The army seemed to be a stable choice in the circumstances and it certainly did steady me up. I soon found that it was better to be soaring in a lower field (driving) than it was to be slumping in a higher one (chemistry). Better for the moral to be higher up the ladder in a smaller endeavor than at the bottom in too high a target. I had been great at English and reading but not math and chemistry. My mother worked in chemistry and got me in there.
In the Royal Corps of Transport, which was the Royal Army Service Corps when I actually joined, I soared, as it was a no brainer. I got to the higher level of driver when the rest were doing basic driver training. I was one of four out of forty to get the higher level. We four were sent one to each batch to different parts of Germany. I was sent to Dortmund and was put in charge of 8 motorcycles that the desk bound sergeants and corporals would use when we were on ‘exercise’. We were a big truck unit and I was doing well to be assigned ‘dispatch rider’. I messed that up pretty darn quick though as I had my motorcycle license but had no savvy as to how to deal with German cobblestone barrack roads when wet and kept dropping the damn machines right outside the company office. I discovered that you cannot lay it over and stay on the thing on that surface. One bike I put the footrest through the clutch housing and had to haul it back to maintenance and another got bent handlebars somehow or other. I was told after three bikes were limped back to repair shop that they would give me a ten-ton truck instead.
Fortunately for me there was a shortage of small vehicle drivers in a NATO unit in Rheindahlen Headquarters and I was more in my preferred field. I got some great jobs during my three years there which included a trip to southern Germany to accompany a guy to sketch possible launching places for canoes along the River Danube, staying in guest houses for five days. Then a fabulous trip to SHAPE headquarters when it was in Paris and the guy I took had saved in order to splash out and splashed out for me too. Quite a story there also about having no indicators working on the Mercedes and getting a Gendarme angry for not doing what I was directed to. Brits are not used to someone telling you were you can go and where you cannot? Not even armed Police.
Later I was to go to Bielefeld as a Staff Car Driver and ended up driving the Chief Of Staff. Brigadier Patrick Hobart. Also whist there I had trips to Norway and Denmark and many trips to Berlin. The secret of being picked to go to Berlin was to be smartly dressed and to be savvy and a good driver but mostly to having a pristine Identity Card. Many of the other guys had not taken too much care of their card and the Russians would send you back for the least thing. With a senior officer in the back that would be embarrassing and inconvenient. You had to go through many checkpoints to drive to Berlin and had to know the way by heart and in the snow. It was an extensive briefing and then the allied checkpoint to leave the West Germany line then the West German Checkpoint then the East German one and then the Russian one. I also went into East Berlin with NATO officers. That was to show we could. I watched a tough Col Ted Eberhardie face up to the Russian Guard and stare them out for ten minutes at the West Berlin Russian Memorial. Oh My! WW 111 coming right up????
My Brigadier got made General and took me to London. I was not to drive him exclusively though as in London he did not warrant a personal driver. I was in a pool of drivers that drove all at the War Office and at the Ministry. The cream of the Royal Corps of Transport got to be at 20 Sqn RCT Regents Park and I had made it. There were thousands upon thousands of RCT drivers who would give their right arm to get a posting to Regents Park. I lived in an apartment supplied by the army and commuted in every day. Later I got an apartment in the barracks right above the guardroom and the occasional drunk soldier in the cells. It was an exciting place to be though and the cars were sweet. At first though we had to go through an extensive training program to learn London well and also rank recognition not only of the three services but also NATO ranks. There was also etiquette to be learned as to whom one should hold the door for in a variety of circumstances. The General or the wife or what? Also how to address them. I learned London through doing test after test where you had to answer questions on a paper such as “what are the Roman Numerals above the Tate Gallery’ and one had to be conversant with all that before you even got to carry anyone. Then to practice your smooth driving you had to drive with a threepenny bit on the dashboard. That was a coin about the width of two quarters and shaped with six sides. The limos had good suspension but you still had to avoid heavy braking. "Treat your brake and gas pedal as made of glass" my trainer said. You also were expected to rarely get held up but to know a shortcut through every mews and side street. You also had to arrive at the Lord Mayor of London’s Banquet right on time to the minute. Also to know all the clubs and hotels and restaurants.
I had driven Ministers and Senior officers including the Field Marshall Mansergh who was the highest ranking officer it was possible to drive. I was in my element in my job which was interesting and rewarding. I was not a chemist but was doing a very nice job with great perks as getting free theatre tickets returns and given to serving London Military. I was also able to stay in several military establishments cheaply.
This day in question I was told that I had been picked to drive for the Queen. I cannot tell you what that meant to me. I can only explain it like this. I was already in the elite driver company that many serving RCT drivers in many countries all over the world and including Hong Kong wanted to be based at but on top of that I had been picked from the sixty or so first class drivers who ‘were’ stationed in Regents Park Bks to actually drive for HER Majesty. I have to also explain that HM had her own drivers of course but we kept two of her vehicles that had been presented to her by Bedford Trucks UK and they were green and plush and had many many coats of paint and had the Royal Emblem on the side. Just to drive the vehicles around the barracks was considered an honor as they were sacrosanct. In my time of two years at Regents Park I had only known one or two occasions that they would be requested by Her Majesty. The rest of the time the vehicles were kept under cover and kept polished. These vehicles were enclosed large vans and they were to be used on this occasion to go from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle and it was right before Christmas. I was to go on my own and there was one other similar vehicle driven by an equally proud buddy and we were to be loaded by guardsmen once at the Palace. The stuff was in portable wardrobes that you occasionally see in old movies and was the Queens and her maids clothing mostly. Whilst the vehicle was waiting to be loaded I was to go to the Buckingham Palace Restaurant and get lunch. I was given a voucher with Buckingham Palace Canteen stamped on it. I had to give it up. I did not want to do so. The guy in the line before me had knee breeches and buckles on his shoes.
Down under Buck house as we would call it there is a factory kind of environment with just plain beige painted walls like a hospital and lino floors. There under is the launderette and the silver cleaning room and the various factions needed to keep things going. There was a red London phone box right there in the corridor. I phoned my wife at home and said, “guess where I’m calling from”. I sneaked up a staircase and came to the chintzy part with thick carpets and paintings and velvet curtains and I was able to see right through to the front and the people standing outside looking into the Palace. The soldiers involved with ‘special duty’ were all given three newly minted half crowns as ‘extra pay’ for 'working for the Queen' and the loaders all received a beer to go with it but the drivers did not. The reason for the visit to Windsor was apparently the staff party, which takes place each Christmas when all the staff from Buck House and St James Palace and Kensington Palace and Sandringham and Balmoral Castle all get wined and dined and entertained. I was told later that the band Queen and other top entertainers were engaged for this event. I did not get invited. I did though safely transport Her Majesties belongings/frocks and still feel quite honored to have done that for her all the way back in 1968. PatrickLockyer
ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS (Badge displayed and latin means "Evil to him who Evil thinks")
The Army Service Corps was created after the amalgamation of the Commisariat and Transport Staff, and Corps in 1889. In 1918, they became the Royal Army Service Corps. In 1965 they were then amalgamated with the Transportation and Movement Control Service of the Royal Engineers, and became the Royal Corps of Transport. They now exist as the Royal Logisitics Corps, after amalgamation with the RAOC, RPC, ACC and postal and courier elements of the RE.
