3rd Btn PARACHUTE REGT - 1951-52
"MEMORIES OF SUEZ"
As Remembered By Mike Sheppard
We were in Cyprus when we had the call to pack our kit and head for The Canal Zone, the whole Brigade were over there within 48 hours. We flew from Nicosia Airport to Fayid and our first camp was at Shandur, sharing with the 7th Royal Tanks. My first memories was of Xmas 1951 when all the local labour stopped working for us, we were rationed to two bottles of beer a day over the Xmas period. Our time was spent unloading supplies at Port Suez – by this time we had East Africans working for us and it was very hard to make them understand us.
Our first engagement, except 48 hr guards on the Ordinance Depot, was to go to a small town by Suez where there was a water treatment works on the banks of the Sweet Water Canal. The civilian employees were getting shot at when they drove through the town to the treatment works. The ‘Top Brass’ had had enough of this so we had to clear everyone out of the town and the engineers moved in and within 48 hrs had flattened the place.
In February ’52, we moved up to Ismailia where we saw a bit more action, fond memories was going down to the Bitter Lakes swimming at weekends. We once spent six weeks out in the desert just outside Cairo when there was a lot of riots going on but they didn’t send us in.
In April 1993 we were on holiday in Cyprus and had the chance to go to Egypt
on a cruise, the place had not changed a bit and this time I did get to Cairo
but was not very impressed with the city.