Until recent years the 141 lads maintained a very strong Regimental Association. They paraded their Colour with pride at Buffs events and met up regularly. Dwindling numbers and ill health resulted in the winding up of the Association but they are fondly remembered. Their colour is still always on parade alongside that of The Buffs. I’m sure it will be on display at the ceremony in the
Warriors’s Chapel at Canterbury Cathedral on 11th November at 11:00 and you’re welcome to attend the ceremony if you’re available.
A large number of Playboy and Milestone newsletters exist and I agree they should be digitised and made available. The priority at the moment is to digitise The Dragon but resources are limited.
I will have a look at the Squadron histories to see if I can determine which one your father served in.
Rest assured that your father’s service is held in high regard by the Regimental Association.. It’s a shame you didn’t get to meet some of the old boys, most of whom are no longer with us. I spent quite a bit of time with them and was fascinated by their stories.
Thank you for your reply. Indeed, I wish I had started looking into this earlier and may have had more chance of word of mouth information. I was able to look at the regiment War Diaries this week and discovered that he was with HQ squadron when the regiment was disbanded in 1945. I am not entirely sure how that worked with the other three squadrons as the first hand reports sometimes mention an HQ tank being with them or HQ tanks arriving to help them get moved when they were bogged. At least it keeps my research going and is proving to be very interesting. I meant to mention in my initial post that he was known as Wattie in civvies life, but no idea what nickname he would have had while serving.
Unfortunately I am in the north of Scotland and will be unable to make it to Canterbury for Remembrance Sunday, but I will be thinking of all the lads I have been reading about over the last few months.
