RAOC - 10 BOD, BURMA CAMP GENEIFA 1951-53
As Remembered By Richard J. Davies
I enlisted in the RAOC on the 6th September 1951. I was group 51-17 and after 2 weeks at Parsons Barracks, Aldershot, then 10 weeks under the careful guidance of Cpl Tring at Blackdown. After 2 weeks Embarkation Leave I reported to Feltham before going to Egypt,
I left Liverpool on the 31st December 1951 on the S.S. Atlantis, calling at Algiers, Port Said and sailed down the Suez Canal overnight under armed guard with only Officers and NCO’s being allowed on deck, arriving at Geneifa on the 12th January 1952.
I was a Clerk in Shed 6, under Captain Clews, for about 6 weeks, endorsing stock cards with stores arriving and leaving in the Depot, which I found very boring. Fortunately, this was only temporary and I moved to 60 Shed – more filing, photocopying of invoices – which after a few weeks was stopped. I then found myself working on the Central Receipts Area (C.R.A.) for all Motor Transport Stores. Mr Bake, WO1 was our Officer in Charge. The Egyptians had left the Depot a few months previously, refusing or too frightened to work for the British. A large backlog of stores had accumulated and a few thousand National Servicemen had been sent to this desert outpost to sort things out, with the help of many East African Pioneer Corps.
During July the Egyptians started to return to work with us. Slowly the cases of stores started to diminish only to be replaced by more lorry loads and train deliveries. During this time I enjoyed myself working with the Egyptians loading and unloading vehicles. In the NAAFI you had to buy about 10 cups of tea and a dozen buns as 50 piasta notes were the lowest denomination available so you always had plenty of friends!
In November I returned to clerical work. We moved out of 60 Shed into a small office on the Area. Quite a few of the lads were returning to the UK for demob and after Christmas (having been waited on by our Officers for our Christmas dinner), only a few of our lads remained and a new influx of National Serviceman (Pinkies) arrived. Mr. Baker was also due to leave so Sgt Jenkins, who was also on his way home, put me in for two stripes which arrived within a month of each other. In May I became in charge of the Area until the 23rd August when I also returned to the UK on a Hermes aircraft landing at Blackbushe Airport.
A Regular soldier, Cpl Reid took my place. We had an excellent Egyptian, Lofti El Gundy, an Effendi, who was most reliable and a marvellous help to us all and he served on the Area all the time I was there.
During this time I did over 90 guard duties of various types and for the first 6 months we always had to be armed when leaving the camp, even when going next door to the Shaftesbury cinema where I saw 180 films during my service in the Canal Zone. I managed to visit Fayid on 19 occasions, 6 to Ismailia, I to Kabrit for swimming in the Bitter Lakes which was not very nice as the beach was very oily. A couple of time to Suez but only to see football matches and also a trip to Moascar to see our boxing team lose to the Airborne in the final of the Canal Zone Cup.
We had a small swimming pool, well it looked small on a Sunday afternoon, but it was very welcome when we came off guard and could go for a dip before breakfast. The dhobi wallahs returned and the chore of washing your clothes finally ended thankfully. I often wondered about the chap who filled his mouth with starch before spraying it all over our K.D. was he pressed it.
One dinner time was cut short and we were loaded into lorries and taken to the outskirts of the camp where an area of tentage was ablaze. We also lost a bicycle repair shop and a couple of small offices. On another occasion a whole area of cable drums was on fire and we lost the lot. On a third occasion a clothing shed about 60ft long made of concrete and corrugated iron was set alight and smouldered for about a week. Someone also failed to set the shower block on fire and a more successful attempt was made on the NAAFI, which was completely gutted except for the bar and it took a few months before a very talented carpenter in our midst produced a really fabulous NAAFI.
One of the sheds was also converted into a theatre-land and we had shows from Ivy Benson & her Band, Joyce Grenfell, Donald Peers and an Arab Troupe, all of which were most welcome.
Talking about guard duties, if anyone was found asleep 28 days detention followed and this was increased to 56 days just before I came home. This was an absolute disgrace – we were RAOC not infantry men and getting up at 4.45am in the summer and an hour later in the winter, no wonder we were knackered after working all day!
We had a number of Football pitches, including 'Wembley' which was an oval surrounded by whispering grass with a small stand. An enthusiast had erected a stand and hoarding around another pitch, painted it pale blue with a sign ‘Main Road’ written on it. We only played in pumps, mainly on a Sunday morning and had a good selection of shirts of choose from. My dad sent out a tennis ball to me and it certainly was popular – cricket, headers between the tents, and, of course, football. I left if behind when I left and hope it gave many more hours of enjoyment.
I don’t think anyone was sorry to leave, moral was low most of the time and a visit to the MMG (church NAAFI) down the road was a welcome change especially after we lost our NAAFI. Table tennis, snooker and refreshments were available.
One Sunday afternoon we climbed the hills opposite the Camp and on another occasion climbed the hills near Suez and looked out towards the Red Sea, only to arrive back and see the front of the camp surrounded by ambush parties waiting for an attack by students which fortunately did not materialise.
Cairo was always ‘Out of Bounds’ which was rather disappointing as a visit to the Pyramids, paid for by the government, would have been a bonus.
Yes, the ants were big, flies everywhere, lizards around the waterholes and those flying beetles frightened the life out of me when they just dropped onto a book I was reading. I was moving some filing cabinets and a spider as big as my hand was on the back of one of them. I never found out what happened to it – the last I saw it was being chased down the Shed by the Egyptians.
I believe we had 7 miles of perimeter wire and security guard on the outskirts meant sitting in a hole for 3 or 4 hours at a time complete with a telephone plugged in, gas mask, steel helmet and a Sten gun, with orders of “Shoot to kill not to wound or frighten” after shouting “Kiff” or “Keef” three times.
One Saturday morning I was sat by a searchlight which was OK as you could see for miles. The worst part was climbing up a scaffolding ladder in hobnail army boots.
We made many friends out there – they came from all over the country and we soon got used to the different dialects