My life in the Grenadier Guards. (Part Three. Egypt.)

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We sailed from England on a cold winter’s day in the first week of March 1954 bound for the Middle East. I enjoyed going to sea and loved to hear the waves breaking away from the ships bows with an angry roar. This brought back happy memories of the time spent sailing on the CO's yacht during the fifteen months or so that the battalion had been stationed at Chelsea barracks London. We passed through the Bay of Biscay and I was not seasick even though this area was notorious for its huge swells. Soon we were passing the ancient British Colony of Gibraltar situated in the Mediterranean Sea. We did not go ashore at that port but I would have liked to do so having heard a few stories about this historical place. Apparently there were lots of caves with Rock Apes running around who used these caves as their homes. One legend related to the Apes and stated that should these animals abandon the rock the British Empire would fall. It sounded a bit like the story of the Ravens at the Tower of London and should perhaps be taken as just another publicity story. The sea journey had been interesting but a lot of men were sick, and because I was not one of those I had lots of MI room duties to attend to. These duties consisted of working in the medical room, cleaning up after everyone and looking after the general welfare of the troops. The sea was so rough that the toilets in the scuppers were back filling and as a result of this I was kept fairly busy with my chores. I should have reported sick myself then perhaps I might have avoided some of those awful messy duties, however someone had to do it and the time on board ship passed quickly as a result of these duties. Regular drill sessions and physical training exercises were conducted on the deck to make sure that the troops maintained a good level of physical fitness. After breathing the lovely fresh air on board ship after a month at sea we finally arrived in Egypt on the 27th March 1954. After our sea voyage the difference was quite noticeable after we had we landed at Port Said, pictured

This train was very old with hard wooden uncomfortable seats and we had to travel on these for a couple of hours or more. The windows had no frames and were open to the outside air. The toilets were really something to be remembered consisting of a hole in the floor where one had to squat down. Providing you were a good shot and could retain your balance you were successful. There was a small sinks about six inches in diameter with no taps just water press on the wall, but no paper supplied. As to how you managed to do the necessary I will leave to your imagination and so will leave that question unanswered. We were advised not to put our arms on the windowsills because when you go through stations you might lose your wristwatches etc. We were told that it was nothing to have the straps of your watches slashed off with a razor blade whilst your hand was on the sill. The Commanding officer LT /Col C Earle DSO OBE gave us all a lecture and told us all about the lovely women in the zone, and what it entailed should you get involved with these? This was really not a very nice expression but it suited some of the ladies that used to frequent army bases. In fact I learned more from the CO about life in general than I did from my Father. So the general consensus of opinion was that he most probably had been through this situation himself. The Colonel also told us that a lot of these people were the Worlds biggest rogues two thousand years ago and had got steadily worse ever since. When I went on a holiday to Egypt in 1989 however I found that they were extremely polite and helpful. This was said to be due to the now strict rules of behavior put in place by the government to protect the tourist industry and it seemed to be working

The weather was very hot after having being used to the sea breezes on the ship but we were going to have to get used to it now in our new posting to the Canal Zone. The two hours soon passed and we arrived at our destination. After detraining we were met by and marched behind the Corps of Drums of the Irish Guards. It was quite a long march but we finally arrived at St Pierre Camp in Fayid much hotter but glad to be at our new quarters in Egypt. This camp was situated next door to the Troops of Mauritius who could be heard for some considerable distance when they challenged people trying to enter their guard gate. This posting was called M.E.L.F “Middle East Land Forces 27 denoting the First Infantry Division. Our Division sign for this posting was a white triangle with red edges, and this denoted the 1st Guards Infantry Division Middle East. We had arrived in Egypt during the Presidency of General Mohammed Neguib who had ousted King Farouk from the throne of Egypt on the 26th July 1952. King Farouk then abdicated in favour of his seven month old son Prince Ahmed-Fuad on this date after the military Coup D'etat.

After settling in we were allocated our tents; four men to a tent that were then set up on a concrete slab, and we settled down to making our stay a good one. The usual duties were allocated and some of us were given a paintbrush to whiten the company lines etc. There always seemed to be plenty of stones to paint in army camps and St Pierre was in the front line when these were issued out it seemed. One of the well-known sayings in the army was, " if it moves salute it", “if it does not " paint it. I am not quite sure who had been stationed at St Pierre Camp before we arrived; I think that it may have been the third battalion.

One of my first memorable duties after our arrival in the Canal Zone as a corporal was to collect gravel to make the concrete bases for our four men tents. We had borrowed a few tons from the Irish Guards who were stationed a few hundred yards south of us near a village called Fayed. I was put in charge of a group of South African Pioneer Corps native soldiers who supplied the manual labour and the Grenadiers had to supply the supervision. I was given a book containing “English and Swahili translations and my job were to supervise the native NCO'S who spoke no English. It did not take me too long to get used to this dialect, as language was one of my favourite subjects. Within a couple of days I had learned the basics however and very soon was quite conversant with the native labour. This project consisted of setting up great big sieves standing at an angle, lining them up and getting the soldiers to shovel the sand from the desert terrain through the sieves. The duty was hot and dusty but very interesting and lasted for a period of two weeks for each NCO in charge. Once I had mastered the method of handling and treating this different type of soldier from another country real progress was made. After talking with their NCO'S I found that music was part of their life and they would sing about their families and every thing appertaining to it. The music was quite different but had a rhythm and the workers seemed to enjoy working to the sound. After I managed to get them organised to sing in unison to their music they eventually worked very well together. I was told by my Commanding Officer that I had managed to extract more gravel and sand from them than any of the other N.C.O'S that had been delegated this duty. I enjoyed doing it and as a result learned a lot about life on the other side of the World.

It did not take us long to settle down to life in the Middle East and soon we had constructed small gardens around our tent bases. We planted watermelons in the sand outside the tent flap and kept these alive by using our washing up water. This did not seem to affect the taste of the melons though for we never foamed at the mouth when we ate the finished product. To make them grow larger and more quickly we would thread strands of wool dipped in sugar through the stalks. This was a method we learned from the local inhabitants who were past masters at this type of agriculture and who grew them in this harsh environment. This method directed the nourishment to the melon body without it having to pass through the soil first and as a result speeded up the growing process of the plant. They seemed to taste ok so I suppose that this was some sort of an achievement for us all. Apparently this method was an old dodge also used by contestants in vegetable growing contests and achieved remarkable results.

In Egypt we were responsible for looking after our own laundry but most of us would get the Egyptians to do it. They did an excellent job and needed the money so everyone benefited by this exercise. It was an education to see them using the starch on our khaki drill uniforms and a pity that I did not take photos when they were performing this task. They used to fill their mouths up with the starchy liquid then spit it out like a spray gun onto our uniforms; I am pictured in KD uniform. This method was not very hygienic but seemed very effective and the uniforms looked very smart, this was probably why the Egyptians they were so tight lipped about everything. Life carried on for us and we did our share of drills, fatigues and exercises in the desert surrounds with our tanks and guns. On a couple of occasions some of our tents were blown away in a sandstorm but we soon got used to this phenomenon. These big winds were called "Khamseen" but fortunately these were quite rare and did not bother us too much. We had quite a few minor dust storms though which were bad enough and made a lot of mess. One got used to those things however and life went on despite the setbacks. The nearest village to us called “Fayid" was only a short distance from our camp but about 100 miles from Port Said.

One of the numerous duties of our battalion was to look after this section of the Suez Canal plus the water filtration plants and numerous other important installations situated along the canal? The largest and most important of these being 14 B.O.D “the Brigade Ordinance Depot " situated at Tel El Kebir. This particular depot had a twenty eight-mile barbed wire outer perimeter surrounded by watchtowers, dogs, and searchlights and anti personnel mines. Despite these protective methods however equipment was still stolen by the local thieves. This particular guard duty took 280 sentries to look after the perimeter night and day and so the duties came around fairly quickly. Some of the Egyptians were professional pilferers and used to go nearly naked and grease their bodies to make it easier to crawl into the compound. The mines used to go off from time to time set off we believed by the Pieard dogs but not very often with the rogues. Although it was said that these people used to send the dogs in to set the mines off after which they would then crawl under the wire to gain access and get in to steal the stores. They were past masters at stealing things and survived mainly on what they could steal. Apparently one of their methods was to take articles from the inside centre of the stacks so that when these stacks were inspected everything would appear normal. It was only when the stacks were moved and the articles counted that the discrepancy was found out. It was too late to do anything about it then of course, as the rogues was long gone. There were not many jobs available for these people so they had to do something to survive in the harsh conditions I suppose.

About 300 Guardsmen were sent to Port Said to help unload ships at one time, but I missed out on this and was kept busy on other duties and patrols. These duties were very tiring in the hot dusty weather and were not popular with the majority of Guardsmen but I found them to be quite a challenge and an experience. I suppose that because I was a member of Support Company and we had the big guns and tanks that we had more to occupy our time. The duty rifle companies were perhaps less able to get away as often as we would with our heavy vehicles. On occasions we would go on exercises with the big anti tank guns and it was whilst on one of these that I nearly got shot.

When we zeroed the big 17 pounder guns in the desert we would fix a bren gun on the barrel of the 17 pounder, bolt it down and then zero it on the target. Then using the sights of the Bren gun we would then fire a series of shots from this gun onto the target and this would zero the big gun at the same time. I was sent down the range to change the target, the Bren gun having been put on safe. I had just picked up the old target in front of the anti tank gun when the Gun went off shooting the target out of my hand. The Bren had apparently been left cocked and then suddenly went off. The Officer was quite concerned and admonished the gun aimer for his lack of attention. I cannot say that I was overwhelmed with joy either for I was lucky to get away with my life that day. I had been a Corporal for some time now, and was promoted to L/Sgt early in 1954. I think that this promotion was as a result of my actions as a detachment commander in charge of a 17 pounder anti tank gun in the field. I had stood up to a Brigadier General when he told me to move my anti tank gun. I stated why I had placed it in its position, which was to defilade the gun, and crew from the enemies approach, also that only my Platoon Officer was the only person that could move me. I also stated that as my gun was part of a group of six covering a certain arc of fire by moving it this would leave an area undefended. He apparently discussed this with the gun commander and as a result of their talk they accepted my explanation. It was soon after this incident that I was promoted and I often wondered if this was perhaps the reason that I gained my promotion. From time to time we would entertain members of the Officers mess at the Sgt's Mess for a social evening.

The picture shows me at the bottom left with Gigger Hall just above me. I do not remember the name of the officer on my right but one day I am sure some one will name him for me. On the 18th April 1954 Gamal Abdel Nasser ousted General Neguib and installed himself as President of Egypt. Nasser had managed to negotiate the withdrawal of the British Troops from the Canal Zone and a draft agreement was drawn up and signed on the 19th October 1954 for the complete withdrawal within 20 months. Some civilian contractors were allowed to stay but the troops did eventually leave in the time written in the agreement. An attempt to assassinate Nasser in the November of that year was carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood but this attempt failed. He was clever though and gave the poor people five hundred houses and so gained a few votes in the popularity stakes (nothing has changed in politics) and so he got them on his side.

The biggest triumph perhaps was when the Aswan High Dam was built. The Russians did this on the cheap but it was still working very well when my wife and I visited the country in 1989. One thing that surprised me was that we were not allowed to take any photographs of this dam; I did not think that this was so important but that was the rule so we had to comply with it. By building this dam it created the second largest man made lake in the world by irrigating 4015 square kilometres of S/E Egypt and North Sudan. In 1956 though Nasser confiscated 600,000 acres of land from wealthy landowners and nationalized the Suez Canal thus creating the events that led to the start of the seven-day war. Britain did mobilize her forces during this time, which included some Guards regiments putting them on standby but the Americans intervened so the war came to an end six days later

During my service in the Canal Zone we participated in quite a few schemes and exercises in the desert. We took the opportunity of using the old tank hulks for target practice that had been left there since the end of the Second World War. We had two members of the REME “Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers attached to Support Company of the 2nd battalion Grenadier Guards during our service overseas. These men were seconded to us to undertake major mechanical work on the big guns as we were not trained or allowed to do anything other than minor maintenance and cleaning on these guns. I enclose a picture of me with one of those REME men but I cannot remember this person's name after all these years unfortunately. It was during one of these exercises that I lost most of my hair, eyebrows and large moustache that I was sporting on my face. When the gun was fired the wind caught the flame from the muzzle and carried it and blew it across my face. I was the gun commander, was stripped to the waist in the kneeling position on the right flank of the gun. The flame and wind blew my beret off with my protective goggles and caught the side of my face burning off my eyebrows, hair and moustache and the hair under my armpits. When I was taken back to barracks for treatment my brother Rodney saw me and said, “have you got a license to stand in for Boris Karloff". Boris was one of the old horror movie actors from the early days of the film industry. Not much hope for me to get any sympathy from him it seemed.

During these exercises as some of the ammunition was quite old we would have quite a few misfires and the shells would have to be destroyed. So we would then tie them all together, set a charge and a time delayed fuse and would then take off for the nearest cover and await the big bang. To our surprise when the dust had settled a crowd of Arabs would appear from the surrounding Wadi’s as if from nowhere to collect the scrap brass. There appeared to be no one within miles before this happened but they all seemed to have this ability to be in the right spot at the right time

Whilst serving in the Canal Zone the Battalion was involved in numerous other guard duties. We had to patrol the Greek Quarter, The Royal Yacht squadron base, the Warrant Officers and Sergeants club and many other places of importance. It was the responsibility of our Battalion to look after this base along with the other clubs and special area's which needed to be patrolled continuously to protect not only the equipment but to protect the personnel as well. I always remember the time when we were patrolling the Warrant Officers and Sergeants Club and we would have to wake up the Ghaffa who was in charge of the native labour. The Ghaffa would then go around waking the Egyptian workers up. He had a big stick that he used to beat them with and he would shout at them in an unintelligible dialect. We had quite a large area to patrol and this kept us busy for long periods during our tour of duty.

I used to like trading with the Bedouins in the desert, and once got some eggs by clucking like a chicken. We were visited by a wandering group of these people during one of our exercises in the desert. I joined this group and sat down in the sand, we all faced one another trying to converse but no one could speak the others language. After I had stated my name I pointed to myself and then tried to converse saying that I wanted to buy some eggs. There was lots of chattering going on with no one really understanding what the other was saying. After about ten minutes of this I decided to try a different approach and made sounds like a chicken clucking. I drew circles in the sand with my finger, then all of a sudden the group seemed to understand what I was trying to imply. It seemed to register with all of them at the same time and they rose up like a flight of birds shouting and waving their arms around. They then handed me twenty-seven tiny bantam eggs and some minuscule tomatoes. These were a bit small but seemed ok so after a lot of haggling we eventually agreed on a price and I took possession of my acquisitions. As the Bedouins got up to leave some of them shouted "Badee Bokra." Not really knowing what Badee Bokra meant I took the easy way out and said “ioah." hoping that I had not said the wrong thing. Anyway the next day practically the whole desert tribe turned up with lots more of these miniscule items. Badi Bokra apparently meant more tomorrow or something like that anyway, so my one word of Arabic turned out quite well and was well received by our cook. It was nice to have a change of diet for a few days after that episode and everyone appreciated the novelty of it all.

I observed my first" mirage' whilst taking part in an exercise in the desert when we were miles away from the Suez Canal. I saw the perfect shape of a ship upside down in the sky. This strange phenomenon had always plagued or amazed desert travellers including yours truly. It is an optical illusion that apparently occurs when the lowers strata of air are at a very different temperature from the higher strata, so that images are seen by reflection and cause illusions such as in my case an upside down ship in the Suez Canal. We were to experience these strange events quite often during our frequent exercises in the desert and were forever amazed at the phenomenon.

The adjoining photo shows me on the shores of the lake with an Arab called "Abdul who was one of the hired helps around the place. I had been ordered to do Life Saving Piquet on the shores of the Lake for two weeks which was one of the more enjoyable duties at that time. That also was an interesting duty and I was kept busy with people who were often coming to me with jellyfish stings and I treated these with iodine swabs. I remember one man who had these stings over his arms and body and as soon as I swabbed him he fainted and dropped to the ground. He soon came to though and appeared to be ok then I gave him a drink and he rested for a time and then left the area.

The Bitter Lakes were situated about half way between Port Said and Port Tewfik and were joined both at the Northern and Southern ends of the canal. The ships used to gather there and wait for the Tugboat and pilot, which would escort them through the canal complex to proceed on the second leg of their journey through the canal. This duty was very interesting as I could watch the activities taking place on the canal. It was always a hive of activity with the ships lining up at Lake Timsah to allow northbound vessels to pass. The pilot would escort these through, as they were not allowed to proceed without the pilot. Swift lateen-rigged feluccas sped by as we waved to the people of many different nationalities who were travelling on the Liners. There were always lots of people standing on the decks waving to us

The usual decrepit donkeys and herds of goats were always passing by with their loads of wood and rushes. The Bedouins used these rushes to make the roofs of the makeshift houses seen dotted around the edge of the old Suez Cairo Road. These temporary houses were made using the 44-gallon drums that had been used for carrying oil and had been left at the side of the old road. The oil had been poured onto the sand that hardened with the cooler weather overnight and this made a cheap version of a bitumen highway.

The Sweetwater Canal, which was very narrow, ran parallel with the Suez Cairo Road, perhaps only thirty feet between them at times. This canal was not true to its name but was well known for its vile stench and polluted atmosphere. If someone had the misfortune to fall into the Sweetwater Canal they had to have emergency treatment fairly quickly plus lots of injections or they would become very ill. I cannot imagine how the Egyptians survived when they drank this stuff they must have iron constitutions. I think however that their life expectancy was only a fraction of ours and we were told that they lived only to an average of about forty years. When we were engaged on early morning patrols we would see these people washing, drinking and relieving themselves in the canal.

The British army had a holiday camp on the edge of the Great Bitter Lake, and this was very popular with the troops for short local holidays. There was also a Royal Yacht Squadron base on the shores of the Bitter Lake. This Yacht Club was the one that our former Colonel "Lt COL Charles Earle DSO OBE " was hoping to use when he wanted to sail his Ketch Linty to Egypt when he knew we were about to be posted to the Canal Zone. The Colonel asked me if I would be interested in making up a crew to sail the Ketch to Egypt. However his efforts to get permission to sail his yacht to Egypt failed due to the political unrest in that area. I was sorry about that, as it would have been a tremendous experience for us all to accomplish that journey. The Colonel was a very experienced sailor and the Ketch of course was most seaworthy, as we had proved by our efforts in the Bay of Biscay in 1953.

We would sometimes make a visit to the open air Cinema at Fayid, it was a bit primitive but it would give us a nice break from the normal routine of army life. At certain times during the year we would experience a series of sandstorms which wreaked havoc with the canvas tents and our personal belongings. We lost these items because the tents were usually opened up at the sides to allow the breeze to circulate and as a consequence things would get blown away. As I write about these tents it reminded me of incident that occurred when the Platoon was having one of its drinking sessions round the campfire at night.

Some of the men were always trying to get the non-drinkers to drink with them. If they did not comply they were grabbed and told to Dance, Sing or? I will not repeat what the saying was as it is quite rude. During the course of the evening some of the more unfortunate few ended up being thrown into the Suez Canal. I knew that my time was nigh so I slipped away unnoticed and went back to my tent. I rolled myself up in the folded canvas of the side flaps and stayed very still. I could here them searching the area for me but they did not find me. The next morning they questioned me as to my whereabouts but I kept my secret to this day. Life went on and I continued to write to my girl in England nearly every week with the normal yearnings of one so far away from their loved ones. Later on I had the usual Dear John letter from her saying that she had found someone else. This was a normal part of army life and this had happened to many soldiers who were on overseas postings. We had no time to really dwell on one's memories for too long so broken hearts gradually mended and the memories faded. I must admit that I did feel quite upset for a while but life had to go on and so I found other things to do to take my mind off that subject.

In that particular area where we were stationed the Locals used to grow peanuts. We could buy them fresh straight out of the ground very cheaply for about one acca (a piastre) these were the only food items that we were allowed to buy though as everything else edible was banned by the army.

The reason for this was that the local inhabitants used human excrement for the fertilizer so we were banned from eating anything outside of our mess room. On some of our infrequent trips we would go to the open air cinema at Fayed where we would buy dates that had come straight off the tree. They must have been edible, as I am still here to tell the story.

We were one of the Regiments of the British Army who were detailed to perform tests on the new rifle called the FN that was being introduced at that time. This new rifle had been designed to replace the old Lee Enfield rifle single action bolt type or the .303 as it was called in those days. That rifle was now very much out of date but had served its purpose very well for many years. The FN rifle became the standard issue of NATO and I believe is still used today under another name with perhaps a few modifications. I think they called it the SLR (Self-loading rifle.) now unless it has been changed again. We were told to drop them in the sand and water, fire them until they got very hot and generally give them some very rough treatment.

After a bit of this kind of treatment it was found that the wooden butt had started to char with the heat when put on rapid fire so it was modified on the replacement rifle as a result of our tests. Some of our Officers were dispatched on duties all over the Middle East in relation to these trials. Major GW Lamb took a team to Khartoum, and 2 Lt ATW Duncan went to Tripoli. During our service in the Canal Zone we would pass through villages such as Abu Suweir and Ismailia the only village with a nice swimming pool. I cannot remember swimming there though as most of those places were villages that we passed through going from A to B.

During my service in Egypt as an anti tank gunner I was sent on a temporary posting to England to Netheravon in Wiltshire on a “BAT " brigade anti tank gun course. This course was designed to train NCOs from different Regiments of the armed services so that they in turn could train the gun crews in their own units. The new gun was a 120 mm new gun, lighter and more portable and was towed by its nozzle by an Austin Champ Jeep. This gun was much more effective than the one that the British Army had been using for years.

There were about fifty of us on the gun course participants coming from all over the world including an Officer from the Arab Legion in Trans Jordan. I made a friend with a sergeant from South Africa, who came from the Royal Military College in Voortrekker Hoogti Valhalla South Africa. We spent some interesting times together visiting the town of Salisbury Wiltshire during our rostered time off in the evenings. This historical town was only about twenty miles away and had a beautiful cathedral. My South African companion taught me some Afrikaans songs and we used to sing these on the top deck of the bus going into Salisbury. This Anti Tank Gun was a new type of weapon, and was named the 120 mm “BAT “(Brigade Anti Tank Gun.) It had a two hundred yards lethal zone behind it and it had to be fired from the side, as fragments from the base of the projectile were expelled from the rear of the gun after it was fired. During the course we learned how to use range finders and other items of equipment. I passed this course and returned to my battalion in Egypt as an instructor on this weapon.

During my service in Egypt we had many other interesting duties and travelled to the Anglo Egyptian Sudan border, the Red Sea, and other places of interest. One of the more strenuous of these duties was the Moascar cable patrol duty. We had to protect a telephone cable buried just below the surface of the sand stretching for 90 miles. This cable was made of copper and connected the telephones to the security systems between Port Said and the Moascar garrison. The Egyptians would tie a rope to the cable that was buried only a few inches below the surface of the sand, hitch it to a Camel, and then take off dragging a long length behind them. It was an easy matter for them to cut the cable and take off with their loot. We had to be quick when they did this even though we were in radio contact with the base at all times. It was very valuable for the copper content, apart from being essential for the security of the Canal Zone. This was a very tiring duty, as we had to patrol it continuously in the very hot weather, and had to make constant patrols up and down the line for twenty-four hours a day. I lost over a stone in weight in the two weeks that I was on that particular duty patrol and was glad when we were relieved for other duties.

Because we were stationed in the desert we would often go on exercises to fire our 17 pounder guns, one place being an area near the Red Sea. We set up our camp on the shores of the Red Sea not too far from the border of the Anglo Egyptian Sudan. It was extremely hot and we used to throw buckets of salt water on to our bivouacs to try to cool them down but this was not very affective. A few of my squad mates went climbing the mountains that were situated not too far away. I had completed part of the climb with them but decided that it was too hot and dangerous for me to continue so I returned on my own. In fact by doing this I had made it far harder for myself than if I had stayed with them. It was certainly too hot really for anyone to attempt strenuous climbs up the steep slopes anyway. I remember on that particular day the 22nd June 1954, it was my twenty-second birthday. I actually had a birthday card delivered by the post corporal whilst on the beach of the Red Sea. This was quite an event considering the vast distance and isolation of our position at that time.

When swimming in the Red Sea one had to be very careful as the sharks were plentiful in the early hours of the morning and in the evenings. The waters of the Red Sea contained a large amount of interesting types of sea life, one species being the beautiful little sea horses. Apparently the male of this species has a pouch in front of him and carries the seed of the babies, which he hatches out in three weeks and sprays them out when they are born. It was nice to watch the sea horses swimming about in front of you, as the Red Sea was alive with these novel creatures. I believe that they are now considered an endangered species but in those days were very plentiful. One of the interesting times to be in Egypt was during Ramadan. This was the holy month of Islam held in the ninth month (our June) of the Islamic calendar, and consists of fasting and feasting where nothing touches the lips between sunrise and sunset. Praying takes place five times a day during the holy month and if they were cutting your hair during a particular time they would stop, wash their hands feet and faces. When they had finished saying their prayers to Allah they would then continue with what they were doing. If any of the Arabs were caught eating drinking or smoking during daylight hours they would be put in goal for the month. Nothing was more important to them than their religion and those that could afford it of course made the pilgrimage to Mecca. This period of Fasting ended at the appearance of the new moon and ended with a three-day feast, called Id El Fitr.

In the June of 1955 our Battalion trooped the colour in Moascar,

In the June of 1955 our Battalion trooped the color in Moascar, the Commanding Officer commanded the parade with Capt. PJC Ratcliffe as Adjutant. The Escort Officers were Maj MS Bayley, Capt GC Anderson and 2 Lt ATW Duncan. No 2 Guard comprised Maj DW Hargreaves, Lt MCG Jeffrey’s and 2Lt DV Fanshawe.

Whilst I was stationed in Egypt I had the opportunity to go to Malta flying by York Aircraft. This was a very noisy plane and one had to put rubber earplugs in, as the engine noise was so loud.

We landed at Valletta in Malta and also flew to Castel Benito in Tripoli Tania which had been Mussolini's Palace during the war. One thing I do remember was that on the following week an aircraft flown by “Captain Coker" who had piloted the plane that I flew on the previous week crashed and everyone was killed.

Malta was known as the "George Cross Island” because of its heroic performance during the Second World War was a very small, ancient and interesting country steeped in history.

During our stay in Egypt we had the opportunity to visit Cairo. Cairo had been out of bounds to the troops for many years but Major GW Lamb of Support Company arranged for a group of Sergeants Mess members to take a day trip to this historical City. The Major organised a coach leaving from Port Said and travelling to Cairo for about twenty of us who wanted to go on the trip.

The coach was very old but we did manage to arrive safely after quite a long journey. We stopped en route at a point on the Nile where it was reputed that the baby Moses was found in the rushes. On arrival at Cairo we were introduced to our Government guides who were most informative and knowledgeable. We were told that Cairo had been built on the 2000-year-old Roman fortress site called Babylon. I always thought that Babylon was somewhere else and so learned something that day. We were taken to the great Pyramid of King Khufu, or (Cheops) in Greek.

It was during the time of this visit in 1954 that archaeologists had discovered two subterranean chambers that had been carved in the bedrock adjacent to this Great Pyramid of Khufa at Giza. Excavation in one of the chambers uncovered the disassembled pieces of a wooden funerary boat apparently intended for Pharaoh Khufu's use in the afterlife. Even after nearly 4600 years the boats timbers were in a near perfect state of preservation. The boat was later reassembled and put on display in a museum that was built adjacent to this pyramid. Egyptologists wondered for years whether the second chamber, roofed by a five foot thickness of limestone contained another royal boat- and whether the air sealed in the chamber for 46 centuries had some property that helped preserve the wood of the boat because the original boat was showing signs of deterioration. They thought that if they could explore the second chamber this might lead to a way of preserving it longer. It was many years later when I joined the Space unit that I learned that in 1985 a special video camera and drill developed for NASA for drilling on the moon had been used to drill into this chamber. It was found that in fact there was another second royal boat disassembled like the first one in stacks of wooden panels, planks and oars. There had been air in the chamber before it was drilled, but it was again sealed off until better ways were found to access the chamber without causing the contents to deteriorate further.

The particular Pyramid we were visiting was built in (C. 2545-2520 BC) and its sides run exactly from North to South and East to West. This made some theorists believe that it was built this way so that it could be used as a sundial, a calendar and an astronomical observatory. A few of us went inside led by official Egyptian guides from the Cairo museum carrying candles and entered from a hole that had been made at the base of the Pyramid. The guides had to be official government officers because of the unrest in the Canal Zone at that time. Some of us climbed a wooden roof type ladder that stretched for about eighty-eight yards long and was similar to the ones used by tilers in the roofing industry. This ladder had been laid along the slope leading upward into the top of the Pyramid. The entrance was narrow but when we got to the top it opened out into a big Chamber which was the “The Kings Tomb “In one corner of the chamber was a large empty granite container where the embalmed body of King Cheops had been laid. This granite box was bigger than the entrance that we passed through, so it was assumed that the King had been placed in there before the pyramid was finished. The lid was not there and had apparently been removed by someone previously. The Kings body had been taken from this tomb many years before and was laid to rest in the Cairo museum. The guide pointed out a hole in the wall and said to me put your face close to the hole and stand quite still. When I did this I felt a breath of cold air on my cheek and the guide said that this was made so that the spirit of the Queen could pass upwards to visit the King. I was told that the Queen had been placed in a coffin in the ground chamber this has been hotly debated by quite a few people as it was thought that the Kings were supposed to be buried on their own.

Outside the pyramid the Sphinx had been damaged its face pocked marked with deep holes and we were told that this was as a result of Napoleon using it for target practice for his cannons. We all had our pictures taken on Camels, in front of the Pyramid and the Great Sphinx then we left for Cairo and the hotel. During our trip to Cairo we also visited the Citadel of the Mohammed Ali Mosque built 1824 /57 which was a huge inspiring building overlooking the City. This building stood within the confines of the 12th century Citadel built by Saladin and was similar to the Taj Mahal in India. Before we were allowed to go inside the Temple, the Egyptians made us put cloth sandals over our own shoes.

The reason for this was due to their religious beliefs and these beliefs were strictly policed and adhered to. Another one of the places we also visited whilst in Cairo was the Cairo Zoo and surprisingly enough we were not allowed to take our camera's in with us which appeared strange. The Zoo was in a very poor state and not very well looked after. In the Cairo Museum we were allowed to take photos of the exhibits which surprised me. After a very interesting tour around the museum we then boarded a Dhow for our trip down the River Nile.

One thing that stood out in my memory from that trip was that the crew lit a fire in the middle of the deck to cook their food. As this was a completely wooden boat it was surprising that it did not catch fire, but it may have been because they were using charcoal for the fuel. After the River Nile boat trip we were taken to the bazaar area for shopping, and then to finish off the trip we were taken back to the hotel. We had quite a good meal and afterwards we were entertained by a" Gilly Gilly man". The “Gilly Gilly Man “was the name given to an Arab magician, and this particular one was quite clever so it was quite an experience for us all. After the show and tour was over we commenced the journey back to our camp travelling on the rickety coach that had seen better days. However it got us back a bit shaken up but without incident anyway.

In 1989 as part of a world tour my wife and I spent a week in Cairo and visited the same Pyramid. The ground outside the Pyramid had been excavated and was found to be about five yards below the 1954 level. It was on this ground that the museum had been erected to display the funerary boat as previously mentioned in my story.

Soon after our trip to Cairo the Battalion moved from St Pierre camp in Fanara near the Great Bitter Lake, moving our tanks and equipment by Z craft along the Suez Canal to "Golf Course Camp" Port Said arriving at the end of December 1954. It was during this year that LT /Col the Hon Fitzalan Howard MC took over the command of the second Battalion from Lt Col C Earle DSO OBE who left for England in the January of 1955. The Senior Major at this time was Major AG Way MC.

Golf Course Camp in Port Said was to be the home of the 2nd battalion Grenadiers for the rest of their term in Egypt. The new camp was not too bad; the toilet systems were a bit primitive though and consisted of a row of wooden boxes with trap doors at the rear of each box. When one was sitting down doing what comes naturally, there would suddenly be a blast of hot air and an Egyptian would turn up with a horse and cart. He would then start to empty the boxes of their smelly contents and load them on to the cart. The Egyptians apparently used this brew on their vegetable gardens as fertilizer, so we were not allowed to eat any food that had been prepared outside of our own cookhouse. These toilets were an improvement on the others we had in our previous camp at Fanara as those were just constructed over a huge hole in the ground. They had consisted of a group of timber compartments (about ten in line) fitted over the hole in the ground; these were not emptied at all. From time to time some joker would light a bit of paper and drop it down the hole whilst you were sitting in the next compartment. There would be a whoosh as the collection of gases ignited and this was followed by a horrible stink. If you were lucky you got away without having your hair singed in your private places. The urinals were a sight to see and consisted of a square of concrete set into the ground with a funnel like contraption fitted down into the centre. These strange fittings were affectionately known by one and all as Pissaphones or desert roses, not a very nice term but very apt of course. The Lysol men who would spray this black sticky mixture around the base and this helped to keep the flies away and they were cleaned daily. This method never seemed to work anyway and the places always stunk to high heaven.

I used to like watching the big Liners sailing in to the docks at Port Said. We would walk along the entrance to the pier at the entrance to the Suez Canal where the statue of Ferdinand De Lessees the French Engineer who opened the Canal in 1869. This statue signifying the opening of the Suez Canal which had become the lifeline of the Empire had been demolished when we called in to Port Said on our way to Australia in 1962. Apparently it signified Britain's dominion over Egypt and so they destroyed it even though the French had put it there. We were still pestered to death by the peddlers shouting Spayed; and trying to sell us dirty postcards or Spanish fly. Spanish fly was transparent water like liquid that was reputed to be some sort of an aphrodisiac. When I said to them "what is the good of Spanish fly, no women" they would answer, I sell you my sister. However with the smell of the place and the look of some of these women I declined their noble offer (honest.) One got used to these people and learned to ignore them after a time by just saying Imshe Yella!

The shopkeepers knew when the ships were due to arrive and consequently doubled the prices of all of their goods. By so doing this they allowed a big margin for haggling and they always came out on top. One never got a real bargain though as the Egyptians were the world’s best psychologists and could read your mind whilst you were standing there. Whilst stationed in Port Said if we wanted to go into the town we had to go out in pairs because of the continuing problems with some of the unfriendly population. They had stepped up their aggressive actions against us at every opportunity trying to get the British to withdraw from the Canal Zone. There had been rioting for eighteen months now as some of the people tried to get home rule introduced sooner than the specified date. This situation never stopped us moving around though and we would sometimes go over to Port Fouad, pictured

We would board the ferry as it was just across the water from Port Said. This place was designated a married families and holiday area and this made a change from going round the same old shops in Port Said anyway. I was not allowed to go out with my Brother Rodney, as he was a Guardsman at that time. NCOs were not allowed to fraternize with the other ranks even if they were relatives. I was an L/Sergeant at that time and we had to comply with certain rules.

Rodney was still working in the tailors shop under Sgt T Leach who was later to be replaced by C/ Sgt H Cowell in 1954. Rodney was promoted to C/Sgt in 1963 and remained in that rank until his retirement sometime in 1978. Lou Drouet who I mentioned early on in my story when we were serving in Germany had now joined us in Egypt as his term at the Royal Military College had ended. He then became the Company Sergeant Major of Support Company for a short time.

His first name was Lou but I am pretty certain that smart person though and a good example to model one against. He was promoted to Assistant Drill Sergeant in the 3rd Battalion who were stationed in Germany. The 3rd Battalion had returned to Chelsea Barracks after the 2nd Battalion had relieved them. After Lou had completed his term with the 3rd Battalion he was again posted to the 2nd Battalion and joined us once more in Egypt. He then held the rank of Assistant Drill Sergeant and was a very good one. In 1955 Tom Taylor was posted to the 2nd Battalion in Egypt as Assistant Drill Sergeant and Lou Drouet was then appointed the Drill Sergeant. I have since learned from his Grand daughter that Lou Drouet had passed away but he will be remembered for a long time by the Grenadiers who served with him.

In the June of 1955 whist we were stationed in Port Said the Battalion Trooped the Colour for the Queens Birthday Parade. This took place in Moascar and I am grateful for the photo of this event that was supplied by another 2nd Battalion man Doug Caunt who served with me at that time. Doug also supplied the six excellent photos of Golf Course Camp, the tent being his last home in Egypt before he returned to England.

Whilst I was serving in the Canal Zone the British Government had to get rid of millions of pounds worth of stores such as Bren gun carriers, radios, clothing, tents and lots of other army stores. The reason for this being was that the British had to get out of the Canal Zone and were not allowed to sell the stores to the Local inhabitants. It would have been far too expensive to have to transport everything back to England and so they were all dumped over board into the Mediterranean. What a horrible waste, if I had been an army surplus dealer in those days I could have been a rich man by now and started a few uprisings of my own.

I had served nearly five years in the Grenadiers when my Father wrote to me and said that he and the family had decided to migrate to Australia and he asked me if I would like to go to Australia with them. I did consider this and in fact this was one of a couple of reasons that I then decided to leave the regiment after five years rather than stay in and make it my career. However I had not completely made up my mind to go to Australia and wanted more time to think about it

Soon after this my family left England to go to live in South Australia and Dad became employed by the Department of Defence Weapons Research Establishment. He wrote to me and said that there was a good job for me at the Woomera Rocket Range in South Australia as a Commonwealth Policeman. It was about that time that one of our Officers “I think it was a Captain Tunnicliffe “got a job as the Aide to the Shah of Persia. I was offered this honourable position of course but I turned it down, as I did not like Persian cats. The Egyptians were offering our NCO'S Commissioned Ranks in the Egyptian army but as far as I can remember no one took them up on the offer.

I left the Grenadiers soon after receiving Dad's letter and returned to Luton the town where I had spent a greater part of my young life. However within a very short time I was to meet a young lady who was to change my life and I had to put off thoughts of migrating to Australia for the present at least. It was to be much later when I eventually did migrate to Australia in 1962 but with a wife and two children.

My Battalion stayed at Port Said for a few more months then had to leave the Canal Zone as the Treaty between the Governments of Egypt and England had expired. There had been Guardsmen in Egypt since 1882 and in fact the 2nd Battalion Grenadiers were the first British Troops to land in Egypt in 1882 and were the last to leave Egypt in 1956.This was the end of a very long era for some of the regiments. The 2nd Battalion left for England leaving Egypt on the 2nd April 1956 at midnight not wanting to leave on April Fools day. They sailed on the SS Devonshire via Malta picking up families from Tripoli and arrived in England for leave and their new Headquarters at Pirbright

They were stationed at Pirbright for a short period of time then were moved to Windsor Castle taking over from the 1st Battalion. The Battalion did not stay very long at Windsor before they were off again to an overseas posting in 1956 sailing this time for Cyprus. My Brother Rodney who had decided to stay in the regiment was by now the master tailor. He became a Colour Sergeant in 1963 and served in that position from 1963 to 1975. When Rodney left the grenadiers he had held that rank for fifteen years the longest time that a Full Sgt Master Tailor had held this position since the late 1800s. The other sergeant tailor had apparently held his position for sixteen years. Rodney stayed in the Regiment and served about 26 years all together. When he retired he carried on with the business of tailoring and supplied various regiments with uniforms and sometimes-civilian attire. Rodney is still a Military Tailor having his own business and looks after several Army Regiments throughout the London area. When my wife and I went on a visit to London in 1989 Rodney took us to Pirbright where he conducted his business of tailoring for the Regiment's. The following pictures show Rodney and my wife and I outside the tailor's shop in the barracks at Pirbright

Pictured also is a photo of "Timothy Hill” Rodney's son who was serving in the Grenadiers at that time. Tim had just come back from a route march and had come to meet us at the tailor's shop. It was nice to meet them both after such a long time.

Since my story was displayed on the internet web page several of my old comrades have contacted me the most recent being a Ken Stevenson who was in the same platoon and shared the same four man tent in Support company, he named the other members of the foursome they being, 22869689 Dave Stopps and Bob Cockrill. Unfortunately Dave passed away this year 2005.

I have since learned that another four members of my battalion have also passed away since the time of my writing this story.

The Guards Depot at Caterham has also closed and has been sold to a development company for housing but a few of the buildings have been converted to housing accommodation. Fortunately a recent publication called” The Guards and Cater ham “The Soldiers Story" has been put together and I take the liberty of using the quotation on page 287 regarding its production. The Organizers of this informal record of a unique establishment had the enthusiastic co-operation of former Guardsmen, many of them now thousands of miles and long years away from Caterham. Theirs is the story in these pages. Much valuable input and encouragement came by letter and telephone from men and women with Guards connections whose names are not in the narrative. We who have been responsible for producing this book offer our sincere thanks by naming as many as we can. For those people who wish to obtain a copy of this publication I refer them to the link to the Brigade of Guards.

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