1st BTN NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE REGT, 'C' COY, 1949-50
As Remembered By Daniel Banks
'Eggs & Bread' Anywhere
I served in the 1st Btn North Staffordshire Regt. stationed at Fayid from 1949-50 in 'C' Coy. The CSM was Compton and the RSM was Champ - both regular soldiers of the 'old school', very strict and fair. We were housed in bell tents and a Royal Artillery Regt were our neighbours. We had a beautiful view of the Great Bitter Lake with ships of all nations waiting to go down the Suez Canal.
Our main duties were guards and training in desert warfare. We did guard duties in Moascar and BOD Geneifa, where we would lie in a slit trench at night and wait for the local 'gentry' to climb over the wire fence, then we would send up a flare and scare the living daylights out of them. We were armed with the old No. 4 Lee Enfield rifle and five rounds of ammunition.
We also did aguard called 'Lightening Patrol' which involved an officer and three privates. We had a Jeep and a 15 cwt and would tear down the Treaty Road like we were on a joy-ride until we came to the Cairo Check Point, then we would turn round and head for a rendezvous in the desert somewhere, camp overnight and return to the regiment next morning. A job well done. I remember one of our duties was to keep guard on a train load of armoured cars which were being transported to Ataqa docks in the Gult of Suez, to be delivered to the Arab Legion. We lived and slept in the cars for about a week en route to the destination. Our rifles were chained to our belts and our blankets were never out of sight.
One of our desert war training schemes was for 14 days when we were transported in 3 ton lorries out into the wilderness getting stuck in the sand all the time and lived like Second World War Desert Rats in slit trenches and attacked an imaginery enemy. We would be out there in the desert, not a sole in sight, when all of a sudden one would hear someone shouting "Eggs and Bread!". It would be one of the locals tryng to sell us hard boiled eggs and chappaties for a couple of ackers!
One of our assignments was to prepare for an emergency draft to Mogadisu in Italian Somaliland. We had a lot of inoculations and vaccinations and numerous rehearsals and inspections which included 'Enplaning Drill', when we boarded an old Dakota at RAF Fayid, sat in our seats until we got the order to 'Deplane'. At one time of the 'Flap' we where inspected by the then Secretary of War, Mr Shinwell, who was flown out from London complete with bowler hat and balck coat - in 120 degrees in the shade!