Page 76 - The Wish Stream Year of 2020 Crest

Some random memories of Gaza Coy, Intake 35
Mike Adler (Late Senior Cadet Corporal)
We started with 25 Juniors in September 1963, and 22 of us passed out in July 1965 (at a Sovereign’s Parade taken by HM The Queen).
There were some real characters in our Pla- toon. One was a direct relation of a winner of a VC at Rorkes Drift. One was an ‘old soldier’ from the Parachute Regiment (most helpful to us with all his experience, particularly of bulling kit). He marched with a ‘Para-Roll’ of his shoul- ders which was useful in that it distracted and annoyed the Drill Staff, thereby deflecting some attention from the rest of us (he did not pass out). Another was an ex-croupier who was one of our bravest in that he persisted in wearing one gold earring. Unfortunately, he did not last the course and years later, in December 2001, I was sorry to read his death announced in The Times. We had two overseas Cadets: one from Rhodesia. He was also an ‘old soldier’. As far
as I can remember, our other overseas Cadet did not pass out – injured, I believe, although he survived most of the course. We started as a very nervous collection of individuals, as can be seem from our first course photograph. We were terrified of Bunny Whitehead, our Grenadier Guards Sergeant responsible for our drill, which he made us practice during much of our ‘free’ time in the Company Anteroom. Equally scary was our CSM, Ernie Marchant. Years later when I was out of the Regular Army and lecturing on the financial aspects of resettlement, I entered an office in Colinton Infantry Barracks and came immediately to attention, absolutely rigid. There, sitting behind a six-foot table covered with a tar- tan rug was ‘Ernie’. He was commissioned by then but unchanged, and of course he remem- bered me!
During our first term, our JUO was killed in a car crash and our Cdt/Sgt was promoted in his
74 HISTORICAL