Page 7 - RADC Bulletin 2021

HISTORY
Memories of my National Service
Col (Retd) D Smith
Having served in the Corps for thirty seven years as a National Service Officer, TA Officer and Regular Officer, the memories of my National Service days are the most poignant because of new experiences and adventure they involved.
I was called up in October 1956 and was originally posted to Berlin. I was greatly disappointed, as other members on the basic course were being posted to exotic places like Singapore, Kenya or the West Indies. One day the Senior Instructor, a Lt Col Ken Galloway, announced there was a posting to Aden, were there any volunteers, I immediately put my hand up.
I left for Aden in December, accompanied by NS DCA Private Daly, who remained in the Corps after his National Service and became a WO2 Chief Clerk. We left Blackbush
Airport on a Sunday night flying on a Britavia Hermes. It was just after the Suez Campaign and flying over Arab countries was not allowed. Hence we took a circuitous route to Aden, via Malta, Tripoli Libya, Kano Northern Nigeria, Fort Lamy French Equatorial Africa (now known as N’Djamena Chad) Entebbe Uganda and Mogadishu Somalia. I think we arrived three days later.
As Senior Officer on the plane, I had the dubious honour of being Officer in Charge of the Flight. I was also tasked to be in charge of two schoolboys who were flying out to join their parents in Aden for Christmas. They were extremely naughty, and at rest stops refused to wash or change their clothes.
In desperation, at Entebbe, I appealed for help from a Brigadier’s wife who was flying out to join her husband with her young daughter. She immediately marched the two boys into the Ladies washroom. They reappeared having had a shower and change of clothes, looking very clean but very embarrassed.
On arrival at Aden, I was met by Flight Lieutenant Syd Falloon, a large boisterous and gregarious Irish man, who whisked
me off to the Aden Protectorate Hospital. The Officers’ Mess there was very small
and the staff at the Hospital consisted of
the CO, a Wing Commander, a Surgeon, a Physician, a GP, an Anaesthetist (Syd) and now me. Accommodation was limited and
I had to share a bedroom with Syd, the CO disapproved of the arrangement and told me to leave and find alternative accommodation.
This entailed a visit to the Army HQ at Steamer Point. Until the Second World
War Aden had always been administered
by the Indian Civil Service and the Aden Protectorate Levies by the Indian Army. After the War, it was administered by the Colonial Office and commanded by the RAF,
the Levies by the RAF Regiment. In 1956
it was being taken over by the Army. This proved not to be a smooth handover and was referred to by some as ‘blue/brown’ war.
At the Army HQ I managed to get an interview with the DAQMG, a rather stuffy old major, who did not even know I had been posted to Aden. He was amazed to hear I did not have a dental centre nor any equipment; the Protectorate Hospital had never had a Dental Officer on its staff before. As personal accommodation went, it was a case of, “I can’t be of any help old boy, suggest we put you up in the Crescent Hotel at the Queen’s Expense,thereareotherofficerslivingthere”. I explained that I did not want to live in a hotel but in an Officers’ Mess.
I was left to my own devices to find alternative accommodation. The Resident Battalion was The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. With me being Scottish I thought they may be of some help to me. Undeterred I headed for the Battalion HQ in Singapore Lines.
Despite the fact I had only been commissioned for two months, I had the temerity to confront their Adjutant and request an interview with the Commanding Officer. The Adjutant reluctantly agreed after some persuasion. The CO, Lt Colonel Stevenson, after hearing of my plight commented that he would be delighted for me and LCpl Daley to be attached to the Regiment “For All Purposes”. I had a home at last. I had a happy stay and was readily absorbed into the life of the Regiment, becoming a member of the Mess Committee and captain of their 7 a side rugby team.
The DDADS at HQ MELF in Cyprus, a Colonel whose name I have forgotten and never met, seemed totally disinterested that I had neither a dental surgery nor equipment. I was finally allocated a small room at the Protectorate Hospital. The only facilities being a bare light bulb and a washbasin
with cold water. The DAQMG then
informed me that some dental equipment would be arriving from Kenya. It arrived
in a wicker pannier of field equipment; it
was WW2 pattern. Looking at it you could have been fooled into thinking it was WW1 pattern. It contained a metal dental chair, some hand instruments, mainly extracting forceps, and other bits and pieces. Lots of zinc oxide and bottles of oil of cloves. The outstanding item was a treadle machine;
I believe an example of this is displayed
in the Corps Museum. This allowed me to practice emergency treatment. Despite
his disinterest in my situation DDADS did manage to instruct me to carry out a dental inspection of all Army Personnel in Aden and
forward him the results. Why? What these results achieved remains a mystery to me to this day!!
During my stay in Aden, I was lucky enough to meet a fellow Scot, George Henderson, who was a District Officer in
the Colonial Office. On three occasions he invited me to join him on his ‘diplomatic’ trips round his parish which also included the Eastern Protectorate or the Hadhramaut. Its capital, Makulla, was described as the skyscraper city of Arabia. During his trips he visited all the local mukhtars and we were lavishly entertained, eating huge Arabic Mezes sitting cross legged on the ground, eating with our hands. At night we camped out under the stars – this was a huge adventure.
Later that year, DDADS was replaced by Col Cleland Dobbie. A charming man who was accompanied by his eccentric wife Frankie (a true daughter of the Empire).
He phoned me to tell me he thought I had been out long enough in the midday sun
in Aden and should come to Cyprus. My successor arrived and while waiting for
a flight to Cyprus I quietly disappeared
on another trip with George Henderson.
In 1963 I was saddened to hear that this charismatic, outstanding man was killed by a terrorist hand grenade whilst protecting the High Commissioner from the blast. This courageous man had also enacted another heroic act in 1956 where he tackled ten Arab tribesmen firing on a diplomatic car. For these actions of bravery he was awarded the George Cross, twice.
On arrival I reported to the HQ in Episcopi and was greeted by Col Dobbie’s Chief Clerk, SSgt Desmond Hopkins, with the words,
“the wanderer has arrived”. Desmond was later commissioned and became the first non-dental officer to attain the rank of Lt Col in the Corps.
During my tour in Cyprus, I flitted between Dental Centres at Berengaria, Polemidia
and Platres. I was also employed for a short period as an Admin Officer at the BMH in Nicosia, having broken my wrist playing rugby.
Berengaria was a huge complex, including married quarters, an Officer’ Club and two huge tented camps. The camps housed an Engineer Regiment and The Ox and Bucks Light Infantry. It also had an MRS and Dental Centre. Accommodation was again at a premium, it was the height of the EOKA Campaign. Officers of the rank of Captain and above were allocated a tent of their own, junior officers shared a tent. I was joined by another Dental Officer as there was no other unoccupied tent available so invited him to
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