Now at - 91st.Battery - 63rd. HAA Regiment / Royal Regiment of Artillery

...IN CONCLUSION

I hope those who have stayed with my memoirs thus far, are not getting a little bored now! In two years of anyone’s life there are so many incidents, far too numerous for a web site.

3rd. Regiment were asked to supply a squad of soldiers to “Line the Route” for the Royal Family. I was one of them. We stayed at Wellington Barracks on Bird Cage Walk, not for from 'Buck House' (as the Guards call the Palace.) We ate with the Guards in their cookhouse, and stayed overnight in one of the rooms.

A nine feet tall Sergeant came in and said, ”I want these windows left open at 90 per cent."  One of our lads said, “Don’t you mean 90 Degrees Sarge?"....“Who the F**K are you”? ....“I said 90 Degrees! You little F**K! " He stamped out of the room. I realised then that the lunatics had finally taken over the Asylum. “Roll On Demob”  (De-Mobilisation) This was a well known catch phrase among N/S men, or “Roll on Death-Demobs too Slow.”

Such was the feeling.

Twelve months after joining the Army I was promoted to L/Bdr. (see photo.) Not that I was anything special by getting a stripe. I think it was because no one else wanted it!

Four months later I was made up to Full Bombardier (Two stripes) see photo.The next firing camp in July 1953 was at Weybourne, near Cromer on the East Coast. I was an instructor on the guns by this time. Myself And Sgt. Pete Green were in charge of the 3.7s, sometimes called 3As. About this time I fell for a lovely girl in Southend. I took her out a few times but nothing could ever come of it, as she was courting another Soldier stationed abroad. She was a lovely girl though. So many things happened in the Army too numerous to relate.

If you are reading this, then I hope you have enjoyed following my memories throughout my two years of National Service Training, and have enjoyed the journey with me!

J.K.

In conclusion, I wish to thank my good friend Doug in Australia, who put this Website together. It's my content, but his work that made it all possible. Many thanks also to Keith Holderness, for supplying many of the photographs. Please go to his site at
http://members.tripod.com/krh30/36reg/