Page 93 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
Aden to take the horse which meant the OC finally had to say goodbye to Pepsi.”11
It had to happen, given the politically volatile situation, the Unit had to admit that there was going to be a gap in the Journal series in 1964. The insert by 3 WDTU RAVC read: “It is regretted that the disturbed political situation in Cyprus has prevented the production of unit notes for this issue of the Journal. We wish all RAVC personnel in Cyprus well and hope that conditions will speedily return to normal.”
UNFICYP
For some, Cyprus is their Mediterranean playground but many fellow veterans will know that BB does not stand for Bridget Bardot but rather the Blue Beret of UNFICYP and, as items of clothing, they outnumbered bikinis on the Island’s beaches in 1964. In a retrospective view it was said: “What a sad place Cyprus is, once again in the throes of upheaval and there are hopes for a record tourist season, and so a boost to its internal economy, dashed to the ground. We, however, must see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil and cannot opine on local political matters; so, you will forgive us if these notes are more of a family nature than of the sterling deed done in the due course of duty.”
However, for the dogs, the work continued although not with the UNFICYP. Sadly, the dogs of 3 WDTU could not play any part in the peace keeping work assigned to the UN – that fell to the twenty dogs serving with the Swedish contingent and ten with the Finnish contingent. All were Guard dogs carrying out routine patrolling duties and guarding of leaguer12 areas. Any difficulties that existed did not come from the dogs – they came from the handlers, most of whom were Turkish Cypriots. For almost an entire month no handlers reported for duty and with almost one hundred dogs to care for the Unit was plunged into a predicament.
The Unit was grateful for six reinforcements from Melton, who spent six weeks helping out. The Turkish handlers’ one month’s absence was, of course, only the initial and admittedly the worst period, but there were shorter periods without handlers and running on a low complement became an almost daily challenge. The handlers who made it into work did so under the most difficult conditions and their presence, and
11 The Journal of The Royal Army Veterinary Corps Volume 34 No 2 Autumn 1963.
12 A military camp.
13 The Journal of The Royal Army Veterinary Corps Volume 35 No 2 Autumn 1964.
14 The Journal of The Royal Army Veterinary Corps Volume 36 No 1 Spring 1965.
15 Soldier Magazine dated February 1965.
courage, was very much appreciated by their colleagues. The team worked under a constant air of uncertainty. The case of the handlers who disappeared with others, from a bus, caused huge concern and the Unit sent sympathy to the handlers’ worried families. Despite the on-going threats to person and property it was imperative to congratulate FARELF for the way the use of dogs has been promoted and with that came an overall increase in the Corps establishment.13
A call for peace and the tranquillity that promised to go with it was consistently in everyone’s prayers throughout the upheavals in Cyprus. A quiet Christmas was enjoyed in 1965 and then came the discussions surrounding the obligatory moves of RAVC personnel. One of those on the move was the SVRO whose itinerary read: Nicosia – Aden – Nairobi – Aden – El Adam – UK – Nicosia... and less frequent visits to Malta which had become unnecessary due to the presence of Major Scott Moffat who held the fort there for some time, before being relieved by Captain Keith Morgan Jones.14
And what of the UN? By the autumn of 1965, the Unit was familiar with the polyglot of UN Forces to be seen everywhere – some bringing in their families too, even unofficially. It was a move made without any real knowledge of how long they would be needed in Cyprus and, as the press reported at the time, it could be a case of ‘here for years or leave tomorrow’.
Moving up and on
As dog tales go, the on-going saga of the canine brothers Hawk and Raven remained popular as Soldier Magazine faithfully followed the recruits:
Remember me?
A young pup recruit had his photograph taken in June 1963 alongside his brother, soon after they joined 3 WDTU as new recruits. The pup was caught having a bit of a yawn in the original photo, but now both pups have grown and are following in their father’s footsteps, a champion Tracker and the grown dog now does Red Cross work – casualty detection and all that sort of thing and its brother is in Arms Recovery. The picture of the two black Labradors was taken in June with their trainer Cpl Tom McDine RAVC.15
Life in Cyprus was made a lot more comfortable for a MWD named “Sheba” – thanks to the veterinary team as Soldier Magazine reported in 1966:
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