Welcome to the May 2003 edition of the Royal Signals Newsletter.
Readers can now get this newsletter in two ways, either by collection (Downloading a pdf version for off-line reading/printing) from the newsletter distribution service, and from same they will get regular notification of the availability in same by a brief e-mail, or now thanks to the efforts of Keith Drummond this newsletter has also been made available on-line within the main RSO site. Which also resulted in a major redesign of the RSO site being necessary to accommodate full width representation on all pages. The Welcome to the May 2003 edition of the Royal Signals Newsletter. Readers can now get this newsletter in two ways, either by collection (Downloading a pdf version for off-line reading/printing) from the newsletter distribution service, and from same they will get regular notification of the availability in same by a brief e-mail, or now thanks to the efforts of Keith Drummond this newsletter has also been made available on-line within the main RSO site. Which also resulted in a major redesign of the RSO site being necessary to accommodate full width representation on all pages.
You can be subscribed here to The newsletter distribution service (a Yahoo group)
The on-line version can now be found in the RSO site in the newly created Newsletter Archive under…
The Newsletter index
We will need your participation submissions and feedback, so please send us your stories, concerns and wishes, and please recommend us to your friends and enemies
This Month's Contents
- Help Needed to find…: Seeking People, Seeking Info, and Seeking Photos
- Memory Joggers (The No. 18 Set, plus WW2 Headset and Mike…)
- History of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and their 100th Birthday and Details of the forthcoming RCCoS and CE Centennial celebrations
- Seeking Help Finding Details of the Long Chain AA Radar System.
- Details of the new Datasheet Series on the main RSO site.
- Poem "Just a Common Soldier (A Soldier Died Today)
- Plus our regular details of New RSA and Website Info, Reunions, etc.
I want to say thank you to our readers and our contributors, also in the name of Brian Streetly and Keith Drummond
Mrs. Petra Henderson
(Royal Signals 1971-1976)
People and Places (Personal stories).
Despite waiting for "local" content, i.e. reports or stories from our UK members, nothing has come… So this month's edition will not only be late (Held back as long as I can) but also have a lot of items to do with Canada…, A story I was going to put in the Next Month edition, being pulled forward to provide content…
PLEASE people, let us know your stories, some anecdotes of the time you put boot-polish in the RSM's toothpaste, sold a Tank to a willing but drunk German civilian, and the like, and also your list of people you are searching for… We are getting desperate and will consider anything!!!
It is hard to provide, or find content without help, and without any there is no point in sending anything out… So please, please help…
Regards Petra
Help Needed to find…
Cliff Lord is seeking; Information on Trades & Insignia
Does any one have a handle on the dates and official names of the trades in Signals from the mid-forties to the early sixties? It seems the trades changed to fit the needs of the times and consequently had name changes. To date I have quite a bit of information but its far from complete and would be keen to hear from anyone who has knowledge of these things.
Rgds
Cliff
Tony Saunders is seeking; Photos of the 1964 Reims Guard of Honour
(1964: General De Gaulle & Royal Signals Guard of honour in REIMS, France)
Hello to all and sundry. I would appreciate any help from you all in the following quest. Back in Sept/Oct 1964, I took part in a guard of honour when the CORPS represented the British Army at the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of the Marne in REIMS and Gen De Gaulle took the salute.
The Corps band took part as well. I am trying to obtain photos of this event and any relevant info. I have mentioned this event before (in post No. 6077 on the yahoo royal-signals group mail list a while ago), regarding a RSM DUNLOP.
Note: I do not have a PC so I am asking your help, I can however access a PC at the local library and have a couple of searches to no avail, (only a novice) I would love to show my daughter a photo of this event, so I hope you can help, cheers
Tony.S.
In the mean time Tony has had some partial success, (Still no picture but a promise to search one out from the wire archives) but none the less it is worth asking any members reading the newsletter (who are not members of the various Yahoo groups) as well, if they attended and have or know of pictures of these events?
Seeking Whereabouts or Details about Trevor Bailey,
Roy wrote:
I am looking for an ex corps member for a work colleague. His name is Trev Bailey and was last seen at Sandhurst as a Sergeant 93-95. It is believed that he left the Corps in 95. If anyone knows his whereabouts I would be grateful if you could pass it on.
Many Tks
Roy
If you can help, you can respond to me (Petra) or direct to Roy under his profile "RoyMessenger" in the Yahoo Royal Signals Group.
Seeking Whereabouts or Details about Ex Bunde (2 Div) Personnel,
I also had an enquiry during chat to help locate some mates, and asked the chat partner to send me a mail with details, despite searching my various mail in-trays, and looking for an e-mail address to request details from, I have found nothing, and so cannot (yet) assist…
None the less I hope to get the info in the next Cardiff MSN chat, (every Sunday Evening, 18:15 Hrs UK time, and will include these in the next Newsletter which subject to getting content, could theoretically be tomorrow (the next month!))
However in the mean time anyone who has served in Bunde, can contact me, or if not already done, add their details into the Data-Bank, and please do pass this on to others you might be in contact with…
Memory Joggers The No. 18 Set (Man Pack)
To stir up memories and hopefully some written recollections from our older readers, not only of the 18 set, but also 19, 22, 62, etc. and indeed any Wireless or radio set… Do please drop us a line.
The History of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
In April I requested and was pleased to be given a short history on the 100 years of the RCCoS, from Captain Vern Hayes (Retired) Public Relations Director and Organiser of the Celebrations 2003 (Kingston), and permission to publish this history and information on their100th Birthday celebrations.
I was also seeking suitable Photos and had written to several owners of re-enactment, equipment and history preservist, but sadly have to date had no reply.
A HUNDRED YEARS OF MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS
by Colonel PH Sutton CD (Retired), Senior Researcher,
Military Communications and Electronics Museum
(reproduced here with kind Permission)
The Communications and Electronics Branch, which is responsible for the majority of communications and electronics matters in the Canadian Forces (Royal Canadian Navy ships at sea being the exception), has several founding members; namely, the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, the Royal Canadian Air Force Telecommunications Branch, the Royal Canadian Navy Communications Research Branch, and some elements of the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.
Following the South African War, (1899-1902), the importance of signalling was accepted, and its place in the Canadian Army was recognized by the appointment at Ottawa, of Captain Bruce Carruthers, as Assistant Adjutant-General for Signalling. He conceived the idea, which became a reality effective 24 October 1903, of a separate Corps to develop signalling in the Canadian Army.
The original Corps shared communications responsibilities with the Royal Canadian Corps of Engineers until 1919. In 1921, the prefix Royal, was approved for the permanent force element of the Corps. This honour followed for the reserve component in 1936.
The central figure of the Canadian Signal Corps badge was the Greek Mercury, symbolic of speed. This symbol continues to be central to the present Communications and Electronics badge. He is affectionately known to signal personnel throughout the world as "Jimmy".
A HUNDRED YEARS OF MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS ... Continued
The First World War saw the development of spark wireless, buried telephone cable and message rockets, in addition to motorcyclist dispatch riders, messenger dogs, carrier pigeons, and the old reliable lamp and flags. Canada has Lieutenant-Colonel (later Colonel) Forde to thank that the Corps was continued after the First World War. By his ardent persuasion, the General Staff was convinced that the need existed for a Signals Corps in peacetime. A few vacancies were made available from the Instructional Cadre to form a Permanent Force Signal Corps. The young Corps secured a precarious foothold in the vastly reduced post-war army, with the authorization of a scant five officers and fifteen other ranks. With gradually added responsibilities, the Corps grew slowly in size and importance. In the early twenties, a Signal Depot was opened at Camp Borden, Ontario, for centralized signal training.
In 1923, the opening of radio stations at the Yukon mining communities of Mayo Landing and Dawson City, heralded the beginning of the Northwest Territories and Yukon Radio System. This system eventually grew to 28 stations, ranging in size from three men at Fort Chipewyan, to 19 men at Norman Wells. It became a vital link in the development of our country's rich northern frontier, providing reliable radio communications for mining companies, aircraft, trading posts, and prospectors. Regular weather reports from these systems formed the basis for national forecasts from the Dominion Observatory.
When airmail was introduced to the Canadian public in 1927, the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals was given responsibility for a nation wide system of radio beacons, required to guide the mail planes. The Corps also supplied communications for the first transatlantic air mail from a radio station at Red Bay, Labrador, to mail ships at sea and aircraft of the RCAF. In 1934, most of these responsibilities were handed over to the Royal Canadian Air Force and became the responsibility of its Signal Service. Despite these civilian-type duties, the main effort of the Permanent Force Signal Corps in those days was to supervise the signal training program of the Non-Permanent Active Militia, forerunner of the present-day Reserve Force. In 1937 the Corps School moved to its newly constructed permanent home, Vimy Barracks, Kingston, Ontario. The previous home of the Corps had been a collection of "temporary" huts at Camp Borden, first occupied in 1922.
The Second World War, with its unprecedented requirement for communications befitting large-scale mobile fighting, saw a tremendous increase in the size and scope of operations of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. Each of Canada's five fighting divisions was furnished with a divisional signal unit of nearly a thousand men. The Corps also supplied a regimental sized unit for each of the two Corps Headquarters, and another for Headquarters' First Canadian Army. Hundreds of trained signalmen served in base signal units and many more served in North Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, and Burma. The war also brought tremendous advances in equipment and in the techniques used in military communications.
The Corps contributed significantly to the development of more effective and efficient communications equipment through the efforts of the Canadian Signals Research and Development Establishment, located on the outskirts of Ottawa. When mobilization came in 1939, Canada found itself well served by the foresight in the training of the force of part-time soldiers; the Non-Permanent Active Militia; by the small Permanent Force. The vast numbers of loyal Canadians who had made a hobby of military signalling, two nights a week, played a large part in the organization and manning of the huge Signals force of the Second World War. In the re-organized post-war Canadian Army, Signals played a dominant part in both the Reserve and Active Forces.
The Corps was represented in Korea by a brigade signal squadron and by men serving in infantry and artillery regiments. Some six years after the war, the Corps was again back in Germany when it provided a brigade signal squadron to Canada's Army NATO force. This force remained in Europe in various forms until its withdrawal in 1994. Within Canada, the Corps continued to grow and prosper. It was now operating the Army component of the National Defence Communications System, a countrywide teletype system. In 1957, the Corps commenced turning over all 28 stations of the Northwest Territories and Yukon Radio System to the Federal Department of Transport. By 1965, the system including its headquarters in Edmonton, had closed, and thus ending an era in which the Royal Canadian Signals played a very significant role in opening Canada's north.
The advent of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations has had a significant impact on the Corps both in personnel and equipment. In virtually all of those operations, the Corps has been represented in strength, ranging from one or two radio detachments, to a full signal regiment. While providing excellent training and experience, these commitments placed a heavy toll on unit manning. In additions to all these demanding tasks, the Army field force in Canada placed continuous demands on the Corps, which true to its traditions and its high standard of training, it met with both energy and success. Major technical support for Army signal equipment was provided by elements of the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The Royal Canadian Air Force Signals Branch, later to evolve into the Royal Canadian Air Force Telecommunications Branch, was formally established in 1935. Its mission was the provision of the telecommunication needs of an ever growing Air Force. From a simple beginning in 1927, which saw a small number of Royal Canadian Corps of Signals personnel attached for signal duties, the Royal Canadian Air Force Telecommunications Branch grew to be a highly technical and efficient organization. They supported the operations of the Air Force, both in Canada and overseas during the Second World War. The pre-war Air Force made its contribution to national development by operating mail services, weather stations, and conducting high arctic reconnaissance, all supported by an ever growing communication system.
During the Second World War there was a large expansion of the Air Force's telecommunications and radar operations. RCAF Station Clinton, trained more than 6000 radar personnel for service in Canada's Coastal Defence, the United Kingdom's Home Radar Chain, and many other areas of Allied operations. At the beginning of the "Cold War", North American Air Defence (NORAD) became a permanent feature of our defence policy. The school, which handled the resultant expansion, was at Clinton, Ontario. The Royal Canadian Navy operated the Supplementary Radio System with some 800 sailors, who worked in high-frequency radio direction finding and communications research, primarily in the North. Their headquarters and school were in HMCS Gloucester, on the outskirts of Ottawa.
The Canadian Forces Reorganization Act in 1968, brought the communicators of the three services together, to form the Communications and Electronics Branch. All three services operated trans-Canadian message networks; the Air Force also had a ground to air communication system.
These systems eventually came under one organization, the Canadian Forces Communications Command. There, they remained until the mid nineties, when they became a direct responsibility of National Defence Headquarters on the closure of the Communications Command. The Navy's school in Ottawa and the Air Force school at Clinton had closed immediately after integration.
Most professional training for the Branch was moved to, and conducted at, the Canadian Forces School of Communications and Electronics at Kingston, Ontario, the old home of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and now the home of the Communications and Electronics Branch.
Personnel of the Communications and Electronics Branch, one of the Canadian Forces largest, carry out their duties all across Canada and around the world in support of the United Nations, NATO and humanitarian missions. They operate and maintain some of the most sophisticated and complex communications equipment found today.
The members of the Branch pride themselves in being ever swift, accurate, and watchful in meeting the communication needs of the modern Canadian Forces. These military communicators, having a history so closely intertwined with the development of Canada, are second to none.
Details of the forthcoming Centennial activities
Captain Vern Hayes (Retired)
Public Relations Director
Celebrations 2003 (Kingston)
Wrote:
The year 2003 marks the Centennial of 100 years of Military Communications in Canada. As part of the nation-wide celebrations for this 100th Anniversary the Communications & Electronics Branch Home Station, Kingston, will be hosting celebrations over the Labour Day weekend, 29 August - 1 September 2003. The weekend will be rich in significant activities to commemorate this historic event and in part, will include: professional development seminars; parades; a memorial service; equipment demonstrations; and, a banquet and dance.
The highlight of this weekend will be the participation of HRH, the Princess Royal, Colonel-In-Chief of the Communications & Electronics Branch. Detailed information is available at or Celebrations 2003 Kingston, CFSCE Kingston, PO Box 17000 Stn Forces, Kingston, ON K7K 7B4, Phone Canada (613)541-5010 Ext. 5164 or 5165.
In Search of Help… Seeking Info on WW2 AA Radar Defence Units
Hello Petra:
This note is to see if you could shine some light on the records that might exist on the employment of 22 RCCS personnel that were seconded to the British Army's AA defence of Great Britain during the time of Dec 1940/spring 1943. I was one of the group that served in this caper. It started with a formal request to the Canadians to "lend " the British Army some Signals people with the appropriate technical back ground to assist in the maintenance of gun laying AA Radio Location equipment (GL MkI), then deployed throughout Great Britain.
After a training period on this equipment at a Radio School at Kingston Hill, I was sent to a Mob stores in Bobbing Kent, Nr Sittingbourne. Eventually that area became part of the 6th AA Div., with Hq in Chelmsford. So I know what happened to me and how I served there. The problem seems to be that because of the hush-hush nature of our work. there were few if any paper records of where we all were sent. Some went as far as the Orkneys! I have managed to get the history of the names of those who were in the group and some of the courses we all took at Radio Schools in Petersham, Sidcup, Leicester, and (for the GL MkII), at the HMV factory in Hayes, but the actual postings of the individuals to Units and places throughout the UK is not available to us here in Canada.
I am trying to put together the history of this group for a display in our Museum in Kingston. (I live in Picton, just west of Kingston). If you think you could help in this or could refer me to the proper people to contact to get this kind of information, please drop a line. I could send you the names and regimental numbers of the individual members of the group of 22, and a brief on the history I have so far. I hope I've tweaked your historical curiosity!
If you could help in any way, I would be grateful. Thanks. My name rank and number at that period was Sigm G E Grainger, P40322. RCCS.
In a further mail he wrote…
Hello again Petra
I do thank you for the prompt reply to my enquiry. I await the results of your forwarding my request to the organisations you selected.
I should point out that the UK was divided up into AA Div areas and numbered. In southeast England where I was employed, it was 6 AA Div. and it consisted of Kent and Sussex south of the Thames, a flotilla of paddle wheelers in the Thames; and Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk in East Anglia as far as the Wash. Our detachment in the Sittingbourne area was responsible for the maintenance of the AA radar on all the gun sites and the paddle-wheelers in the Division. It was quite a chore for the three persons there in the early days. We were some busy I can tell you. We did get more in the shop as the mob stores eventually became a fully fledged Ordnance Workshop.
We are trying to find out to which AA divisions the other members of the group of 22 were sent to assist in the defences of the UK. Lets hope that your distribution of the Quest bears some fruit. Thanks again for your interest, now tweaked, it seems. Mike.
DATASHEET NEWS…
Recently made available on the distribution service and/or Website
Keith recently added an overview table of the roles, frequencies and ranges of various Radio Sets used in WW2.,…
I have opened an insatiable can of worms for "Visual Signalling" which while at first I thought I would have difficulty finding anything, now has resulted in a flood of information, some of which caused work in progress to be abandoned (Partly involuntary when Microsoft deleted my most recent version, partly by desire) in order the restructure and rewrite them. Due to the interlinked correlation of these it seems that several will become available together and not as I had planned one or two per month…
The Lyrics and some information to the Poem "Just a Common Soldier"
In keeping with the Canadian theme of this Newsletter this month, I sought and obtained permission of the Author of a very moving Poem to republish it here.
His son Randy Vaincourt, told me at the beginning of the month that his Father is recovering from a recent Hospital Stay. I am sure the readers will join me in wishing him a speedy recovery. Please visit his website, and there you can find details of his books and publications. Larry's books RHYMES & REFLECTIONS and DON'T BURN THE BIFFY are now available via his site (link below). These are special, limited edition copies signed by the author, and make wonderful gifts., you can also contact the Author via his son, under following e-mail address, I am sure he would like to hear from our members, and it may help speed up his recovery…
Email Randy Vaincourt
JUST A COMMON SOLDIER
(A Soldier Died Today)
by A. Lawrence Vaincourt
He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past
Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.
And tho' sometimes, to his neighbours, his tales became a joke,
All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.
But we'll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today.
He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,
For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.
Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,
And the world won't note his passing, though a soldier died today.
When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.
Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,
But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.
Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land
A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?
A politician's stipend and the style in which he lives
Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.
While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.
It's so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,
That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know
It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.
Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,
Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?
Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend
His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?
He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honour while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,
Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.
© 1985 A. Lawrence Vaincourt
Some RSO Data-bank Success Stories…
Subject: thank you
From: Phil Seaton Contact him here Please Mark your your Mail "Phil Seaton" and include your return address. Or you can go to the database and mail direct. and please give an e-mail address for his reply"
hi
i found your site trough the links page at forces friends reunited where i am a member i have had no luck at all with them my first hit with you has turned up two people i served with in 3 inf bde northern ireland in the early 70s, in fact bob pakes found your site the day after i did dennis southwick told me he had to e mail you because he had trouble getting me from your database i also e mailed dave cormack from your base and as yet have had no reply this could be for many reasons but i thought i would inform you anyway. thanks for the site i shall pass it on to any ex corps members i come across. yours phil seaton
New RSA and Website information!
Royal Signals Association (Derby branch) and 46 Signal Squadron (v): community web site
UK Signals Reunion Info No Reports…
If you are planning a reunion, please tell us "who, where, when and the relevant contact info".
Your RSO needs you!
Contact Us
If you have any comments, inputs or events for this Newsletter, please Contact Brian, Keith or myself via the respective royal-signals.org.uk email addresses below.
Thank you (also to all our content contributors) , and until till next Month.
