Page 105 - QDG 2022

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards 103
The QDG Heritage Trust
C Squadron in Beirut February to August 1983
By J Beatson-Hird, 4th Troop Leader
After two tremendous years at Lisanelly Barracks, C Squadron sailed from Belfast on December 17th, 1982. It was a fitting end of the tour as on board, there were some forty nurses from the Royal Victoria Hospital. I cannot recall why they were on the ferry, but the ferry literally rocked, not from the weather, but from the cele- brations in the bar, the most crowded the disco had ever been, and probably a few other activities.
I arrived back at my parents on the evening of the 18th, in time for dinner. Afterwards, we settled down with a glass of whisky to watch the nine o’clock news. My mother commented that she used to be somewhat apprehensive watching it while we were on tour. She always wondered whether there would be news about the Regiment amongst the coverage of the hunger strikes. As the news came on, the headline showed fighting in the Lebanon and a horrific car bomb in Beirut.
“Thank God,” my mother remarked, “that is one place you are not going to be sent to.”
One week later, on Boxing Day, Sergeant Reed called from the Orderly Room to tell me that C Squadron’s leave had been cancelled and that we were being recalled back to Wimbish for the 4th January. When questioned, all he said was:
“I can’t say anymore, Sir, but you are going somewhere hot, beginning with L and full of Jews.”
Arriving in Wimbish, Major Stewart, our Squadron Leader since Omagh, informed us that we were to be deployed to Beirut under Operation Hyperion, as part of a multi-national force. He had only received his very basic briefing on Christmas Eve and was not much more informed than we were. The Squadron had been enlarged to six troops and we were joined by Lieutenant Roe and Sergeant ‘Bongo’ Davies from A Squadron, plus Lieutenant Napolitano and Sergeant Malbon from the Close Observation Troop.
Whilst Major Stewart went on a recce to Cyprus and Beirut, our first task was to collect twenty-two Ferrets and twelve Land Rovers, all fitted with mine plates, from Ludgershall. Driven down in 4-tonners, we collected the ancient relics from storage. We had a somewhat inauspicious start as no pit stop had
SQMS Roberts and team with petrol resupply for author
been organised and there was a string of broken-down Ferrets on the road back to Wimbish, having run out of petrol. The vehicles had been stripped down before being mothballed and were in pretty basic shape. So, we couldn’t even have a brew while we waited for SQMS Roberts to resupply us.
The departure date was imminent, but not known exactly. There was suffi- cient time for driver training and weapon handling on the .30 Browning’s, the acquisition of all sorts of pieces of kit
such as mine detection equipment and of course, for a round of rather nasty injections. Two weeks later, we drove to Heysham, some two hundred miles from Wimbish (this time with plenty of fuel for the journey!) and loaded the vehicles on board the MV Fenchurch. We flew out to Cyprus on 21st January by Hercules from Brize Norton to Akrotiri.
We had been looking forward to troop training in Cyprus. In the event, it didn’t happen. Two troops were immediately dispatched to the United
Vehicles being loaded onto MV Fenchurch