Crossing the border

St Hilarion, yes here it is and we climbed and climbed all the way to the top. LOL




and from the top

Seeing St Hilarion again brings back memories,in 67 that area was "on the line",Kyrenia was Greek and south to Nicosia was Turkish. The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada had an out post up there called Thr Saddle and it was stuck right between the Turks in the castle and the Greeks on the next ridge. A corporal and his section were stuck in the middle with an OP and two field phones,one to each side,so when they got stroppy and traded the odd shot and insults like "your mum shags goats", the UN sprung into action with all it's force and the corporal or his mate told them to shut up. That's about as serious as it got. My boss was an ex Queen's Own Sgt turned helicopter pilot and knew many oldtimers in the Bn.We were movement control In Nicosia with one plane a week on monday afternoon for about two hours so there was plenty of time for visiting plaqces like The Saddle.

Tony, can't have been '67 mate.

Jim,it all started in 64,and I got there 24 June 1967,went back to Canada 22 December,much to the disgust of my replacement.The only real excitement in that six months was the Turkish Air Force flew a few sorties over Nicosia with Supersabres as a moral booster, but one day,(and I actually saw it),a Lightining from Akrotiri came along at deck level and the shot up with afterburner going right between the two of them,they banked away right and left went over the Kyrenia mountaind and never came back,that was early December 67.

Oh right, I know the Invasion was in '74, I didn't realise that it was all happening before then. I mean I knew about EOKA and stuff but didn't realise there were designated Turkish and Greek areas prior to the invasion mate. Thanks for that.