Happy memories of the firemen's strike - and Jon Snow

10/10/2008

I served in the Army from September 1975 to November 1984. I have many very fond memories of those times, and one of the best was during the firemen's strike in the 1970s.

We were using a territorial camp as a base of operations where we ran the Green Goddess Fire Engines. It was almost a childish bit of fun with the old chrome plated bells ringing as we raced at an incredible speed (of a little more than 30 mph!) to a fire or cat up a tree. Yes, we really DID have to get a cat out of a tree. In fact one of our company -  "X Coy" if I remember right - rescued the cat and then promptly ran over it as it slept under the warm rear wheels.

 

It made it onto the news, and the newsreader, Jon Snow, I think, could hardly keep a straight face.

But the full reality of what we were really there for came when we had fatalities. It happened when the Christmas decorations had caught fire in a house, and we lost several civilians. But the six weeks or so we spent on this duty was mostly fun, and the local population were so generous with gifts that we ended up with two aircraft hangars full of things like alcohol and biscuits, all parceled up in generous bundles.

 

Every man in the battalion got a raffle ticket that corresponded to a 'bundle' -  and we all went home a bit worse for wear.

Good times.

Martin Bodger