Page 117 - QDG 2022

1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards 115
wine each. The pilot drove the plane like a car. No slow turns or waiting for complicated instructions. He raced it like a Ferrari. I confess that this didn’t make us feel hugely confident. When we arrived at our destination, we could see the area around the airport was being heavily shelled. The pilot landed without fuss, roared around to our drop off point and without hanging around, zoomed off again. It was pretty impressive.
Amongst our visitors were politicians (notably Rt Hon Douglas Hurd MP and Lord Carrington), heads of all the various armies, ambassadors, the press, ITV, CBS and eventually, the BBC. They spent two weeks with us making a docu- mentary. It aired while we were away and featured such scenes as Trooper Bayliss baring his bottom for a gamma globulin booster injection. Just before the BBC crew arrived, the Mess had a moustache growing competition. On the announcement that the BBC were coming, vanity seem to win the day and most people shaved theirs off. Sergeant ‘Black’ Williams ended up winning by a mile, which was a little unfair as he was already sporting a fine example before we arrived! (A copy of the documentary can be obtained from Home Headquarters). The Squadron Officers commissioned the renowned military artist Ken Howard to paint a pair of pictures, for the Officers’ Mess, of the Squadron deployments to both the Multi-National Force Beirut and UN Cyprus. Ken was very sporting and seemed unperturbed by the backdrop to his painting and the shelling around him. Perhaps the most fun visitor was Sir Michael Sandberg, then Chairman of HSBC and Hong Kong Jockey Club (KDG 1949). He joined the Regiment directly after the war, but still had some tales to tell from the Regiment’s time in North Africa.
The six months passed rapidly and we handed over to A Squadron on August 9th. It should be remembered that the
Squadron was sent on a three-month tour which was extended by three months, at short notice! There was a staggered changeover which enabled us to familiarise the new guys with the lie of the land. Then we departed, the bachelors somewhat sad that we were not staying on for another six months. But it was a successful tour and the Squadron gained the respect from the other contingents as well as the locals. All the other contingents had received casualties, especially the Americans. We witnessed the outcome of a suicide van bomb that killed sixty-three people in the US Embassy in Beirut, a number of the casualties being Middle East Central Intelligence Agency operatives who were there for a meeting. Thankfully, C Squadron survived intact and had no casualties. I would like to think that this was a mixture of our professionalism and the hearts and minds approach we showed to all parties.
Night battle from our balcony
That is not the end of QDG’s time in Lebanon. The situation in Beirut continued to deteriorate as A Squadron’s tour progressed. They had to deal with an extremely tough environment which included the deaths of over 250 USMC from one incident, the near kidnapping of a whole troop and the ambush of 2nd Troop by the Amal militia. But that is all another story for part two of this account.
When we returned, Field Marshall Lord Bramall, Chief of Defence Staff, wrote to Lt Col Ferguson, the Commanding Officer of QDG:
‘I wish to convey to you my personal admiration of your Squadrons’ exemplary performance. The professionalism, skill, hard work, diplomacy and dedication of 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards has been in the best tradition of the British Army and an example to us all.’
Amen.
Endless rounds of visitors