The Grenadier Gazette 2017 THE REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE GRENADIER GUARDS Issue No 40 Price £6.75 45153 Gazette 2017_SR v34.qxp_Layout 1 27/02/2017 16:39 Page 1 THE Grenadier2017 GazetteTHE REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE GRENADIER GUARDS CONTENTS PAGE REGIMENTAL NEWS THE GRENADIERS Regimental Headquarters . 4 RETURN TO BRUGES Director of Welfare’s Report . 5 TO CELEBRATE THEIR Sergeants’ (Past and Present) Club . 7 Regimental Band . 8 360TH ANNIVERSARY 14th Company . 11 by The Regimental Adjutant 1st Battalion . 12 Nijmegen Company . 16 Page 18 FEATURES The Grenadiers Return to Bruges to Celebrate Their 360th Anniversary . 18 Battalion Cresta Team . 20 Latvia – A Platoon Commander’s Perspective . 21 EXPLOITS OF A The Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (Land) 2017 . 24 Equipment Article . 24 CAPTAIN AT BATUK 2016 Fagan Awards . 25 by Capt A H McC Budge Exploits of a Captain at BATUK . 26 Felix Arabia . 28 Page 26 Dunkirk – Wakefield’s link with the Grenadier Guards . 31 The Capture of Gauche Wood – 1st December 1917 . 32 Lieutenant Colonel Maxwell Earle DSO . 34 Major Arthur Williams Dr Mus, MVO Director of Music . 36 Refusing to Budge Sitting or Standing . 36 Book Review – From Eton to Ypres . 37 People . 38 FELIX ARABIA THE REGIMENT – Regimental Rolls . 42 by Major D L Budge OBITUARIES . 50 Page 28 GRENADIER GUARDS ASSOCIATION 58 News from the Dining Club . 61 The Grenadier Guards Commemorative Kneeler Appeal . 62 Old Comrades Brought Together . 62 Grenadier Day 2016 . 64 Regimental Remembrance Day 2016 . 65 LIEUTENANT The Patron’s Lunch . 66 Life in a Small French Village . 68 COLONEL The Staffordshire & West Midlands Army Cadet Force . 70 MAXWELL EARLE A Trip Down Memory Lane . 71 A Very Special Birthday Surprise for Barrie Fleming . 72 DSO GRENADIER The Gold Sergeant and The Russian Defector . 73 GUARDS Khayat Beach War Cemetery . 75 Regimental Athletics Part 1: 1949–1985 . 76 by Peter Martin Branch Notes . 79 Page 34 Your Letters . 131 DIARY OF EVENTS . Inside Back Cover The GRENADIER GAZETTE is published annually in March. EDITORS: Brigadier DJC Russell Parsons OBE and Major A.J Green, c/o Regimental Headquarters, Grenadier Guards Wellington Barracks, Birdcage Walk, London SW1E 6HQ (Tel: 0207 414 3225). All contributions to Regimental Treasurer. Email: [email protected] The opinions expressed in the articles of this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy and views, official or otherwise, of the Regiment or the MOD. This publication contains official information. It should be treated with discretion by the recipient. © Crown Copyright Member of the Association of Service Journals Printed by Healeys Print Group, Ipswich Visit our website www.grengds.com to find out all the latest news 1 45153 Gazette 2017_SR v34.qxp_Layout 1 27/02/2017 16:39 Page 2 EDITORIAL Foreword by the Regimental Lieutenant Colonel, Lieutenant General Sir George Norton KCVO CBE ooking back over 2016, I am struck both by the Lresonance of history and history in the making. Nationally this year we have marked the centenary of the Battle of the Somme and the sacrifices that are inseparable from it. So too have we celebrated The Queen’s 90th birthday and the extraordinary commitment made by Her Majesty to us as a nation during over 60 years on the throne. Regimentally we have been welcomed back to Bruges to mark the 360th anniversary of the founding of the Regiment, and to Pont-à-Marcq by the people of that village who, year after year, remember a small but vital piece of our Regiment’s history at war. For many, however, 2016 will be remembered as the year that the majority of the British people decided ‘enough is enough’ as far as the European Union was concerned, The resonance of some of our Regimental history at while across the Atlantic the electorate turned to Donald Hougoumont. Trump for a fresh vision of their own. And all of this while Daesh has brought terror to Europe and a wave of Latvia. So it has been an interesting time for the Battalion migration from North Africa not experienced in our to be commanded for the first time in the Regiment’s lifetimes; and while Russia continues to reassert its history by an officer who began his career outside the authority not only in the East but more widely still. Only Household Division, but one who is more than living up to the truly far-sighted could have put money on a hopes and expectations. combination of all of this, and only time will tell what Notwithstanding the Army’s recruiting difficulties history makes of it all. stemming from the out-sourcing of this responsibility to With all of the above as background, the 1st Battalion a civilian company, the Regiment is creeping back up to has re-roled from State Ceremonial and Public Duties in full manning. But we need to be, for today’s manning London to join 11 Infantry Brigade as a Light Role establishments are not what they were, and even battalion in Aldershot. So far so normal, I sense you relatively minor shortfalls – exacerbated by long-term thinking, but the Battalion’s lot is more complicated than injuries – add to the pressures of a demanding role. The that: it has spent much of the year preparing to assume guardsmen continue to filter through Nijmegen Company the role of Multinational Spearhead Battalion within on leaving basic training, which provides an opportunity NATO’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force Brigade, to complete their Regimental education prior to the under a different Brigade Headquarters based in assumption of the hectic and operationally focused Germany, and with rifle companies under command from existence in the 1st Battalion that I have alluded to above. Albania, Latvia and the Netherlands. It is doing all of this The Battalion has two more years of this nature before as part of NATO’s increased commitment to deterrence returning to State Ceremonial and Public Duties, which and defence following President Putin’s annexation of the it will fulfill from Lille Barracks in Aldershot rather than Crimea and parts of Eastern Ukraine, and requires the a further geographic move to Windsor – a popular Battalion to be ready to deploy at short notice anywhere decision, by all accounts. ‘May you live in interesting within NATO’s boundaries throughout 2017. This is a times’, as the Chinese proverb said – or were we already challenging undertaking, requiring detailed preparation in the age of the ‘alternative fact’… in terms of manning, training and logistics, and has seen I commend this excellent edition of the Grenadier the Battalion deploying once again to Kenya on a Gazette to you, and warmly thank the Editor and those particularly demanding but rewarding Field Training who have supported him in its production, and over my 5 Exercise, as well as, amongst other places, to Germany and years as Regimental Lieutenant Colonel. 2 Visit our website www.grengds.com to find out all the latest news 45153 Gazette 2017_SR v34.qxp_Layout 1 27/02/2017 16:39 Page 3 EDITORIAL Editorial Notes the use of colour. Do please keep your feedback coming. Our objectives for our Regimental journal remain as before: firstly, produce a readable review of past year, nother year has passed and when you reflect on what maintaining as much colour as we can, and anticipate Athe Regiment has accomplished through the articles future activities and Regimental priorities; secondly, it has produced here, the scope is impressive. It has been maintain a very accurate record of all serving and past absorbing and entertaining receiving every submission in people, conscious of the potential enquiries later, and Riyadh. Some things never change and the Editorial team requests to Regimental archivists; lastly, to include widest remains the Regimental Treasurer, Andy Green, really selection of contributions. Hopefully everybody with an concentrating on all the Association contributions in urge to write/contribute is given this opportunity. London and myself in Saudi Arabia. Last year, very soon after the publication of the 2016 Once again, this is to thank all those committing edition, both Major Green and myself received a number themselves to submissions this year and the serving parts of of articles to go into this year. You were obviously the Regiment for maintaining their annual inputs. The core encouraged by an immediate desire to incorporate team has continued to share some fascinating reflections – something having read others’ good contributions. There the Lieutenant Colonel, the Adjutant, the Battalion as well is always room for more and we would ask for the same – as the very loyal contributors: Philip Wright, General Evelyn we are ready to receive anything as soon as the 2017 Webb Carter, Alan Ogden as well as a new father-son edition is circulated, and we look forward to incorporating combination of David and Alexander Budge. absolutely everything you submit. We hope you enjoy this I have also had some very positive feedback on last year’s year’s collection meanwhile. Thank you to everybody for production which seems to have been appreciated. The helping – I know there are many out here who have their Regiment has been congratulated on all your work, and the pens and keyboards ready to follow their example. quality assessed to have been raised to a different level by Defence Engagement in the Middle East – being an Attaché in Riyadh by Brigadier David Russell-Parsons OBE he joy of being an editor while being based Tin Riyadh is that I stay in touch with Regimental business in every way I can. As I reflect on over a year away from the familiar environment of Wellington Barracks and Regimental Headquarters, I am very conscious that a number of Grenadiers have all chosen to be our Chief of Defence Staff's representative in various exotic parts of the world – Tel Aviv and Vienna come to mind – and it is a job which I would recommend to anybody.