Page 59 - RADC Bulletin 2019

OBITUARY
Colonel C V Heap L/RADC
7th April 1934 – 22nd June 2019
Colonel Heap’s career with the Royal Army Dental Corps started when he
was appointed to a Short Service Commission in 1962 in the rank of Major. On Commissioning he was granted several years seniority based on previous experience as a dental practitioner; having had two periods in general practice, several years as a schools Dental Officer, and a Short Service Commission in the Dental branch of the RAF.
His first appointment was as OIC Army Dental Centres Eglinton, Londonderry and Omagh, after which he took the appointment of OC Army Dental Centre Northern Ireland on retirement of the incumbent. Whilst in Northern Ireland
he was offered and accepted a Regular Commission. He was then appointed as OC of the Army Dental Service in Berlin.
Three years later he was back in the UK at Strensall in North Yorkshire, where he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. From there he was posted to Hong Kong to take up
the post of OC Army Dental Centres. During his time in Hong Kong he was invited to join the St John’s Ambulance Brigade to replace the departing Dental Surgeon. His duties included running an evening dental clinic and travelling to the New Territories and outlying islands to carry out treatment with the Brigade’s Dental team.
The next appointment was as DDS
Northern Command in York. When this appointment was disestablished, he moved to Catterick Garrison where he was tasked with creating 7 Dental Group and assumed his first appointment as Commanding Officer. The appointment that followed was to HQ BAOR Rheindahlen as Dental Officer, before assuming the command of 2 Dental Group Paderborn.
From Paderborn he was promoted
to his first Senior Staff role at the MOD Army Medical Directorate as ADADS (Assistant Director Army Dental Services). This was followed by the appointment of Commandant of HQ & Training Centre RADC. At this time, he became an Officer Brother of the Order of St John. From here he moved to HQ UKLF at Wilton as DDDS. In this appointment he was also Inspector of Training to the Dental Service in the Territorial Army. In addition to tours of duty visiting Dental Groups in the UK, he also attended TA Field Ambulance and Field Hospital exercises. Due to a shortage of RAMC Resuscitation Officers in the Regular Army Field Ambulance, he suggested and was tasked with a joint feasibility study, with the Director of Army Surgery, to produce a course for training selected Dental Officers as Resuscitation Officers. Subsequently, trained RADC Officers were appointed to RAMC Field Ambulances in this role. Also, during this period, he sought approval,
which was granted, by DADS to follow
the Army Medical Service in promoting Adventure Training courses for personnel at HQ & Training RADC and the UKLF Dental Groups. On relinquishing this appointment, he took over as CO 4 Dental Group, followed by a further period of duty as CO 3 Dental Group.
From this appointment, he retired from the Army a year early, and became a CDP (Civilian Dental Practitioner) at Army Dental Centre Catterick Garrison for 6 years, until his retirement from Dental practice aged 65 years.
Colonel Heap was an experienced Angler with a special interest in ‘fly dressing’, which he indulged in whenever the opportunity presented itself. He ran a number of fly dressing courses, both for civilian and service anglers. During his appointment as Commandant Aldershot, he took on the role of Chairman the newly created Army Angling Association. He retained this role for 13 years, including the time he worked as CDP at Catterick on retirement from the Army. During his time, he was a member of a very successful Army Fly Fishing Team, obtaining full Army Colours. Later, in retirement he took up watercolour painting and became an experienced wildlife artist with a particular interest in representing fish and birds.
Jennifer Law (daughter)
MILITARY EXERCISES
Ex Halberd Dawn
15 – 20 September 2019
Major Robin D B Dickson RADC 251 Med Sqn 225 Med Regt
254 Medical Regiment deployed on Ex Halberd Dawn in Grantham to operate a Role 1 Medical Reception Station as part of a larger 102 Logistics Brigade exercise.
It was also the first time that a Reserve Medical Regiment deployed a field dental surgery as part of the treatment facility.
Although the dental module equipment has some limitations, which meant that actual treatment was not possible, there were several dental treatment scenarios incorporated into the overall casualty insertion plan.
medical/dental cases such as mandibular/ maxillary fractures were incorporated and some issues explored surrounding age- determination dental examinations in refugee teenagers/young adults.
Another first for the exercise was procuring a new field PDU for familiarization/ demonstration and many thanks are due to J&S Davis of Stevenage for lending the unit and to Liam Morley for delivering it. The PDU was first seen by RADC Reservists in Plymouth at their annual study weekend in March 2019.
As well as purely dental patients, joint
RADC BULLETIN 2019 57