THE COVENANTER
fortunately escaped many of the indignities sense of humour. In the orderly room WO2
such as being weighed daily in the buff in the Ansdell was a wise and generous mentor
frozen open wastes of Westphalia, or worse to a young and inexperienced adjutant. At
still being a member of the euphemistically the end of 1965 the Battalion was tasked
named ‘water balance platoon’. We were to with assisting with public duties in London.
experience a much more serious problem Two guards, commanded by Captains
later in the spring when, after a loose remark Colin Lindsay and George Stephen, were
by Jack Profumo, the Defence Minister, sent down and acquitted themselves with
the press were allowed to descend on the considerable panache. In later years I was
Battalion, with devastating effect. One to take part in London duties on many
cannot imagine that today it would be quite occasions, but the memory of seeing a
so badly handled. We were undoubtedly fall Cameronian guard advancing at 140 paces
guys for the press’s pursuit of Profumo over to the minute towards the Old Guard drawn
his affair with Christine Keeler, and perhaps up in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace
the only good things to come out of it all is an abiding one. Then it was Aden. The
was that marvellously iconic photograph of Battalion was quartered in Radfan Camp to
Miss Keeler in her chair and the myriad jokes the north of the town. Somewhere to the
which appeared at the time (the cleanest of east was a fish-drying factory which made its
which I can remember is the invention of a presence unpleasantly noticeable when the
new verb to profume: meaning to lie or lie wind was blowing in the wrong direction.
with). Not that long ago I saw Profumo at a To the north was desert and a wire fence
memorial service in Westminster Abbey. He known as the Scrubber Line, named after
was pale husk of a man in a wheelchair, and Major ‘Scrubber’ Stewart Richardson of the
as he passed me I wondered if he realised the Coldstream Guards whom I remembered
damage he had done by his flippant remark as a famously ferocious senior instructor
in the Commons that ‘the Press had missed of the platoon commanders’ division at
a trick’. Warminster. The tents had walls of sandbags
around them against mortar attack. The
Before the Battalion ended its tour in Minden sandbags quickly rotted in the sun and
I left to become ADC to Major General John needed constant replacement, a tedious and
Frost, a remarkable man and a staunch unpleasant chore. The Battalion’s main task
Cameronian despite having spent most of was maintaining security in Maalla, where
his service with the Parachute Regiment. I Services’ families were quartered, and in
heard his various war exploits at first hand Steamer Point, the main commercial and
many times. He is best remembered for shopping district. One of the company
having held the bridge at Arnhem for 48 operational bases was nicknamed the ‘Yellow
hours against overwhelming odds whilst Submarine’ after the Beatles’ song, and
commanding 2nd Battalion The Parachute another recording not surprisingly popular
Regiment, a feat well chronicled in Cornelius at the time was Tom Jones’s ‘Green, green
Ryan’s book A Bridge Too Far, which became grass of home’. It was unglamorous, hot,
a film in 1977 with Anthony Hopkins playing unremitting work. Operational intelligence
Frost. But he also commanded, as a major, was virtually non-existent and members of
the first successful parachute operation of the two main terrorist organisations simply
the war when his force captured vital radar melted into the general population. Apart
equipment in the Bruneval Raid. As you from sporadic grenade attacks there was
might imagine, life with General Johnny little terrorist activity until towards the end
was never dull! of the Battalion’s tour, some nine months
before the final British withdrawal, and the
Back with the Battalion again I found highlight of the tour was undoubtedly a six-
myself appointed adjutant and joining a week rotation up-country based at Habilayn.
formidable team. Lieutenant Colonel David In Julian Paget’s history of the campaign,
Riddell-Webster demanded the highest Last Post : Aden 1964-67, the Battalion gets
of standards, which was the Battalion’s only two cursory mentions; it is not possible
bedrock not only for the goldfish bowl of to quarrel with that, but it does disguise the
public duties in Edinburgh, but also for the high professionalism displayed by all ranks.
operational tour which lay ahead. He was
ably assisted by RSM Jake Sneddon who will Back at Redford Barracks I handed over to
always be for me every inch the archetypal Captain David Christie as adjutant. Neither
regimental sergeant major, with a marvellous of us realised that he would be the last to hold
77
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