, nor by a nickname, nor even by his initials. The one abbreviation ' Cutters' sums up the personality of the man, so universally loved by his fellow men and women. All that he did for the Corps and for the Association will be remembered with gratitude and affection for many years to come." We send our deepest sympathy to his widow, Vera, and his two daughters. BRIGADIER CECIL HUNT writes: — Irrespective of whatever else will be written about General Cutforth, I would like to add a personal tribute to one who was my oldest army friend of sixty two years standing from the time we were cadets at The Shop in 1918, Gunner subalterns in the same Brigade and close associates in the Corps there- after. I do not propose to say anything about his distinguished service to the Corps and to the Army; there are others more qualified to do this. But, apart from my many other memories and great respect for his general character, I would like particularly to express appreciation for the kindly and practical help and advice he gave unstintingly to my wife during the time I was incarcerated in the Far East and which neither of us ever forgot. For this alone I shall always owe him a debt of gratitude. Although I shall miss him, I will not grieve for Cutters; I am sure he is now in a better place—but I grieve for his wife and family. I know full well what it is to be bereft. * * * MAJOR GENERAL E. P. READMAN, CBE, TD. MAJOR GENERAL SIR JOHN HILDRETH, KBE, writes: — Edgar Readman was one of the select band of temporary officers recruited into the Reserve Army and earmarked for one of the essential and highly important posts needed to ex- pand the Corps rapidly to its war needs. Immediately on call-up to the Reserve Army, Edgar went to Chilwell and took over as COO from Colonel—later Major General Sir Leslie Williams. He stayed there throughout the war and processed the vast expansion of the MT organisation and ensured that the enormous quantity of MT spares got to the fighting Units on time and in good order and in achieving this, he brought much credit to the Corps for a job well done. Let his name be remembered with pride! Brigadier D. S. Robinson, also selected at that time to open up and control another MT Depot—COD Derby, and who knew Edgar well and worked in daily contact with him, says: " Edgar Readman filled an important role in the scheme of things when Major General Sir Leslie Williams—at the outbreak of war Colonel Williams, COO Chilwell—began the integration into the Corps of we businessmen and temporary soldiers who were recruited to help cope with the almost overnight inrush of stores and personnel necessitating the urgent establishment of new Depots, expanded mobilisation techniques, and so on. Most of us had little, if any, experience in the Army. Edgar, however, had served in the First World War and had continued his Army experience in the TA between the Wars while establishing himself as a senior executive in the English Steel Corporation. He was, therefore, already an ideal amalgam of the businessman/soldier which so many of the younger men were required so quickly to become. I had to work closely with him in establishing COD Derby out of the loins of Chilwell, as it were, under the direction of the DOS at the War Office, and I know how tirelessly he and his charming wife May worked to keep up the tradition of the Corps at work and at play. He gave all he had to the war effort and the RAOC, and certainly played no small part in enabling the Corps to cope with the colossal and ever-growing burden it had to shoulder in those six years of world wide war." We send our sympathy to his wife May. * * * MAJOR H. H. W. BROWNE IT is with regret that we record the death of Major (OEO) H. H. W. Browne. He joined RAOC in 1926 the year his father, Captain J. H. Browne OBE, retired after service in the Corps from 1897. Major Brown served in UK, India, China and BAOR retiring in 1961. Subsequently he joined Command Ordnance Depot Ash- ford, as a Retired Officer, and was later involved in the re- organisation of that Depot. * * . » MAJOR C. M. DICKER THE death from cancer of Major Carl Dicker in Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich, after a comparatively short illness, came as a sad shock to those of us in Headquarters Eastern District who had seen him off to Belize in December last. At that time he appeared fit and well and was busy at home on his do-it- yourself building activities, but after only two months away he was evacuated to the Woolwich hospital from which he did not emerge. He was forty three years old and leaves a widow and two sons. Carl Dicker was commissioned into RASC in 1956 and served in BAOR from 1957-60 and in Farelf from 1960 to 1963. He transferred on McLeod to RAOC and served the Corps in Berlin, Bicester, Donnington and BAOR, successfully completing the Food Technology course in 1968 before taking up the Combat Supplies appointment in Hong Kong. He joined Headquarters Eastern District in October 1976 where he remained until the Belize attachment in December 1979, from whence he was destined for 89 Supply Depot. He was a man of many interests; a keen small-boat sailor and a qualified ASA Day Skipper, a knowledgeable philatelist and a crossword puzzle addict of some ability. But probably his main interest lay in the do-it-yourself reconstruction of the cottage he bought in Colchester, at which he worked long and hard and which now exhibits all the signs of his application and skill. To his widow Betty and to his sons Barry and Michael we extend sincere sympathy in their loss and trust they will find some slight consolation in his work at Plum Tree Cottage. RAOC AID SOCIETY D O N A T I O N S RECEIVED IN MEMORY OF MAJOR GENERAL SIR LANCELOT CUTFORTH, KBE, CB Mrs G. G. Hetherington, Mrs Elaine Oakeshott, Mrs Margie Parnaby, Mrs Nettie Home, Lady Betty Williams, Major General C. H. McVittie, Brigadier C. Hunt, Colonel P. R. Hill, ' Joe,' Major General C. D. Key, Major L. B. Brown, Major V. S. Ebbage, Colonel R. F. Stretch, Major General J. Sheffield, Major E. J. Berridge, Mr F. Phillips, Lieutenant Colonel C. H. T. Macfetridge, Group Captain and Mrs C. E. H. Verity, Major General A. Young, Mr and Mrs J. H. Hardman, Major General G. Le F. Payne and Colonel E. J. S. Bonnett. — 10 — KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE CORPS THROUGH THE RAOC ASSOCIATION |
| Book number | R0404 |