Medway Help For Heroes Diary
Keep checking back to see the latest events being planned
“In celebration of the London
Olympics and the 200th Anniversary of the Royal Engineers,
headquartered in Chatham , on 21st June, Shepherd Neame Ltd will be
hosting an evening at their Brewery Visitor Centre at Faversham in Kent which
will include a talk on Lieutenant General Sir Philip Neame VC, and in
recognition of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war Chris Davies will
present a talk on the Royal Engineers and the Battle for the
Falklands.
General Neame, a Royal Engineer and
an Olympic Gold Medalist, was closely related to the brewing family, born and
brought up in the nearby village of Selling , to where he eventually retired and
where he is now buried.
The Guinness Book of Records once
featured General Neame as the only person ever to have won both the highest
award for bravery and the highest award for Sport. He won the Victoria Cross in
the First World War at Neuve Chapelle in 1914, and the Gold Medal for shooting
in the ‘Chariots of Fire’ Olympics in Paris in 1924. But behind these headlines
is a story of an extraordinary life which included mountaineering, shooting
tiger in India , and exploring the further reaches of the Empire. In WW2, he was
the first British Army commander to face Rommel’s AfriKa Korps when he was
captured, but which was followed by an exciting escape through German-occupied
Italy .
General Neame kept a unique
photographic record of his varied life. The talk – supported by some of this
photography - will be given by General Neame’s son, Philip – himself a
mountaineer and ex-soldier who served with great distinction in the Falklands
War, when as Company Commander of the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment he
played a major role in the battles of Goose Green and Wireless Ridge. In fact
his company had more engagements with enemy forces than any other unit deployed
during the war.
The Royal Engineers and the Battle for The
Falklands
Chris Davies took over
command of 9 Parachute Squadron RE in February 1982. The Squadron provided the
Engineer support for the newly-formed 5 Infantry Brigade and it was recognised
at the time that a good deal of work would be required to transform the Brigade
into a fully operational unit. With hard work it was reasoned that the Brigade
should be ready properly to fulfil its dual roles of Home Defence and Out of
Area Operations by, perhaps, the following Autumn. On April 2nd the
Argentinians invaded the Falkland Islands and the Brigade was pitched into a
full-on war 8,000 miles from home. Chris led 9 Parachute Squadron through this
uniquely varied, challenging and successful period of its history. He is
well-qualified, therefore, to provide a participant’s view of the role of his
Squadron in particular, and of the whole spectrum of the Corps of Royal
Engineers’ contribution to what was a short, bloody and strategically important
campaign. When Honours are awarded after military operations Sappers are often
overlooked, but when the operations are in progress the cry that “there are
never enough Sappers” is uttered all too frequently. Others may claim the glory
but there would be little glory to be had if it were not for the hard work,
indefatigability and courage of largely-unsung Sappers. Chris is proud to take
any opportunity of describing just how the Sappers, as individuals, as units and
as a Corps, provided a vital contribution to what was, by any standards, a
resounding success in the Falkland Islands in 1982.
|
Help_for_Heroes
