REME 2 BASE WORKSHOP T.E.K. 1953-55

As Remembered By Colin Mitchell

	We went on one of the Sunday trips down into Ismailia and hired a BSA M20 motorcycle to which they had put a restrictor in the carburetor. We drove round the corner and took out the restrictor – “Whoopee!” Full Throttle! And avoiding the M.P. roadblock went for a ride. You can see from the photo the distance we traveled from Ismailia
At Quassassin Lido	At Quassassin Lido

A number of us were sent to Quassassin camp which was for ‘C’ class vehicles and was being guarded by the East African Regiment. We only had to do night
patrols and I remember lying on my bed, sweating and swatting flies in the middle of the day when someone burst in and said they had found a swimming pool out in the desert! We had a 15 cwt Bedford at our disposal so off we went, across the sand and there it was – a fully operational pool and not a soul in sight. (I was later told it was for the nurses of Neguibs Hospital but don’t know if this was true)

I worked in 51 workshop 2 Base which was a general vehicle repair shop. There was an internal rest area but you could often slip out past the guard and across towards the perimeter fence. This particular day I had a ‘Willys’ jeep and Jack Lord had an ACC Matador which “would go anywhere” so he said!
“Let me see you go down there then” (which was an area used for tank testing) I said. Off went Jack, down into the crater but he didn’t reappear. Stuck in the bottom and bogged down up to the axles! (you can see how steep the sides are in the photo) We had to winch it out with yet another Matador and Jacks vehicle was deemed B.E.R. (beyond economical repair) and taken down the scrap yard.

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