Page 73 - RADC 2016

MEMORIES
Harz Mountains and Goslar
Dr Bernard Spencer
I was intrigued to read about the trip of the Royal Army Dental Corps personnel to the Harz Mountains and Goslar in Germany.
In 1952 until 1954 I was the dental of cer to the Royal Lincolnshire regiment and subsequently to the Royal Berkshire regiment in Goslar I am still an honorary member of the royal Lincolns after 50 years.
We spend a lot of time skiing in the heart mountains although the highest point,
the Brocken, was just within the Russian zone and ran into our back garden. The Hartsburg Hof hotel, in the nearby town of bad Hartsburg was the army leave centre for the whole of Germany. We had many great times there.
One morning I was leaving the camp when the Major-General in command of the RADC in Germany paid a lighting visit. Upon seeing my car with RADC insignia and skis sticking out of the roof he asked where I was going on that time the morning. I replied that had been asked to ski for the regimental ski
team. His response was:
“...we love you young chaps to take
part in Regimental life. Carry on, my boy!” Goslar was a great place; the dental centre was situated in the ight control
centre of a former Luftwaffe airbase within the old control tower.
One of the places which I visited one day per week was the university town of Göttingen where I looked after the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.
It was a most formative period in my life and left me with a lasting interest
in all things military. I did an MA in War Studies at Kings London 2002. One
of my papers was ‘Changes in military dentistry in the last 100 years’.
One other important period of my military career was when stationed at 601 Army Dental Centre, Evelyn Woods Road and learning how to extract teeth well. I was taught by a Major in the RADC (ex Indian Army) who only had one arm!
Author (3rd left) with the Of cers of the Royal Berkshire Regiment 1952
RADC BULLETIN 2016 71