Graupner Type V11C/42 U Boat

[harryamb2]

lovely boats.

[Paul D]

Hi Paul,

I may be repeating myself here with this - I really don't know though. I didn't even ask the bloke. The last time I got into conversation with someone about 4th Regt was at the cenotaph here in Warrington several years ago. He saw my NI medal and claimed that he had been there. He said he felt embarassed wearing his, so he didn't bother. He asked where I served. And when I told him about the tour in 1974 at New Lodge, he claimed he was with 97 Bty on that particular tour. I asked him if he remembered Kim Maccunn and Bernie Fearns. He said he had never heard of them before. Then he asked me who the little cross was for. I held it up and shown him the names I had put on. he turned bright red, turned around and rapidly made his exit.

I do listen to people when they talk to me. But these day's I tend to take what they say with a pinch of salt. There are a lot of bull sh***er's out there as you probably know. There is a game I play with my daughter every year at the cenotaph. I try to see how many 'veterans' I can spot wearing medals they are not entitled to. I don't know why they do it. I was once on exercise in Germany. And the Meadows generator for our Bofor's gun was in a collision. We pulled into a farmyard to spend the night there. The farmer came out and was all excited, and he offered to sort out the generator for us. He told me he was in the 'Das Reich' panzer division during the war. I thought he was talking a load of bull until he rolled up his sleeve! What a character he was.

The home where my wife's aunt is staying has a German resident. I was talking to her one day, and it turns out she was in the Kriegsmarine during the war. She was in charge of 40 other women. From what she was telling me she was responsible for tracking the bomber formations as they came over Germany. Yesterday she was telling me about the Focke-Wulf 190's she guided in to the bomber streams. A very interesting woman indeed!

Thanks for the posting on the book. I must alter my signature!

Harry (Steve)

Unfortunately Steve , Walters seem to be coming out of the woodwork at the moment mate , with all the high profile of the Forces , nobody could have done the 74 Tour and not known of Kim Maccunn and Bernie Fearns . I'll post a link for your book on the Regiments Facebook page and our Troop / Battery website some of our " senior Management " as we call them now wewre on the Tour and i'm sure will definately be interested

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Thanks for that Paul. Show this 'business card' to your mates and see if they remember it!

Steve.

[Paul D]

Thanks for that Paul. Show this 'business card' to your mates and see if they remember it!

Steve.

I'm sure they will mate i've still got a couple of these myself so they must have been still in use when i joined 4th !!

[HARRY THE MOLE]

The publisher was in touch this afternoon. he was telling me that he has 200 photographs for me to go through to use in the book. When I was down there last June he copied all my photo's - probably about 80. I know he took many pictures of the original diaries, but I didn't realise it was that many. He wants to use between 75 - 85 in the book.

I have a cartoon that was given to everyone in 97 Bty (and 13 Troop) to celebrate the 'Gun-battle at the New Lodge Corral.' This was a bit of fun we had on 8/9th August 1974. Our Troop had set up a covert o/p in a derelict property at the corner of Edlingham Street and Stratheden Street. It was mainly a 13 Troop affair. I was on foot up at Hallidays Road when the shooting started. What a night that was!

[Panzer 3]

Hi steve,
first off very nice boats mate, i love subs and congrats on the book, i remember some time back we were talking and you said about your diaries going into print. It looks like a great read mate, i will be getting a copy, i guess a lot of us old squaddies will be happy to read it, i hope it does well for you.
Regards Dave.

[Tango]

I'm not that old myself 42..lol.. But I have done a few tours of NI so It would be interesting to see what it was like back then, compared to 1989,1993,1996..So I will get the Missus on the case!!! Cheers Terry.

[Totenhead]

Nice model Harry ! My interest in Subs is growing lately Need to watch Das Boot this weekend !

[Tango]

Funny you should that Martin Im doing the same thing 3 hours of brushing up on my German..lol... enjoy..Cheers Terry.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Thanks for the replies and interest in my book. I've not been on here for a bit - I was somewhat under the weather and also had some work to do for the publisher. To Terry I would say that in the whole of my Andersonstown tour from November 1971 to March 1972 we were involved in over 400 bombings, shootings and riots. Our Battery was responsible for an area which was later covered by more than double our strength. We were the first unit to do a foot patrol in the Rossnareen estate. Previous units had always considered it far too dangerous. There are incidents I was involved in, but cannot recall. I only have a vague memory of them. But I did keep detailed diaries of both tours.

By 1974 - the time of my second tour - IRA tactics had changed. There were no riots in New Lodge during that period. Shootings were less frequent - but better planned. Compared to Andersonstown it was rather boring. I would assume that by the time you were there it had changed even more. But it isn't about who did what. The strain would have just been the same when out on patrol. As you know, our enemy didn't wear a uniform, and he could be anyone walking down the street. Anyone who hasn't experienced it couldn't even begin to understand what it was like.

In the book I have tried to give an accurate account of a four months tour. I could never have done it if I hadn't bothered to keep the diaries. It is all there - dates, times, callsigns and no bullshit. It is just an honest account of a humble squaddie being somewhere he didn't want to be, and being treated to verbal abuse every minute of the day, being shot at every day and rioting on a scale you could not begin to imagine. In March 1972 I left Belfast with an absolute hatred for the Irish Catholics. And it was a long time afterwards before I started feeling any sympathy for them again.

Cheers,
Steve.