Penny Legg - Under the Queens Colours: Voices from the Forces, 1952-2012

Respectfully dedicated to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

There are so many people to thank when producing a book of this kind. I hope I remember everyone. If I have missed anyone, I do apologise and please accept my sincere thanks for all that you have done to make this book a reality.

This book would not have been possible without the contributors, who trusted me enough to tell me their stories and so helped to build up this picture of forces life:

Sid Armistead

Harry Barrett

Raymond D. Bate

Robert Bath

Sylvia Bath

Colin Baxter

David Ben Benassi

Peter Bennett

Kai Blackett

John Bocock

Peter Brooks

Jim Brown

George Colman

Mark Commell

Steve Cooper

Victor Dey

Jim Dickson

Brian Dirou

Mark Donaldson

Keith Dougie Douglas

Jean Drane

Charles Victor Drane

John Dunlop

Brian Dunn

Don Elbourne

Peter J. Elgar

Warren Noddy Feakes

Peter James Fillery

Keith Frampton

John R. Francis

Matt Garret

Elizabeth Gordon

Neville Green

John Gurney

Dillikumar Gurung

Navindra Bikram

Gurung

Dave Hart

Edwin Horridge

Peter Imrie

Mike Jennings

Allan Johnson

Paul Johnno Johnson

Tom Jones

Mandy Kazmierski

Des Kearton

Len Keynes

Charles Knights

Lindsay P. Lake

David Lee

Joe Legg

Keith Lenton

Robert Malvern Lewis

Tom Lewis

Jim Linehan

Thor Lund

Neil Lunney

Brian Lynch

Kevin Mac MacDonald

Noel Mackey

Bharat Mack Makwana

Clint Marlborough

Eon Matthews

Vicki May

Lex McAuly

John McGregor

J.S.D. (Stan) Mellick

Allan Shorty Moffatt

Shirly Mooney

Nik Morton

James Mullen

Robert Mullen

Jim Naylor

Ron Nordberg

The late Rodney Nott

Gary William Oakley

Peter OBrien

Lorraine Osman

William Parry

Bob Pearson

Greg Peck

Mike Pinkstone

Brian Pragnell

Chris Purcell

Mario Reid

Tom Roberts

Ben Roberts-Smith

James Routledge

Dave Sabben

Rob Shadbolt

Douglas Sidwell

Ian Sloan

David Smith

Jim Spain

Allen Raymond Stott

Andy Tommo Thomas

Neil Torkington

Dave Trill

Carol Ursell

Terence Warner

Garry Gordon Watt

Brian Weatherley

Alec Weaver

Peter Weyling

Chris Knocker White

Guy Tug Wilson

Gerry Wright

Alex Wylie

Thanks also go to Jo de Vries, my lovely editor at The History Press, who loved the idea of the book from the start and kept me going when the going got tough; Dom at The Army Rumour Service; James at Britains Small Wars; Jay Holder at Military Forums; Chris Buswell, QARANC; Nik Morton and the writers at the Torrevieja; Writing Circle, Spain; Derek Stevens; Jim and Mags Parker and the members of the Royal British Legion Riders Branch; Anthony (Tony) Chambers and the wonderful group on the Falklands 30 Facebook site; Robert (Bob) Mullen, who went out of his way to help me with this project; Denise George; Judbahadur Gurung; Vivienne Wood, Royal Maritime Club, Portsmouth; Josephine Shaw; Binu Vijayakumari; Colin Baxter; Jim Brown; Marie Fullerton; Kimberley Linehan; Captain Simon OBrien, Royal Australian Navy; David Jones; William (Bill) L. Krause, President, Vendetta Veterans Association (Qld); Rob Shadwell, who spread the word; Nina and the team at Gurkhas.com; Catherine Miller, Chris Jones, Wendy Soliman, Glen Mellish, Jacqueline Pye who spread the word on Twitter for me; Mick Heywood; Denny Neave, Big Sky Publishing Pty Ltd; Patricia Pollard, Veterans Unit, State Government of Victoria, Australia; Yvonne Oliver, Licensing Officer, Imperial War Museums; Thomas Legg, who knows his Vietnam history; Cmdr Ian Inskip for permission to use his images; Nishara Miles, Office of the Chief of Army, Australia; Brian Davies; Col Mike Richardson, chairman, The Regimental Association of the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment; Laura McLellan and Sian Hexham at the RAF Benevolent Fund; Liz Ridgway at the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity; Nikki Lehel at ABF the Soldiers Charity.

The biggest thank you goes to my husband, Joe, for all his help and advice, hugs administered in times of stress and all the meals he cooked because I had not noticed the time. This book would not have been finished without his help.

GENERAL THE LORD GUTHRIE OF CRAGIEBANK GCB LVO OBE

I am delighted to write this short Foreword for Penny Legg. She has come up with a clever formula to bring out the relevance of the Armed Forces to the Diamond Jubilee. The Queens long reign has seen an extraordinary contrast in military operations from Korea, a conflict of conventional weapons and warfare, through the withdrawal from empire and the many counter-insurgency operations to the peace-keeping operations on which all services are still engaged today. There has been no pattern to these operations and they have been interspersed with events never envisaged as the services have slowly reduced in size. In 1982 the Royal Navy was in the midst of a review when the Falkland Islands were invaded and in 1991 Kuwait was similarly invaded at the time of the MoD exercise Options for Change. Both these operations are covered by reminiscences in this book and by the memorial to Signalman Robert Griffin.

Through all this the ordinary soldier, sailor and airman of Great Britain and the Commonwealth have gone about their business in the service of the Queen, doing their best to carry out the wishes of the government of the day. They are seldom concerned in the higher strategy but with the basics of military life always garnered with their inimitable humour. All this comes out well in Penny Leggs clever anthology. As Colonel of The Life Guards I was most interested in the account of Tom Jones at the time of the Coronation, the start of the story. Equally enthralling to me as a former SAS officer is the story of Mark Donaldson of the Australian SAS who won the VC in Helmand Province in Afghanistan; the end of the story. I am sure readers will enjoy this salute to all servicemen who served in the Queens reign.

General the Lord Guthrie of Cragiebank GCB LVO OBE

President

ABF the Soldiers Charity

ADMIRAL SIR JONATHON BAND GCB DL

It gives me very great pleasure to be able to write a few words about this magnificent collection of stories from sixty years of Her Majestys reign. It has been a time during which much history has been made. We have lived through momentous occasions, with conflicts around the globe from Korea to the Falklands, and of course our current operations, which are very much with us today.

Throughout these six decades it has been the men and women who serve Her Majesty, in all of our Armed Forces and in all their own wide variety, who have gone out and done it. It is their sense of duty and of purpose that richly reflects that of our sovereign; but above all it is the comradeship and camaraderie that is the defining fact of military life.

This excellent new collection of stories from all of our services captures this sense and laces it with the ever-present humour that is part and parcel of life in uniform. In thanking the author for her prodigious efforts in producing this timely and immensely fun anthology, I do so on behalf of all service charities, who play such a vital role in the life of our people and their families. I hope that you enjoy the time travel as much as I did, as it portrays the real life stories behind the headlines, and above all reminds us of why we all elected to serve under the Queens Colours.