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RAOC Gazette - page 180

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Corps RAOC
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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1977
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Early date 1977
Late date 1977
Transcription AWARDS FOR
SERVICE IN NOHTHKIiN
IKKLAM)
OUK
Lieutcnent Colonel D. Patrick
TIIK QCKKN'S <iALLANTHY
MKDAL
WOl C. P. McKeman
W02 C. B. Lambert
Staff Sergeant G. D. Kerr
TI-IK RETIREMENT OF
LIEUTENANT COLONEL A. G. PRICE
MUNTION^I) IN DEHPATCIIKS
W02 A. E, Dedman
< iOC*S t X>.\[MKNDATION
Sergeant M. D. Cartwright



nevertheless held several important staff appointments in AG9
Ord I. and the Directorate of Systems Co-ordination. His
calm, patient, straightforward, approach to problems will b&
much missed in the Corps as a whole, but particularly %i
Bicester, and in the world of Corps Golf, where for the last
seven years he has been Chairman. The Corps is losing an
officer of great charm, kindness, humour and technical ability,
and we wish both Jimmy and Jean a happy and successful
retirement.
J. T. p.

THE UETIHKMENT OF
BRIGADIER J. S. O* ROYCROFT
WHEN Jimmy Roycroft was appointed Commandant COD
Bicester, he was interviewed by the Editor of the Bicester
Advertiser, " Hobbies—interests?" the Editor queried. " Bridge
and Golf," replied the Brigadier, " what standard " asked the
Editor. " Well," said Jimmy with a serious face and the in-
discernible twinkle, hidden by his glasses, " I favour the
Kamikazi One Club with Lemming variations, . . . . and golf;
I pay off one leg, with a fifteen handicap/*
A man with an irrepressible sense of humour, an ad-
vanced sense of the ridiculous, and the gentlemanly ability to
be equally at ease with visiting dignitaries, and the cleaning
lady. He lost a leg in the Ardennes in 1945 whilst serving with
the 6th Airborne Division and still plays tennis and golf
throughout the season. He has had several ** Firsts" in his
thirty five and a half years service.
He was the first Controller of CICP; the first foreign
THE
retirement of Arthur Price after thirty nine years service
1
man and b o y ' will deprive the Corps of a great fund of
knowledge and experience on Barrack Service matters, and of
a highly respected authority on this emotive and sometimes
controversial subject.
His first career as a Staff Clerk started as a boy soldier
in RASC in 1938 (although he narrowly missed selection as a
surveyor—which perhaps could have been good training for
a future Barrack Officer?).
During the war years he saw
service in East Africa and subsequently in India, Egypt, Cyprus,
Singapore and UK—but never in BAOR! Having transferred
to RAOC under MacLeod he received promotion to Lieutenant
Colonel on Christmas Eve 1973—a timely present indeed. He
became the first Senior Barrack Officer at the then Head-
quarters DOS in April 1974.
After thirty nine years service with the colours, as Staff
Clerk and technical adviser ' supremo * of Barrack Services, he
is not retiring completely from Service life but is embarking
on a third career as an RO at the Army School of MT at Lecon-
field in Yorkshire.
The Corp's thanks and best wishes go with him and his
wife Joan.
officer to be awarded the- US Army Association award as out-
standing student at Fort Lee Virginia; and the first officer to
collectively administer all the Corps Funds from 1948-1952.
He was made an honorary life member of the RAOC Officers
Club in recognition of his services. He also contrived a post-
ing to Hong Kong, and was the first officer to admit it was a
fiddle.
Brigadier Jimmy joined the East Surrey Regiment in May
1942 and was commissioned in April 1944. In 1947 he took up
his initial Corps appointment at Bicester and it is perhaps
appropriate that his final appointment was that of Com-
mandant COD Bicester. An outstanding Stores Officer, he
— 138



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Book number R0246