Conversations and Letters from Issue 102 Jun 04

A CANON AND HIS PIGS
When The Revd Canon Bill Sayer was a Subaltern with 1 Royal Norfolk he commanded the Pioneer Platoon.
(I assume the Pl Sgt had, as custom decreed, a beard? Ed.)
Instigated by the CO, the Late Lt Col Bill Brinkley, Bill ran the Regimental Pig Farm.
With the resources of his Assault Pioneer Pl at hand, superb pig stys were built.
There were 30 highly accredited applicants for the 2 posts as pigmen so the standard of husbandry was high.
In time the runts were sold locally but the best went to the cookhouse so the 1st Bn soldiers had the best food in Iserlohn.
A neighbouring Cavalry Regt had a different perspective. Their art was to serve awful scoff in the cookhouse, so most was consigned to the bin - destined for the pigs !
Hungry soldiers then filled themselves up at the NAAFI so more profits accrued to the Cavalry Regt!
B&C 102

INDIA 1947
Harry Thompson of Norwich was with A Coy 2 R Norfolk in India 1947 under Lt Geoffrey Rowley from Gt Yarmouth. He recalls Capt Ron Webb was killed in a Mortar accident in Rawalpindi. Harry served 1946-48 and knew LCpl Denny, later a Norwich City Police Sgt and the late Reg Bustard (click here for the obituary and click here for an appeal by Elizabeth Bustard. Ed). After demob Harry went gardening in Lincs then to Ware, Herts. Later, he was Boulton and Paul Steel Construction Works Manager.
B&C 102
After note Jul 04 Capt Ian Page is alive and well. The print copy of B&C 102 inadvertently killed him off in 1947 !
Under the heading 'India 1947', the B&C incorrectly stated : '.... Capt Page was killed in a Mortar accident in Rawalpindi.'
Capt Ian (Pip) Page wrote to say: 'I was startled to read that I was killed that year. Doubting my earthly existence I checked with various ex B Coy friends from 2 R Norfolk. Most reassured me I was still alive although one or two telephoned, hoping I was not haunting too many !
It was Maj Ron Webb, OC A Coy, who killed in the mortar explosion, not me, OC B Coy. There were some A Coy casualties arising from that same unfortunate incident which took place during an exercise by the River Chenab, not far from the cantonment at Sialkot where the 2nd Bn were stationed before moving up to Rawalpindi.
I hope it will be possible to publish this correction, if only to reassure some that I am still alive !'

(Glad Ian to set the record straight and include a photograph above of you, right, next to Ron Stokoe at the Sep 04 Assocn Dinner.
Click it to enlarge. And Happy 80th Birthday for 22 Sep 2004 ! Ed.)

There were mentions of Ian in :
B&C 88 Jun 97 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Officers Kohima Club 'The male attendance was completed by Capt Ian Page who had joined the Bn at Secunderabad in the summer of 1945.'
B&C 90 Jun 98 Gordon Spong wrote of meeting, in 1997, after a gap of 50 years, his former B Coy Commander, Capt Ian Page, in Bournemouth at a 50th Anniversary celebration of the granting of Independence to India. 'A wonderful chap to serve under.'
B&C 91 Dec 98 Ron Phelps was pleased to read that the B Coy Comd, Capt Ian Page (Philip Ian Page so known as 'Pip') was well.
B&C 93 Dec 99 Gordon Spong reported that B Coy Comd Capt Ian Page was one of the Georgic Association members.
B&C 95 Dec 00 Gordon Spong reported that B Coy Comd Capt Ian Page was one of the Georgic Association members present at the Aug 2000 Reunion.
B&C 96 Jun 01 Bill Seymour reported on the London Branch Apr 2001 Annual Wreath Laying Ceremony on behalf of the Regimental Association at The Cenotaph, Whitehall where Capt Ian Page laid the wreath.
B&C 98 Jun 02 Jim Cameron reported that B Coy Comd Capt Ian Page was one of the Georgic Association members present at the Aug 2001 Reunion.

THE DOYEN
Further to his 2 fascinating pieces in B&C 101 Dec 03, Maj John Knox Forte MBE, in Corfu, Greece, confirms he is 89 in 2004, alive, writes a mean piece and (via Gen Jack Dye) that he is indeed the doyen of the Regt, commissioned in Aug 1935!
John amends his tally of awards to the 32 offrs of the 7th Bn at Grimsby in 1940: one would be awarded the VC, 3 the DSO, 3 the MC and one an MBE.
Concerning Maj Tom Styles’ 1 R Norfolk photograph in B&C 101 Dec 03, some of the missing names are : Maj Brian Dillon and Capts Frank Allbrow, Ken Lywood and Geoffrey Whitworth.
(For a full screen view of the photographs see the Archives index on the B&C website www.norfolkbc.fsnet.co.uk)
John answered the Norfolk Editor’s query: Why was Brig FP Clowes known as ‘Boy’?
‘Boy was my Company Commander in Aldershot 1935-6. He earned the name for his extremely youthful appearance and looked younger than his subordinates.’
B&C 102