RAOC Gazette - page 275
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 |
REMEMBRANCE DAY AS [ write, we are close to Remem- brance Day. Many people, it is said, visit church only twice in their lives— for their christening and their marriage— and once afterwards—for their funeral. I like to think that this is not true of the soldier who after all, faces up to death and his Maker more often and more determinedly than most. All of us, in uniform or out, go to church at least once more than the rest and that is on the Sunday nearest to 11th Novem- ber. This practice began, as the older generation know well, after the First World War which was believed to be the war to end all wars. Between 1914 and 1919, we lost thirty officers and five hundred and seventy six soldiers killed; their names are on the Memorial beside the parade ground at Deepcut. And now we meet together every year on the anniversary of the signing of the Armis- tice to remember them, and those many others who have died in action over the almost sixty years that have elapsed since the end of the Great War. But this is not simply a memorial service. The aim is not just to recall the sacrifice of those who were unfortunate enough to die: the purpose above all now is to honour their example and to pray that we have sufficient courage to face up to things, as they did, should our turn come, An army's job in peacetime is to prepare for war. Be it never so well trained and equipped, it is not ready so long as it is afraid to die, As Remembrance Day approaches, we all buy and wear poppies. I wonder how many know the origin of the sym- bol? Colonel McCrae was a Scottish- Canadian doctor attached to an artillery unit in France in the First World War. One day he was reading some war poems. Though he would have been the last to call himself a poet, he thought he could do better himself and sat down to write. Dissatisfied with the result, he threw the paper away. But it was rescued by an- other officer and in due course |k his verses were published under the title In Flan- ders Fields." The last lines of one of these verses won him immortality: " If ye break faith with those who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow, in Flanders fields." RAOC MUSEUM EVERY now and again, I have been in the habit of mentioning the Corps Museum in Deepcut. One of its tasks is to preserve relics of our history and to display them for the information of the visitor. Among these relics are examples of badges worn over the years and clearly the Museum would like to have a full set. Several are missing and one of these is the subject of my illustration. This is the gilt plate some five inch high worn by officers in full dress on the blue home service helmet, rather like those of the Apprentices College Corps of Drums. In the centre the letters ' OSC' indicate '•c.i+!*..& ,-., Photo by the courtesy of the National Army Museum. that the owner of this plate was an officer of the Ordnance Store Department serving in command of a detachment of ihe Ordnance Store Corps—to which only our soldiers belonged in the last century. The plate would have been worn some- where between 1881 and 1S96 in which year the Corps was renamed the Array Ordnance Corps. Would you please keep an eye open for this splendid badge or any other large- plate featuring an Ordnance device or title, and let the Curator know. He will be delighted to receive one as a gift, or will consider purchase. MEDALS EVERY time [ see a soldier of a European army with a chestful of medals I am glad to recall that ours are granted against unchanging standards. Com* memoratives like the Jubilee Medal are, it is true, no measure of their selected wearer's special contribution, but all others are. This means that our troops who have seen more^ctive service since the War than any Europeans, except the French, are still rather sparsely decorated by comparison. The sight of a single GSM with two or even three bars serves to underline the point. It is not that 1 urge the grant of medals for shoot- ing or service overseas or even separation, but I do believe the time has come to end the world-wide GSM, Until the previous medal was instituted in 1918, none had been issued on a world-wide basis with only bars to indicate individual campaigns. Other GSMs were confined to a single continent like the African one which my catalogue tells me ran to forty eight bars between 1902 and 1956. My humble suggestion is that when the Northern Ireland emergency is ended, so too should the 1962 General Service Medal. If we become involved in any future campaigns, each should have its own medal and bars might then he awarded for successive years in which the recipient was present This would answer the reasonable comment made about Northern Ireland that the soldier on his fifth* sixth or even seventh tour of uncomfortable duty there has no more to show for it than his comrade on his first tour. Incidentally, our Museum has a fine collection of medals given or bequeathed by those who have served with us. At the foot of this page is a call for help in expanding our collection and the Curator will be only too pleased to give an honoured place to your medals too. Will you please, therefore, consider following the example of others and give or be- queath your decorations to the Corps? THE RAOC MEDAL COLLECTION ANY visitor to the RAOC Museum must be impressed by the collection of medals that adorns the whole of one wall of the complex. Some of these medals have been loaned to the Museum; some have been given or have been bequeathed, and others have been purchased on the open market. Whilst funds continue to be available, further purchases will be made. Every effort is being made to improve the collection; medals awarded to members of the Corps before the Second World War will be more than welcome, and medals for gallantry in any period will be especially received. The Curator of the Museum may be contacted by 'phone on Brookwood 4511 Extension 650, or through the Corps Secretariat. — 208 — |
| Book number | R0246 |