RAOC Gazette - page 135
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 |
POL. DISPOSAL. BACK PUMPING petrol from a submerged tank in an ice cold river in Germany helped to earn Staff Sergeant Alex Symons his BEM in the last New Year's Honours List. Stationed at Warendorf in West Germany, with 4 Petroleum Depot, Staff Sergeant Symons advises Units of the 2nd Armoured Division on fuel problems, especially safety factors. While on exercise in South Germany two years ago the then Sergeant Symons was called out to recover a full petrol tanker that had crashed off the road into a tributary of the Rhine not far from Koblenz. TO THE FOLD A MOST unusual rc-cnlistmcnt took place at Ordnance Depot Antwerp recently. Seven years ago, Private Trevor Collcdgc, then aged twenty one, took his discharge in Belgium and went to work for a local civilian concern. Four years later he changed employment and became a Storcman in the Ordnance Depot. Now he has taken the final step back into the RAOC fold and re-enlisted as a Vehicle Specialist. His first posting in his new guise?—Ordnance Depot Antwerp. A n unusual rc-cnlistmcnt in Belgium. Private Colledgc was last seen on Continuation Training doubling down the range. But he seemed quite happy to be in uniform once again! The photograph shows the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel John Cook, welcoming Private Collcdge on his final return to the fold. Staff Sergeant Alex TWELVE Y E A R S AT HEADQUARTERS DGOS Symonds. The leaking tanker was not only a fire hazard but was polluting the river. Two and a half thousand gallons of petrol had to be transferred to another tanker before the recovery vehicle could pull the vehicle out. Alex Symons waded into the petrol-covered, icy water, and spent over three hours coupling up the pumps and pipes to the various hatches. Ably backed-up by his four man team he prevented a large scale pollution of Germany's major waterways in the heart of the wine growing region. BRITISH A R M Y EQUIPMENT EXHIBITION 1980 THE complete range of British ground force equipment, in- cluding fighting vehicles, helicopters and weapon systems will be on display at the British Army Equipment Exhibition at Alder- shot from 24th to 27th June 1980. As in previous years, the event will be attended by many overseas visitors, including Mili- tary Commanders, from some eighty countries. Sponsored by the Ministry of Defence Sales Organisation, the BAEE is centred on Aldershot. The makers—the Royal Ordnance Factories and British industry—will display their wares at the Defence Industries Exhibition. Some two hundred firms are taking part and the exhibition will cover eight acres on a site adjoining the annual Aldershot Army Display where the Regiments and Corps of the British Army will be seen along- side the equipment they use. Another feature of the BAEE will be a demonstration of mobility and firepower at the Royal Armoured Corps Centre, Bovington. The demonstration will feature modem British armoured vehicles. It will also include artillery, infantry weapons, engineer equipment, helicopters, support vehicles and equipments and training devices. The exhibition is not open to the public. ORD 2 Headquarters DGOS has said goodbye to Major George McLaren MBE (Retd) after extended service as an R03 responsible for POL estimates and supply contracts world-wide. He had been an R03 in Headquarters DGOS for twelve years and is widely known throughout the RCT and RAOC because of his wide-ranging career in the Regular Army and his Q Maintenance responsibilities as an RO. ' Major M a c ' as he was affectionately known, had a long and varied connection with the Army; in fact his family are a military family through and through. Father, uncles and grandfathers can total some two hundred and thirteen years service. Nearly all these ancestors were connected with the_ logistic corps, and indeed there is a record of a McLaren in: the Military Train in 1857. Mac, educated at Southwell College, joined the RASC in, 1933 as a driver. He went to the Far East and was com-! missioned in Singapore in 1941. Here he had the responsibility for setting up POL dumps during the fall-back from the North Malaya frontier. He saw action in Northern Malaya and was eventually imprisoned in Singapore by the Japanese. He was moved to Thailand by train and worked in the officer working party on the infamous railway and, indeed, Mac was part of the construction party on the bridge over the River Kwai to which, incidentally, the film bears no resemblance. Over half died with cholera, Mac had a charmed life and was eventually moved to the Thai/Cambodia border where he and the others,! were forced to dig their own graves as all were to be killed m the event of an Allied invasion. The atom bombs, however,', prevented this and for several weeks the POWs were left to theirj own devices—which included the odd trip to Bangkok to make whoopee! Eventually US Special Service Units came out of the forest and Mac, amongst others, was flown out to Rangoon and later Colombo, from where he was repatriated to the UK on a POW boat with one hundred and fifty WRNS on board!! In 1952 he was awarded an MBE and Bronze Star for his services in Korea. On leaving the Army in September 1967 Mac joined Headquarters DOS Ord 2 as an R 3 in First Avenue House, and moved with the branch to Andover in 1977 on the formation of LE(A). During twelve years as an RO he saw five Colonels Ord 2 come and go, and became the continuity — 336 — |
| Book number | R0403a |