RAOC Gazette - page 55
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1977 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1977 |
| Late date | 1977 |
| Transcription |
i A UNIQUE EVENT : Kk were three generations present at Headquarters QHicers ui Deepcut an (he 25th May when Major J. Callan ; .!) presented his gold and silver football medals to the <, . ps Museum. They were his son, our Director General and Second Lieutenant Pal Callan, recently commissioned into the Corps. The DCOS with his father Major But his name is recorded on the memorial at the Sai Wan Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and thanks to some help and assistance from the Army, his widow was able to visit his memorial. Now seventy two and living in Australia, Mrs Violet Hearn wrote to Lieutenant Colonel Peter Weatherburn, Com- manding Officer of the Composite Ordnance Depot, a week before the cruise ship in which she was a passenger, arrived in Hong Kong. The result was that a few hours after the ship berthed a staff car collected Mrs Hearn and drove her to Sai Wan where she laid a wreath in memory of her husband. Conductor Hugh Penman also laid a wreath on behalf of the Corps. Mrs Hearn spent three years in Hong Kong and China with her husband just before the war, but was evacuated to Australia with her two children and other service families in 1940. All she knows about her husband's death is that he was one of three men who encountered Japanese troops somewhere near Stanley on 22nd December 1941. Sub-Conductor Heam, and one other man, was killed instantly. The third captured by the Japanese. Eighteen years ago Mrs Hearn made a special journey to Hong Kong from Australia to see the sole survivor and hear the full account. But in another tragic twist to the story he was killed in a road accident five days before she arrived, Callan, and his son. Major Callan was a member of the well known and very successful, Hilsea Soccer team which, as RAOC Southern Com- mand (South), won so many trophies in the years 1926 to 1930. In 1928 they won the Army Cup by beating RHA by two 2 als to one; the winning goal scored by Major Callan. In addition to the Army Cup they also won the United Services Challenge Cup, the United Services Charity Cup, the Russell Cotes Cup, the Hampshire County Senior Cup, the Rowlands Cup and the Portsmouth Senior Cup—the latter for three years in succession. They were also runners-up in the Army Cup in 1927. Major General Darkin received the medals on behalf of The Museum Trustees, UP TO STRENGTH [T was only right and proper that Staff Sergeant John Lloyd should be on parade when his son Brent (16) signed up in Hong Kong to join the Army. Having duly signed, Brent became the fourth and last member of the family to have experienced this ritual. Brent's mother, Brenda Lloyd, has in fact signed off as a regular member of * Dad's Army ' after serving for a number of years with the Women's Royal Army Corps. But her daughter Sharron (19) has carried on the tradition of the female side of the family and is currently training to gain her State Enrolled Nurse qualification with the Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps. HONG KONG MEMORIES FOR AUSTRALIAN WIDOW THREE days before the surrender of Hong Kong to the Japanese, in December 1941, Sub-Conductor James Nelson Victor Hearn of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, was shot dead somewhere in the vicinity of Stanley. He is one of the many who died in the battle who have no known grave. Brent signs on under the watchful eyes of his parents. The attestation ceremony, held at the Composite Ordnance Depot, is a rare event in Hong Kong (most Army recruits en- list at recruiting offices in Britain) but Lieutenant Colonel Peter Weatherburn, after consulting the regulations on the subject, ensured that the correct procedures were followed. Signing the Visitors Book (left to right): Corporal David Oliphant, Corporal Steve Smith, Mrs Hearn, Conductor Hugh Penman* t KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE CORPS THROUGH THE RAOC ASSOCIATION 35 — |
| Book number | R0246 |