Gangster Platoon Party 2002 - from Issue 98 Jun 02

GANGSTER PLATOON ASSOCIATION
On Saturday 23 Mar 2002 a 50th Birthday celebration was held at the most appropriate Gamekeeper’s pub in Old Buckenham to mark the 50th birthday of Kevin Vincent, one of the founder members of this remarkable Platoon.
With free booze and scoff on offer the attendance was amazingly higher than the Pl ever achieved when on Active Service in Thetford 1973-1986!
Sadly, founder member Frank Anthony was very ill and unable to attend. He died on 26 Apr 2002 - click here for his obituary.
Formed in March 1973, it met in the Croxton Road RMP Detachment huts, now the WETC (Weekend Training Centre) for Norfolk and Suffolk ACF, adjacent to the former Ordnance Supply Depot. It was the second Platoon formed by what was then A (Royal Norfolk) Company, 6 (V) Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment.
The CO was Lt Col Paul Raywood, OC the late Maj David Standley, the PSI CSgt Ben Turner, the Pl Comd Capt Martin Haylock. Cpls Ted Guy, Gerry Bush and Antonio Innes, members of the Dereham Platoon, were borrowed as instructors and the CSM WO2 Alec Barr lent an experienced eye.
A later PSI, Mick `Chunky’ Watkins, named the platoon after seeing their graduate status on their files, listing periods of training while detained at Her Majesty's displeasure. Members preferred the title ‘The Destroyers’.
Founder member ex-REME Craftsman Vic Turner cared much for his black beret and it was similar in hue to the blue beret then worn by junior ranks. At camp in 1976 the Late General Ian Freland was visiting the Otterburn ranges. Sweeping the horizon a mile away through his binoculars he espied ex-REME Craftsman Vic Turner who as a proper member of 2 (Thetford) (Gangster) Platoon would not do anything as silly as wearing the proper kit. ‘Why is he wearing a black beret ?’ demanded the General.
Getting noticed in the wrong kit eventually paid off as Craftsman Vic Turner TEM concluded his TA career as Pl Sgt of that elite band. The only time they were uniformly dressed was when attired in the Pl blue sweatshirt, designed by Vic Turner. It depicted a ringed clenched fist punching through a brick wall - ‘The Destroyers’.
The Pl was disbanded in 1986 but its members formed an informal Association under the leadership of Vic Turner, sometimes meeting annually, fittingly held in the nearest pub to the former Pl HQ. It is not known how much pressure the platoon put upon the Greene King brewery to name it, most appropriately, the ‘Terrier’. When the Terrier became a restaurant the venue changed to the Thomas Paine Hotel in Thetford.
For the 2002 party, Mike Alison wasn’t there from his home in Princeton, New Jersey, so he was asked to pay for the cake. Alan Wakely again failed to persuade Welsh Water to let him conduct another assault river crossing over Llareggub Lake - even though we promised this time to take out a permit first - but we nevertheless left after the party for Cwrt Y Gollen at midnight. Colonel David James kindly offered us the loan of his Skoda to tow the assault boats which Vic Turner had been busily constructing from cardboard. Cpl John Duke graciously volunteered his coal lorry as the troop transporter. Dave Riggs promised a few bottles of duty-free from his weekend in Belgium, Pte John Backhouse offered to dress up as the exercise casualty and Pte Alan Skidmore donated the scoff - mainly chocolate bars and Mr Kipling cakes, but he had eaten them all before we hit the M25!
Dress for both events, as usual, was scruff order. Former OC Gangster Pl, once Lt JR Libald, won the Easter Egg prize as the most scruffy, again.
A free beer was offered to anyone who turned up in the blue Platoon sweatshirt but anyone wearing the deckchair pattern 6 ROYAL ANGLIAN tie bought a crate!
Lt Col Miles M Green bought the crate!