1960's NIreland

They were also partial to a small refreshment on the odd occasion if memory serves!

BobG wrote:

Brum,
According to Wikipedia, if a Fijian was a tribal chieftain he would have RATU in front of his name. So if Joe Tamani was a chief he would have been called Ratu Joe Tamani. As in many Regiments the Fijians provided a high percentage of the Unit boxing and rugby teams, as was the case with the QOH when I was with them.
Bob

Thanks Bob.

I wish I'd had the chance to see his docs. in those days.

The Urban Myth had it that Tam was only a Sub-Chief (whatever that meant !).

Certainly Fijians from other regiments used to come visiting him from far & wide.

Last I saw him was at Lisnascea in '77. I believe he has since died.

Brum,
I believe tha Joe's full name was Tamanikairukurukuiovalau, found reference to it in a Worcester Tp facebook entry. Sorry to hear that he has saluted and fallen out for the last time.
Bob

Thanks Bob, that's impressive.

It looks like at least part of the Urban Myth could be right !

I've been looking at the QOH journal for April '71. There's a bunch of new REME arrival's names.

I'll PM you.

Not quite true Brum, though the title Ratu is indeed the corect honorific for a chiefly person. The length of the name is more to do with its description than anything else. The name usually invokes something of a persons history, social standing, place of origin etc.

I was reading in the local papers yesterday about a Fijian who is being removed from UK. Seems he did a coupel of tours in Iraq, got blown up in a land rover, lost a few mates, got PTSD and pulled a knife on a Cpl. court marshal, dishcharged and now can no longer remain in the UK. seems a bit harsh

steve jones wrote:

Not quite true Brum, though the title Ratu is indeed the corect honorific for a chiefly person. The length of the name is more to do with its description than anything else. The name usually invokes something of a persons history, social standing, place of origin etc.

I was reading in the local papers yesterday about a Fijian who is being removed from UK. Seems he did a coupel of tours in Iraq, got blown up in a land rover, lost a few mates, got PTSD and pulled a knife on a Cpl. court marshal, dishcharged and now can no longer remain in the UK. seems a bit harsh

I'm still not clear on this one Steve, ( I was hoping you'd pick this up).

As you can see from BobG's input, the bloke I was asking about had a very long name and certainly had some social standing. With that in mind, another Fijian in QOH had a surname that was only four letters in length. Would that indiocate that he had a lower status ?

On the Fijian you've just told us about, "a bit harsh" is a typically British understatement. I sometimes wonder about the quality of Regimental Officers these days.