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Reminiscences of Steve Holdsworth |  |
| Cold And Homesick | ||
| September 1962, I was a bum fluffed faced 15-year-old, cold, homesick and not quite sure what I was doing there. We did about six weeks in 'R' Company and then I went to Rhine Troop 'C' Company . In 'R' company we had a Royal Signals Sergeant called (not to his face) "Chubby" Chambers and a real frightener called Rawlins also Royal Signals (could he bloody shout!). He was everything you had ever thought a Sergeant should be, would be and could be. He frightened the shit out of everyone. We later had an R.M.P. Sergeant called Hunt(?). His first name was Richard, I remember this 'cos we were Blancoing our kit and chatting and a kid called Furnace-Roe referred to him as "Ricky" or "Dicky" not knowing that he was in earshot. He walked in and grabbed him by the throat and put him against the wall and said he would disembowel him if he ever called him anything but Sergeant. | ||
| The people I remember from 'R' company were: Harry Coverley, Mick Hassel, Tug Wilson (from Jump near Barnsley), Findlay, Sykes, Ken Hare, Price, Reg Jukes (later he became a telephone engineer who I caught up with briefly and then lost touch of again), Sam Seal, "Lofty" Smythe, Paul Murton (not 'the' by the way), Bob Ballard (later a SMIG at Larkhill) and other faces but not names. I do remember from Rhine Troop a thug called - nope, can't remember his name; perhaps it will come to me later. He went on a rampage the night before he graduated from AAJLR (to the R.M.P.) he decided to "fill in" as many sprogs as he could just for fun. As I remember he was brought to book and spent some time in the guardroom whilst everyone else went on leave. There was too Ray Egdel, a chain smoking maniac, a very funny bloke. Wheatley, who had white blond hair and was as meek as you like. A nutter from the North-East who was discharged for writing to the Russians telling them how much he admired communism. The Troop Officers were both Intelligence Corps, Capt. Stitt and Lt. Earnshaw. I also remember Driver Dyde and big tall lad called Curtis, and others that are fading into memory. Who knows maybe someone can refresh my memory. | ||
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