Maresfield Barracks - Herford

Does enyone know a Taff? Ok, his real name was DavidSteven Murray. He served 1987/1988. Hammersmith Barracks in Herford. Vlothoherstr. He went back to wales. Now i lost his phonenumber. I ask the army for information, but i didnt got any. I cant even look in a phonebook, because i dont know were he lives over there. Please could you tell me, if there would be an office in wales where i could ask for him. Sorry, but my english isnt that good. I hope you understand wht im writing here. Please, i just would like to know how he is.
colli

How the memory plays tricks! Yes - I served there with HQ BAOR Sig Regt in 1952, but I could have sworn it was Harewood Barracks. I left there on detachment to 4 L of C, Hannover, then 2 L of C, Hamburg. After that, posted to 18 Ind Inf Bde Sig Sqn, Kuala Lipis, Malaya then - three weeks after demob in 1956, recalled as a reservist to 10 Armd. Div Sig Regt, Tripoli, Libya. Stayed there until second demob on Christmas Eve, 1956. Stayed on reserve until migration to Canada in 1968, where I joined Royal Westminster Regiment (Militia, or TA equivalent) as a bandsman. (I wasn't a bandsman in the British army. I was a Cipher Op).

I wish I had been a bandsman - I'd have been a better musician than I am now. Still, I'm happy enough to be playing with a couple of jazz groups here in Vancouver.

I was in Harewood Barracks in 1953. The Maresfield Barracks referred to was 7 Signal Regt that is now a housing estate, very near the Zoo.
My barrack block in Harewood barracks near the Ringstrasse was third up on the right, near the dip to the cookhouse.
The CO was Lt Col JDL Morris and our Sqn was commanded by Major Mansergh. His 2i/c was Capt Le-Gassick. and my Troop Commander was 2Lt CGA Ridley. I think my Squadron was 3 Squadron.
The Regiment name was HQ BAOR Sig Regt, changed to HQ BAOR Sig Regt and finally to 18 Army Gp Sig Regt. I left in 1954 as a newly promoted Sgt posted to Korea.
All my intake from Harrogate - 49B were posted into this Regiment in the Autumn of 1952 and we were all sent out to join the large annual exercise taking place at the time - Exercise Holdfast. What a baptism of fire.
Have fond memories of those times, especially being on duty at the receiver site in Bad Oynehausen with the AR88 receivers etc. Bad Oynehausen was then the HQ of BAOR - Rhinedahlen hadn't been built then.
A great time to have been in BAOR

Ex Holdfast


Some of my Sig Cen crew

Len (Ciphers)

Hi Len,
That's a motly crew of fellas.

Here is a photo with kind permission of Peter Jackson (who is 3rd from the left sitting) of 3 Medium wireless Troop in 1953



The Sgt's name I believe was Gray. The fellas from my intake at Harrogate are :
Pete Kinsey - 3rd from right rear row.
Jock Patterson - 2nd from right front row
Digger Lock - 3rd from left  front row
Pete Jackson - 3rd from left seat on floor.
Havn't got a photo of my troop but here I am during the same period

So all the good looking blokes were sent to Signals?

Cheers,
Dan.

I dunno how I missed it, but I didn't realise there was a Maresfield as well as a Harewood Barracks - which is where I was. I also took part in Ex. Holdfast - somewhere near Muenchen Gladbach, as I recall. Somewhere buried in the basement, I have a B&W photo of some of the boys and me - all clutching Sten guns with absolutely no idea how to use them. I'll see if I can find it. As an 18-year-old sprog, Herford was also my first introduction to German beer in the form of Herford Pils - marked by a night of cathartic vomiting and the mother of all hangovers. In spite of it all, happy days - as indeed were the rest of the six years I spent as a Soldier of The King (and later, The Queen), in Malaya and Libya.

Dan M wrote:

So all the good looking blokes were sent to Signals?

Cheers,
Dan.

Quite so. This was taken in 10 Armd. Div Sigs Sgts' Mess in Tripoli, at the time of the Suez crisis. I'm the (extremely) good-looking bloke in the middle, missing the shoulder flashes. Since we reservists were only there for four months, it seemed hardly worth sewing them on. The Rupert with his back to the camera was the CO, whose name I can't remember - though I do remember the RSM was a best-forgotten bloke called Jimmy Derwent.

(Sadly, my attempt to post the pic failed. You'll just have to take my word for it).

Thinking about those times (1952/3). There were 3 Signal Regiments. HQ BAOR Signal Regt, 11th Armoured Signal Regt & 1 Corps Signal Regiment. Don't think there was a Maresfield Barracks then as both 1 Corps & 11th Armoured Sig Regiments was billeted in Hammersmith & Wentworh Barracks.
Just think what the locals had to contend with on pay day. 2500-3000 soldiers all out on the razzle, beer and the little AKC cinema and YMCA. We were only allowed to change £1 BAFV's into DM. I think the rate of exchange was £1.0.6 = 12 DM. It did narf go a long way.
Remember seeing that 3-D film 'The House of Wax' at the AKC in around 1953.
Went back to Herford in the late 1980's when one of my Sons was stationed at 7 Sig Regt.
Not a great change, still the same little market square etc.

12 DM to a pound is right - though we used to live rather well on 2 oz cans of Nescafe and any cigarette rations we could buy from any of the (few) non-smokers

Going back even further, our troop drill corporal at Somme Lines, 7 TR, Catterick, in 1951 was one Cpl. Postlethwaite - who bore an uncanny resemblance in both looks and demeanour to the late actor Peter Postlethwaite, both in real life and in his role as the evil Sgt. Hawkswill in the Sharp's Rifles TV series. I've been trying unsuccessfully for several years to determine whether or not they were related.

Not good old Palestine Police Force Postlethwaite ... he was a lance jack at 4TR Gaza Lines. .He gave me stick for having toothbrush with uneven bristles (Spa toothbrushes were made that way) .. got back at him a couple of days later when I passed cipher course and was promoted to Cpl, had him for no tie in the NAAFI .. what goes around comes around.

Len (Ciphers)

6 Armoured Div Signals were also in Wentworth at that time Jim as 'guests' of 11 Armoured Div Sigs .. we were waiting for Birdwood Barracks Bunde to be completed for us .. moved there April/May 1952.


Wentworth 1952

Not much change over the years.

Len (Ciphers)

ciphers wrote:

Not good old Palestine Police Force Postlethwaite ... he was a lance jack at 4TR Gaza Lines. .He gave me stick for having toothbrush with uneven bristles (Spa toothbrushes were made that way)  .. got back at him a couple of days later when I passed cipher course and was promoted to Cpl, had him for no tie in the NAAFI .. what goes around comes around.

Len (Ciphers)

The very same. As a fellow cipher bod, I went to 4 TR after 7 TR and Somme lines.

When I was at 7 Sigs in1963-6 and as my married quarter was close by, I used to use either Wentworth or Hammersmith barracks for the Garrison Library. Used to drive past these barracks down the hill to the NAAFI Families Shop, which was just off Mindener Strasse.

Len: In one of your postings you mention " ... my pal Taffy Reese." It has to be the same Taff who was my close friend through basic and 4 TR. I know he went to Korea at about that time. He was from Swansea. I bumped into him again at the Saighton (Chester) depot on demob after Suez. Not sure whether it was true or not but I heard he got into trouble in Japan for something like B&E - where he left his hat behind with his name stitched in! Apocryphal, but it wouldn't surprise me. A great guy. I wonder where - or if - he is now? I see your Reg No, like mine, is 2256. I joined up in July 1951.

Basic Training Troop 32/36 June 1951
Taff Reese (right) on course at HQ BAOR, Bad Oyenhausen 1953

Len (Ciphers)

Yup - that's the Taff I knew and loved - well, you know what I mean! I'd forgotten we both went to HQ BAOR together. I guess he went to Korea at the same time as I went to Malaya. Your photo really stirs the memories. I just about remember L/Cpl Hook from 7 TR, but Postlethwaite's the one who left the most lasting impression.

Taff was in Germany, Korea and Japan with me. We ganged around together, lost touch when I was hooked of the trooper on the way back from the Far East and shipped into Cyprus.
The Sgt in the photo (Hogan) was in Korea as a Signalman, got busted at Somme for striking some recruit. I used to use him as a weapons instructor (took the weight off my  shoulders). I vaguely remember hearing Taff had got into some trouble, didn't surprise me, he was a bit of a lad.
Who was your cipher instructor, we had the nuttiest guy to don a uniform Sgt Upson, he had an eye that wandered, literally. Part of our course was th mandatory singing all the versus of the Lambton Worm in a Geordie dialect.  Never forgot it.

Len (Ciphers)

Sgt Upton it was - along with Sgt (Pedlar) Palmer. They were both a riot and between them, taught us that the army could be fun. Upton did indeed have eyes like Marty Feldman. They were both great blokes. I seem to remember Palmer got caught stealing coal for the Sgts' Mess. I don't think he was charged - just got his knuckles rapped. You'll probably remember SSM Derwent at Somme lines - a distinctly unlikeable feller whom I had the misfortune to re-encounter on recall as a reservist to 10 Armd Div Sigs in Tripoli, come Suez time. By that time, he was RSM.Unfortunately, he remembered me from Somme and - after a riotous going home party in the Sgts' Mess - which went on until about 0200 - detailed me to be in charge of the advance baggage party for the homeward-bound trip on Empire Orwell. That meant I had to be ready to board at 0400. It was not a happy departure from Azzizia barracks, later bombed by the Yanks when Gadaffi was using it as his headquarters. The four months I spent in Tripoli were otherwise OK, some wonderful nights out at the Whelus Field USAF NCOs club followed one night by an overnight in an Arab jail. But that's another story ...

Jimmy Derwent was my RSM at 6 Armoured Div Signals. I found him strict but fair and we got on well, well as well as an RSM and a Cpl can. He also remembered me from Somme and on meeting him at 6 Armd for the first time gave me hell for wearing weights. Took them off me at the guardroom as I arrived. He then looked at me hard and tapped my tapes with his pace stick. Looks like they are making anything up these days he said. I kept a straight face and said apparently so sir. He then detailed me for guard. When I got to the square for guard mount practice, he looked at me and said, 'You look like a big nog corporal, here have these weights I confiscated them this morning. Guess who from.
After that he was chummy, liked to visit the cipher wagon and BS, often bought me a beer at Haltern and regularly called me up from brigade (20 Armd in Munster) if he wanted someone for special parade or guard. He could be a bugger to some guys but as I said I found him fair.

Here he is on the first Admin Parade in 1952 at Bunde, I'm th right marker immediately behind him.

Len (Ciphers)

The two cipher officers I remember at HQ BAOR were Capt. Lofty Moore and Capt. Brian Roderick. Ting any bells?