ASSOCIATION MEMBERS’ LAST POSTS

It is with regret that we have to announce the passing of the following

W. “Badger” Balcombe Sergeant 7th Bn; 109 (Royal Sussex) LAA Regt, RA (see obituary)

S. Bishop Private 5th Bn

0. Bridger Corporal 4th Bn; 6th Ba. (see obituary)

P. Burton Corporal 1st Bn; SAS (see obituary)

D.E.D.E. Butler 1stBn; REME

W.P.MacG. Cargill Major 1st Bn; Frontier Force Regt, Indian Army (see obituary)

A. Desborough 2nd Bn; Regimental Band

J. Earnes 1st Bn; Regimental Band

T. S. Frowd Lt Col 2nd Bn; RWAFF (see obituary)

J. Hams Corporal 5th Bn

A. Maile 9th Bn; Secretary, The Pinwe Club

J. Pluck Sergeant Depot; 1 Mx

L.J. Smeeth Corporal 4th Bn (see obituary)

J. Sprigg Corporal 1st Bn; Royal Fusiliers

L. Warwick Chichester Branch

L.G.Weston 1st Ba; QUEENS

OWEN BRIDGER

Owen Bridger was for many years the mainstay of the Branch. Barry Cobbold has provided us with an account of Owen’s wartime service written by himself, which is published below; while it is unusual for an individual to write his own obituary we thought it would be of general interest concerning his own wartime service, and of particular interest regarding the service of the 6th Battalion. This is what he said:

“ 49 Reunions

The 6th Battalion The Royal Sussex Regiment was reformed at the outbreak of the Second World War from the newer recruits of the 4th Battalion and made up to strength with two intakes of the first militia.

The first months of the War the Battalion based in 1 had very little training spending all the time guarding RAFBases (Tangmere, Thorney Island, Odiam etc.). The Battalion embarked for France in April /940 and were under canvas atAbancourt, again very little training was carried out because the Battalion came under Line of Communication command working on a bakery and the railways. It was during May after the Germans had invaded the low Countries amid rumours that the Battalion was moving that several members of No. I (Signal) Platoon said that f we returned safely from the War that we would all like to meet and it was decided that our rendezvous would be Brighton Station the first Sunday in June at 1200 hours. Almost immediately after we had made our pledge the Battalion was entrained and moved North after a lot of delays due to enemy bombing We passed through Amiens Station and saw the wreckage of the train that had been carrying the 7th Battalion. Just north of Amiens the railway track was damaged and our train was diverted to a siding at Ailly-s-Moye when the Battalion took up a position in a wood overlooking the village: and then amid the confusion and complete breakdown of communication it would seem the Battalion was forgotten. After 36 hours Lt. Col. Wannop not being able to contact any authority decided to withdraw the Battalion south. I am sure that many of us would not be here today if he had not made that decision. Contact with H. Q. L. of C. near Paris was eventually made and the Battalion was sent to Blain stacking petrol and ammunition that was still entering the country. The Battalion stayed at Blain until June 15th when we were ordered to march the 60 miles to St. Nazire. None of us will forget that march and the frustration when RAF lorry after lorry roared by and they were all empty! We were in position around St. Nazire when the ‘Lancastria’ was bombed and sunk in the harbour. We eventually embarked on the S. S. Floristan and because the ship was so overloaded (it was the last one) is struck a sandbank and was damaged and it took three days to reach Plymouth.

When we arrived on 2 June we were immediately entrained and 48 hours later arrived in Northumberland. It was here that the Battalion was joined by a large contingent from the Devonshire Regiment who were made welcome and quickly integrated into the Battalion. During the Autumn of 1940 the Battalion was in the Cambridge area to guard the airfields and approaches from any enemy airbourne landings; Duxford, Bassingbourn, and Marshalls were some of the airfields we guarded. After the threat of invasion had passed the Battalion got down to serious training when we were stationed at Dunstable, Southwold, Maidenhead Thetford, Shildon, Molton, Crowborough and Alnwick. During all this time the Signal Platoon stayed together as a close knit unit. Only occasionally were new Signallers transferred to the 1st Battalion or the Royal Corps or Signals. Before they left they were always reminded of our pledge made in France.

During May 1944 when we were stationed in A the Battalion was almost disbanded to provide re-enforcements for “D” Day and the Normandy campaign and we were all posted to different Regiments in small parties. So although there was no Royal Sussex Battalion involved in the Normandy campaign there was a lot of us serving in other Regiments.

Somehow we kept in touch during this time so that it was no surprise that on the first Sunday in June 1946 at 1200 hours on Brighton Station that some 20 members were re-united and we have met at the same time, same place every year since then.

It is sad that time has taken its toll and some good friends and comrades are no longer with us and now only ten of us meet every year. We have returned to France on two occasions to mark different anniversaries of our reunions; finding the wood as Ailly-s-Moye and the field at Abancourt where we first made that pledge. All of us that live in Sussex are members of the Regimental Association and are members of the Hastings, Arundel and Midhurst Branches.

If this account stirs memories of any ex-Signal Platoon member or indeed any member from H.Q. Coy. 6th Battalion, The Royal Sussex Regiment they would always be welcome to join us to talk over old times.”

Roussillon Gazette Editors’ note; Regimental Signallers always were something rather special!

CORPORAL CHARLES BURTON

Charlie Burton died in 2002 and for some reason we missed publishing an Obituary for this remarkable ex-member of the Regiment. Our attention was drawn to this omission by his late Signal Platoon Commander, Captain Jonathan Fletcher; and we are pleased to reproduce his obituary from the Daily Telegraph below. Corporal Burton will be remembered by his fellow signallers and battalion Rugby players in Malta in the middle GO’s:

(The Daily Telegraph - 15th July 2002)

Charlie Burton, who died yesterday (14th July 2002) aged 59, was the tough, high-spirited companion of Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Bt, on the first circumnavigation of the world on its polar axis.

Starting off from Greenwich on September 2 1979, they sailed down the Meridian to Cape Town, then on to the Antarctic where a party of four; Fiennes, Burton, Oliver Shepard plus Fiennes’s wife Ginnie and the family terrier Bothie - were duly deposited.

The team brought with them scientific equipment and several board games; Burton, who claimed to know nothing about chess, was charged with conducting matches with the American, South African and Russian stations by radio

Leaving Lady Fiennes at Borga to maintain radio contact, the three men forged a previously unventured 900-mile route to the Pole. It was a relatively smooth passage.

Using aneroid barometers to map their way, they even had to slow down at one stage to enable their supply plane to find them. After reaching their destination, they headed for the Scott base at McMurdo Sound on the other side of the continent to be greeted by a piper.

As the expedition turned north, the pressures became noticeable. Shepard’s wife asked him to give up; and Burton coped with any strain by marrying his girlfriend “Twink” when the expeditioners halted in Sydney.

When Burton and Fiennes reached the Yukon, Burton was particularly struck by the enormous mosquitoes, which he described as “flying Jack Russells’, He was gratef for the case of whiskey sent up from Tennessee by the Jack Daniels company, though he grumbled that large amounts went down the throats of the thirsty reporters covering the story.

After being driven north, the pair took a 16 ft boat through the Northwest Passage, with Burton at the helm, and headed north until the vessel became stuck in the ice off Ellesmere Island.

They then skied over the glaciers to Base Alert, a grueling experience for Burton when the soles came off his feet, though he suggested they rested only when he fell over and struck his face on a rock.

By then they knew that both French and Norwegian parties were headed in the same direction. With Lady Fiennes established at Base Alert to maintain radio contract, the two men set off on snowmobiles.

Their troubles began to mushroom. A fire at Alert destroyed much of the supplies for which they were waiting. Four hundred and fifty miles from the Pole, the pair found themselves stranded in temperatures of minus 30 degrees with only a week’s supply of food.

On one occasion, Burton clutched on to Fiennes’s snowmobile with frozen hands as it sank into open seawater while his companion rescued some vital pieces of equipment. Since much of their protective clothing was lost, they were driven to sharing a sleeping bag for 24 hours until a new snowmobile was hazardously delivered by a Swiss charter pilot.

Burton, who was expedition cook and radio operator, established during one transmission that Britain was at war; but it was five days before he discovered that it was with Argentina. A freak warm spell prevented them from using the machines properly.

Then, after having to cut their way through successive ice walls, they got on to an ice floe the size of a football field, from which they had to transfer when it collided with another as the waters carried them north. Eventually they arrived at the Pole, celebrating their success ahead of the Norwegians with “a nicely chilled magnum”.

They had become the first people to reach both poles in a single journey of some 52,000 miles.

However, the excitements were not over. Fiennes shot a 12 ft tall polar bear through the ankle, 12 yards from Burton, after it climbed on to their ice floe. As the floe disintegrated into smaller pieces, they became alarmed when the wind carried them back north.

But after three months, they met their ship, which was jammed in the ice between Greenland and Spitzbergen. The expedition had taken them three years and two days by the time it finally retumed to Greenwich.

The son of a commander in the Royal Navy, Charles Robert Burton was born on December 13 1942 and went to Millfield before joining the Royal Sussex Regiment. He came out to start a business in South Africa and, after returning to London, enlisted as a Territorial in the SAS with Fiennes and Shepard as they were planning their expedition.

On returning home, Burton and Fiennes received the Polar Medal, with Antarctic and Arctic clasps, while Shepard received the Arctic clasp. However, Burton was particularly delighted by a Jak cartoon in the London Evening Standard which showed “Twink”, in her curlers, saying on the telephone that he would only sleep in a fridge.

A decade later, Burton and Shepard rang to suggest a second expedition though, this time, on foot and without support. Fiennes protested that it would be impossible, prompting Burton’s standard response: “Shut your mouth, or I’ll smash your teeth”.

When the trio met next day at the Royal Geographical Society, Fiennes pointed out that since neither dogs nor machines could manage the terrain, there was no chance for men. “Balls,” shouted Burton, “Captain Scott was absolutely right in reckoning manpower to be the efficient method. Our journey will prove it.”

Shepard then clinched the idea by saying: If we don’t do the journey, somebody else will.” However, Burton and Shepard eventually pulled out, giving up the pleasures of participation for those of organisation.

Burton later explained that once Fiennes became competitive he would regard any signs of enjoyment as tantamount to mutiny and insist they travel faster. Instead, Fiennes completed the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic continent with Mike Stroud.

Burton went into the private security business, looking after the Cabinet Office and the Treasury Office, and played much golf in his spare time. He is survived by his wife.

MAJOR W.P.Mac G. CARGILL

Paul Cargill was born at Lucknow, India, on 22nd April 1920, where his father was a Civil Engineer. He was educated at Malvern College, Worcestershire, and his parents returned to England in 1934 eventually settling in Hove. When war broke out Paul enlisted and after training at Eaton Hall was commissioned in the Royal Sussex and seconded to the Frontier Force Regiment in northern India. With the FFR he campaigned in Burma when the Japanese entered the war.

At war’s end he returned to UK and, after marrying Margaret, rejoined the 1st Battalion of his Regiment in Suez. Margaret joined him there in 1951 but after a few months the Egyptians abrogated the Treaty, and together with all the Battalion families they occupied a tent in Hodgson’s Camp, from where the families were evacuated to UK. After serving on with 1 R.Sussex in the Canal Zone and returning home, Paul was seconded to the Parachute Regiment and was promptly sent back to Egypt! Back with the Battalion in Korea, he was appointed to command the Royal Infantry Guard Company (Royal Sussex) and was presented with a Letter of Appreciation by the Adjutant General of the Republic of Korea Army.

On rejoining his family in Gibraltar Paul was disappointed to miss his battalion’s service in Benghazi, but instead he successfully trained and converted the Gibraltar Defence Force into an infantry unit, the Gibraltar Regiment.

When the Battalion returned to Lingfield the Cargills rented a house in Uckfleld, and then after a few months in Northern Treland Paul retired and they bought a large house and grounds in Scotland near Perth with the intention of breeding mink; but these animals had other ideas and the project was abandoned! Paul joined the Prison Service and worked as Assistant Governor at a number of prisons including Dartmoor and Wormwood Scrubs. On retirement the Car-gills settled in Worthing where Paul continued his love of animals with a Dachshund that lived for 16 years. He sadly died on 8th January 2008, and his friends say they miss his dry humour, rye smile and twinkling eye. We offer our sincere condolences to Margaret and his family.

LT COL T.S. FROWD

“Ermie” Frowd was born in 1908 in Swanwick, Hants; the son of a naval officer. As a teenager living in Portsmouth he becameafrdicated Pompey fan.jetaining his,.interestjn The club until his death aged 99 on Christmas Day 2007. Why “Ermie”? - because at some stage in the 20s he played “Ermintrude” in a pantomime - nicknames stuck in those days! (His real name was Trevor).

After Malvern College he went to Sandhurst and in 1929 he was commissioned in the Royal Sussex, serving with our 2nd Battalion on the North-West Frontier of India, and subsequently during the Dunkirk campaign. In the latter he led his platoon, which had become detached, across country; and was one of the last groups to arrive at the Beaches, from where he saw them safely home to England. He served subsequently in North Affica, and with the staff in the Mediterranean area.

Ermie had married Diana in the late 30s and in the SOs they based themselves in Lavant near Chichester, bringing up their children Gerald, Caroline and Patricia.

After service with the Royal West African Frontier Force, Ermie retired in 1958; and the family moved to Sturminster Newton, where he became a Retired Officer at Bovington Camp and filled his life further with Presidency of the local RBL and Chairmanship of the Hinton St Mary Cricket Club, with whom he played into his seventies. After 25 years in Dorset, Diana sadly died and Ermie moved to Eastcombe near Stroud, to be near Caroline and his grandchildren.

We offer our sincere condolences to all his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, by whom he is sorely missed, with his quiet, kindly humour and his fund of stories.

WILLIAM “BADGER” BALCOMBE

After recruit training at Chichester, Badger went to France with 7th Bn, The Royal Sussex Regiment in 1940. On 18th May 1940 the battalion was bombed while entrained in Amiens station and suffered heavily. They detrained and on 20th May took part in the devastating battle with Rommel’s Panzer Division outside Amiens. Armed with rifles and 50 rounds per man and a few Brens and Boyes Anti Tank rifles, the 7th Battalion held up the Germans for 24 hours before being over-run. 140 were killed; Badger was among the 197 that escaped back to UK. There they were reconstituted into 109 (Royal Sussex) Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery. The regiment went to North West Europe after D-Day and Badger attained the rank of Sergeant.

Badger, whose home was in Chailey, was a loyal member of our Lewes Branch and of the 7th Battalion Old Comrades. He was quite a character, always greeting one with a ready smile. He was a keen gardener, supplying his friends and neighbours with fresh vegetables; and being so popular he will be sadly missed by alt who knew him. No one yet has been able to tell us why he was nicknamed “Badger”! Any offers?

(The Editor is indebted to Tony Verth, late 7th Battalion, for this obituary)

JOHN SMEETH

John was born on Hayling Island in 1918, the son of a shepherd. How then did John become Royal Sussex and not Royal Hampshire? Because shortly after, his father became a shepherd on the Goodwood Estate and John grew up in West Sussex.

After leaving school at 14 John got a job at Irene garage in Westergate near Chichester and soon after he learnt to drive, passing his test in 1938. In 1939 he joined our 4th Battalion (TA) and in March 1940 went with the 4th to France as part of 133(Royal Sussex) Brigade. During the passage he acted as escort to his CO, “Bolo” Whistler and to the Brigade Commander, Brigadier Whitty.

During the retreat to Dunkirk, John had the misfortune to be captured by the Germans. He spent the War in Germany and Poland, working in coal mines and factories, often poorly treated and suffering numerous illnesses. But during this period he kept a diary of 40 pages and several hundred words. He was liberated by 7th Armoured Division at Fallingbostel on 21st April 1945 and flew home in a Dakota, complete with his diaries. During his time as a POW he was promoted Corporal.

John had met his future wife Molly before the War and they were married in June 1945. They spent their married life in Chichester, raising a family, with John having a number ofjobs in Chichester and Bognor Regis. When he retired in 1980 John took on what he made a full time job as Welfare Officer of the Chichester Branch of our Regimental Association. He was always out and about visiting our old soldiers and their widows. His wife supported him in this work and when at last he had to give it up the Chichester Branch presented him with a painting, especially commissioned, by Charles Stadden.

When John’s wife died in 2001 he moved into Glebe House, Southbourne, where he lived comfortably until 4th May this year (2008) when he sat down to read his paper, closed his eyes, and left us. No fuss, no drama, just the way he would have wanted to have gone.

To quote his son Nigel:

“Loving, caring, devoted and always willing to help other people. He rarely moaned and always had a smile and a cheery word. In the introduction to his war memoirs Dad said simply; ‘during my time as a prisoner of war I simply tried to do what seemed right each day, as each day came along’. An excellent motto for us all, and I think he achieved that, not just during the war, but throughout his lifetime; “Farewell old soldier!”.

(The Editor is indebted to Nigel Smeeth for the notes on which this Obituary is based)

These Last Posts are reproduced from the ROUSSILLON GAZETTE Winter 2008 Edition