RAOC 5 BOD TEK - 1950-52
Has Anyone Seen My Coach?
As Remembered By Dick Pilgrim
On arriving at TEK in 1950 I was posted to 5 BOD (I was in the RAOC) and, being a old soldier – I’d already served 4 years in this country – the first thing I had to do was find a decent job. I was a driver so was put on the transport section. It was a mixed lot of lorries, some fairly old, but one in particular took my fancy. It was an old Leyland coach and I made some enquiries and found that the driver was going home in about 2 months time so I had my name taken for it.
Eventually my coach came up. My job consisted of taking Officers, W.O.’s and Sergeants to Ismailia every day after they had finished work at about 2 o’clock, then carrying on to Ferry Point which was then 2 Base Workshop REME training camp where we used to stay overnight and return to TEK the next morning.
The old coach was green when I first took it on but after some time it went to the local L.A.D. and was changed to sand colour. It also had a new engine which was a Leyland Hippo and very sluggish – lucky to get to 35 mph.
As they say, all good things must come to an end and when the families were
ordered home my job finished. The last time I went into Ismailia with the old
coach I couldn’t even get near the station where I used to drop off as
every street had vehicles burning. I just remember seeing the Fusiliers going
through the streets escorting us – they had 3 ton Dodges with machine
guns mounted on the cab. I parked the old coach up at 5 BOD. About a month later
I was transferred to a small transport section at Stores Section att. 2 Base
w/shops