1st Btn COLDSTREAM GUARDS 1952-53
As Remembered By John Newman
For a starter .............. do any of you remember Sgt Ilsley "losing" his rifle in 1953 at El Ballah?
One of the funniest things was to see his face the morning he got up late, quickly shaved, dressed and should have been On Parade at 8 o'clock, to feel behind his mosquito net for his rifle (and not in the armoury) and it was missing. He quickly ran over to inform the Regimental Sgt Major of his plight, only to be told to report immediately to the Guardroom. And to be on orders after the Parade.
Another little quirk in that story, on Friday night, the night before the big parade, Isley had been cleaning his rifle before supper time and had left the bolt on his 'bedside locker' - whoever, and I know who - only stole the rifle and didn't take the bolt. So those of us who lived all together in the same area, just knew the Sergeant would have to go on Parade carrying just his bolt!
Is there anyone else out there that played football for the Army team that flew out of Fayid to Malta to play an Italian team and the Avro York we were flying in lost an engine as we came in to land in Valetta. This caused us, and there were 15 soldiers on board, to be stranded in Malta for about 3 weeks. I played in goal, was the only Coldstream Guard in the team but there were 2 Grenadiers that played inside and outside left. The rest of the team were made up from other regiments. We played the Italian team a total of three games, we won the first two; 3-1 and 5-1 and drew the third game3-3. We also beat an RAF team, I think it was in Deversoir.
I remember guarding an old delapidated ammunition dump miles and miles out in the desert. It supposedly had a minefield all the way round it and every so often there was an old wooden tower that one or two guys would sit and talk on the radio to control. The 1st Btn Coldstream Guards guarded it over Christmas 1952. I remember well opening a can of sardines for my Christmas dinner. We guarded the place for about 3 months - 2 days on, 1 day off. Other than reading a good book there wasn't a lot to do and the Bookmobile did not come around either. It got so cold at nights sleeping in those flimsy tents.