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Pete HENRY’s (49B) Photo Album |
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1950 - AAS Arborfield Permanent Staff |
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(left to right) CSM Brady
Irish Guards, 'C' Company; CSM 'Bull' WESTON Grenadier Guards, 'A' Company; CSM Ron PATEY Oxfordshire
& Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, 'D' Company |
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(right marker) Apprentice Lance
Corporal Pete HENRY at the slow
march with a squad from Intake 50B |
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Pete Henry taking aim, Dave Crowson (49B) observing. Pete HENRY writes: The scene was on Ash ranges in 1952 when we were on our
infantry training prior to leaving Arborfield in the September. Being in the
category defined by Rudyard Kipling, as 'either Mad, Married or Methodist' we
draughtsmen were posted to the RE's. |
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1952 - 37 Engineer Regiment Royal Engineers, Osnabrück, BAOR |
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A
group of ex-AAS 49B Sappers on their first posting for Combat Engineering
Training, after which they were dispersed to different units. The personnel
identified below were the only ones ex-AAS Arborfield,
the remainder being ex-AAS Chepstow or Harrogate |
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(front row, from the right) - #1 MORGAN, #4 Bill PROOST, #14 Pete HENRY. (2nd row, from the right) - #11 Dick WRIGHT (with specs), #13 Terry KING. (3rd row, from the right) - #3 Chris MOLESWORTH, #7 Ray
COLLINS. (4th row, from the right) - #10 ‘Ozzy’ OSBORNE |
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NOTE: This photo is of
interest being the 50th anniversary since it was taken. We could not
have predicted the 'Internet' as we wielded our Sapper 'picks and shovels'
and heaved in the wet and snow the Bailey Bridge panels on the River Weser. Pete
HENRY - 5 March 2002 _______________________________________________________________________________ |
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10 Trades
Training Regt. RE (School of Military Engineering) Kitchener Bks. Chatham. |
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L>R. 1.n/k, 2.Robin
Scutt, 3.Dick Wright 49B, 4.Morgan 49B, 5.Pete
Henry 49B, 6.Ray Collins 49B. |
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The
photo above was made available by Max Warwick 49B. from his
archives. |
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Pete HENRY writes…… The
photo would have been taken between June 1953 & July 1954 when we were
all on our 'Mechanical - Electrical Draughtsman' upgrading course to A2
qualification. Why Arborfield finest
were drafted into the Sappers, a War Office policy, we do not know! It has
been said as draughtsmen, we couldn’t handle a 'spanner', therefore not
acceptable to REME. Despite the trauma of being introduced to the mystic art
of being 'pick & shovel' Sappers, B3 classification, we all eventually
qualified as A1 Mech/Elec draughtsmen. ___________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Cyprus 1956 – 1959. E.O.K.A.
Emergency. |
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Pete HENRY writes…… These
photos cover my time in Cyprus 1956-59 during the EOKA Emergency, based at
CRE Nicosia for the duration of my time there, with rank of Sgt. Due
to the influx of Reservists for the Suez invasion of 1956, I was housed
initially with 'reservists' in a hut, formerly a store. I was later provided
with my own accommodation, a tent, which I occupied for about 18 months.
Nicosia was a dangerous environment. Out of the total of 371 casualties,
during the Cyprus Emergency, 29 were from the RE's. |
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The
photo of myself with a Sapper plus rifle on a stretch of road, somewhere in
the foot hills of Troodos Mountains. You note the mud on our boots. I had a
discreet privately owned pistol. We would visit Platres where the Royal
Marines had a base. The RE's had with many other camps an overall
responsibility for providing & maintaining vital services e.g.
Generators, Water supplies, etc. This would mean travelling by a car to avoid
undue attention en-route, to remote installations during the Emergency. |
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The
beach scene was part of an 'Exercise' in 1957 to get us 'unattached
personnel' away from Nicosia as a break from routine & the Security
restrictions of Nicosia for a week. As Sappers we had the use of an RE
folding boat. It was near a Turkish village and a Camp of the Welsh Reg't
located in a remote part of the 'Cyprus panhandle'. A parched area of scrub
& goats. It was believed, they were based there because they had rioted
in Minden, BAOR, thereby promptly sent to Cyprus. To justify the 'Exercise'
element, we had to route march over the mountains, following paths made by
slim goats. We all would have preferred to have remained in Nicosia. A tent by the beach in the Cyprus sun is
not enjoyable. ______________________________________________________________________________________ |
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1986 - Principal Officer, |
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Deputy, Assistant Chief Officer Pete
HENRY |
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1987 |
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Pete HENRY endeavouring to make an opening in
the roof to expose the fire. The use of the plank was to demonstrate to the
fire-fighters that initiative in Senior Officers is not subdued. Luckily for
me (at the front) there was no weakened roof at our feet. Otherwise promotion
hopes would have been enhanced for eager would-be Chief Officers. |
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The same situation with the fire now exposed. Caught by the
camera still directing – note the forefinger of the right hand. The fire-fighters, happy that the roof
supported Senior Officers, proceed to tackle the fire. |
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The ‘Arborfield Effect’. (No
1195) At the age of 54 years finishing in the Half Marathon. I hated the
distance when running as a Boy-soldier, as so many others were much better
than I. However, one must demonstrate that one is as tough as the
fire-fighters. |
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The Family |
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(standing, left to right) our
daughters Viviane, Elise & Gisele (seated) my wife Doreen & me Note: two grandsons have
been added to the family since this photograph was taken |
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First Published: March 2002. Layout Revised and
contents updated: 15th January 2011. Latest Updates: 15th August 2011. ______________________________________________________________________________________ |
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