A
SUCCESS STORY
In B&C
No 87 Dec 96, on page N11, Tom Latham
asked members of 10 Pl, D Coy, who had served in Korea, to
get in touch with him.
DJ "Jerry"
Willmott CBE QFSM described a
reunion with an international flavour.
"As a direct result of that appeal, 6 members of 10
Pl, out of touch for 45 years, have regained contact;
Messrs Tom Latham,
Alan Edgeley,
Brian Bandy,
Ron Horrex,
Bill Robinson
and me. As an indirect result, we are now all in touch
with a much wider network of ‘Korean campaign’
comrades and have access to a hoard of unsuspected or
forgotten photographs.
The first time together since Samichon Valley in Korea,
with our wives, Tom Latham,
Alan Edgeley,
Brian Bandy
and myself met in Wellingborough at a BKVA reunion.
Remembering our collective penchant for ‘Asahi’ beer,
I had set my wife, the Quartermaster of the household, the
task of identifying a supply of the said brew.
Notwithstanding that I had not set eyes on Asahi since
1951, she tracked it down to Waitrose in Marlborough and
purchased the entire stock of a dozen bottles. Despite my
disappointment that these bottles were half the remembered
size and were not protected by cones of rice straw, ideal
for lighting a fire, we took them to Wellingborough.
When we had settled down after an enthusiastic first
meeting, we cracked a bottle or two and took the
obligatory photographs. One I entitled ‘Five Old
Comrades’ and the other ‘Asahi’. The reunion was
incredible success. 45 years were wiped away in an instant
and there was great rapport between the wives. It later
occurred to me that Asahi might like a copy of the
photographs, in which Asahi was very prominent. They were
despatched to the President of the brewery in Tokyo. In
rapid succession, I received a letter from the President,
Mr Seto, 2 crates of Asahi beer and a visit to my home
from Mr Sudo, Managing Director of Asahi Europe, who had
been ‘ordered’ by the President to make contact.
To cut a long story short, the International President Mr
Seto was due to visit Britain in Sep 97 for ‘The Grand
Opening of the British Branch of Asahi Breweries’. This
was a magnificent event held at the Buckinghamshire Golf
Club (owned by Asahi !) in Denham. We were all invited and
treated very much as guests of honour.
We, for our part, presented Mr Seto with a Regimental
plaque inscribed:
‘Asahi - "a friend
indeed"
Korea 1951-1952
On behalf of 10 Pl D Coy’
 Unfortunately, Alan
Edgely and his wife were unable to attend
but the rest of us thoroughly enjoyed the occasion and the
second opportunity to delight in each other’s company.
I suspect that the consequences of a simple appeal in the
pages of the journal have rarely resulted in such success
and even more rarely in the establishment of such a
friendly international relationship."
Five Old Comrades
Left to right :10 Pl, D Coy members Jerry Willmott, Tom Latham, Alan Edgeley, Brian Bandy and Asahi meet
for the first time in 45 years since Samichon Valley in
Korea, at Wellingborough. |
B&C Norfolk Editor