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RAOC Gazette - page 51

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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1980
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Early date 1980
Late date 1980
Transcription FAREWELL TO
WULFBN
154 FAD has again had to say goodbye to long serving members
of its civilian work force. Herr Heinrich Peters retired after
thirty one years at Wulfen where he was a civilian Ammunition
Examiner for the whole of that time. He and his expertise will
be much missed.
A second farewell was to Herr Bruno Schitnlett after thirty
four and a half years service. Otherwise affectionately known
as ' Der Kleine' the knowledgeable will deduce he was a small
but forceful man who as the Supervisor Ammunition Labour
Pool exerted much influence on the labour force and the work
of the depot. He joined 154 FAD in 1945 immediately after
the war in which he served as an NCO in the German Artil-
lery on both the Russian and Western fronts.
Churchill and the embankment statue of the wartimc'Chicf of
the Air Staff, Lord Portal—stands on a base of Portland stone
at the Richmond Terrace end of Raleigh Green beside the
Ministry of Defence. About twenty years ago Mr Nemon was
given several sittings by the Field Marshal.
The cost of over £30,000 has been met largely by friends
and comrades and their widows. More than seven thousand in-
dividual donations have so far been received from all over
the world and the names of the donors are to be recorded
in a special book which will be placed in the Imperial War
Museum where ' Monty's' wartime caravans are on display.
Work on the book will not begin until the end of 1980.
RALLY
SPECIALIST
A BRIEF mention was made of Corporal Ken Black of Ord-
nance Depot Viersen a while ago, in connection with his s p o r t -
motor rallying. During the past year his success has been such
that he deserves more space this time. His Land Rover had to
go off to Workshops and for a while he had no vehicle, so he
got himself a Vauxhall Chevette with a powerful 2,300 cc engine
and .was back in business again.
He and fellow Corpsman, Sergeant East with NATO in
Brussels, entered the first round of the BAOR rally champion-
ships in March, which, starting from Herford, covered a route of
two hundred miles. They swept the board, finishing first, seven
minutes ahead of the next vehicle and losing no penalty points.
At present, they lead the championships and have been selected
to represent BAOR in 1980.
WOl Falcus makes a farewell presentation to Herr Bruno Schimlctt
at Wulfen.
P O S T H U M O U S AWARD
OF
THE
G E O R G E
MEDAL
A SERGEANT in the Territorial Army who died in a tragic
grenade accident has been posthumously awarded the George
Medal.
On 11th July 1979, during recruit training at the Senny-
bridge Training Area, South Wales, Sergeant David John
Garside, thirty four, a Territorial Army Senior Non-Com-
missioned Officer in the 10th (Volunteer) Battalion The Para-
chute Regiment, was supervising live grenade throwing.
During the live grenade throwing an incident took place
when a recruit, in the act of preparing to throw a live grenade,
appeared to freeze with the grenade in his hand.
At this point Sergeant Garside, acting with total disregard
for his own safety and with great resource, tried to move the
recruit to safety whilst at the same time endeavouring to get
him to either throw the grenade or drop it. It was in the
course of this action, whilst Sergeant Garside was pushing the
recruit to safety, that the grenade exploded. As a result of the
explosion Sergeant Garside sustained fatal injuries and the
recruit received superficial injuries.
The citation states that: " I t is clear that Sergeant Garside
acted with great coolness and presence of mind, and with com-
plete disregard for his own safety, and in so doing gave his
life saving the life of a recruit. His act was one of great
bravery, sacrifice and coolness."
Sergeant Garside came from Basingstoke and was married
with two children.
QUEEN
M O T H E R
UNVEILS ' M O N T Y '
STATUE
NEARLY thirty eight years after the victory of the Eighth
Army at El Alamein and, appropriately, on the thirty sixth
anniversary of the D-Day landings, a statue of Field Marshal
Viscount Montgomery was unveiled in Whitehall by Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
The ten feet tall bronze statue by Oscar Nemon—who also
sculpted the House of Commons memorial to Sir Winston
Corporal Ken Black with the trophies he won in 1979.
Corporal Black is also lying in fifth place in the Dealer
Team Vauxhall Chevette cup competition with the famous motor
sport names Chris Lord, Drew Gallacher, George Hill and Chris
Daley just ahead of him.
TEMPLE
H E R D E W Y K E
THOSE of you with an interest in history will know that the
land occupied by Central Ammunition Depot Kineton has some
interesting links with the past. In Saxon times the area now
occupied by the camp was part of a district called Derset or
Dersetto; a name which indicated that the area was inhabited
by wild beasts. One section of the area was called Herdewyke,
possibly so named as the place where domesticated animals were
enclosed for protection against predators. Herdewyke was held
by three Thanes as freeholders under the Saxon Kings. After
the Norman Conquest the Earl of Yellent was made feudal
Lord of a large area including Derset, now called Dassett, and
he appointed Terchil de Warwick as feodary Lord for the
collection of taxes. In 1185 Dassett was held by Ralph de
Sudley who in that year gave Herdewyke to the Order of Knights
Templar. They renamed it Temple Herdewyke.
For about three hundred years the village appears to have
remained in possession of the Knight Templars and the Knight's
Hospitallers, but after the War of the Roses Sir Edward Belknap
demolished and depopulated this and other villages in order to
bring all the arable land back to pasture for the rearing of
sheep, as wool at that time was very profitable. Local stories
have it that some sixty villagers, depleted as they were by the
Black Death, were gathered at their Sunday morning worship,
Book number R0404