Suez 1949-1954

[ceylon220]

Just finished a book about the Suez conflict and the deployment of troops stationed in differant parts on the banks of the canal. I was`nt aware on the casualties and the brutal murders and mutilations on soldiers, airmen, and women who were ambushed by the Egyptian terrorists.
The RN had its part in the operations, ships were sent to the area with equiptment and RM detachments and these played an important part especially around the Cairo area but I also came across names of RN personnel who were killed out there but nothing about how their deaths came about, these lads are buried in the Moascar Memorial Cemetery and also in the Fayhid Cemetery, I was wondering if any members can shed some light on how these young lads died.

L/S. F.A.Hill PJX292525. HMS GLASGOW. 7th Sept. 1953
SEAMAN T.T. Johnstone, HMS SAINTES. 3rd Dec.1953
A/B. T. Kerr. C/JX65786. HMS DILWARA. 28th.March 1954.

PLUS.

R.F.Fitzgerald Seaman RFA. BLACK RANGER. Port Said. 9th Jan.1952.


I`ve gone onto these cemetery`s but these just give the names and dates, even went onto the sites of the above ships to see if they gave any info on how they died, the book give details of all the service deaths but not on the naval and RFA ones.

Dave(ceylon220)

[Choppy Sea]

Just finished a book about the Suez conflict and the deployment of troops stationed in differant parts on the banks of the canal. I was`nt aware on the casualties and the brutal murders and mutilations on soldiers, airmen, and women who were ambushed by the Egyptian terrorists.
The RN had its part in the operations, ships were sent to the area with equiptment and RM detachments and these played an important part especially around the Cairo area but I also came across names of RN personnel who were killed out there but nothing about how their deaths came about, these lads are buried in the Moascar Memorial Cemetery and also in the Fayhid Cemetery, I was wondering if any members can shed some light on how these young lads died.

L/S. F.A.Hill PJX292525. HMS GLASGOW. 7th Sept. 1953
SEAMAN T.T. Johnstone, HMS SAINTES. 3rd Dec.1953
A/B. T. Kerr. C/JX65786. HMS DILWARA. 28th.March 1954.

PLUS.

R.F.Fitzgerald Seaman RFA. BLACK RANGER. Port Said. 9th Jan.1952.


I`ve gone onto these cemetery`s but these just give the names and dates, even went onto the sites of the above ships to see if they gave any info on how they died, the book give details of all the service deaths but not on the naval and RFA ones.

Dave(ceylon220)

Dave, I took part in the Canal Zone Incident on and off from 1951 until the invasion in 1956. The first RN ship to commandeer Port Said was Mauritius who was on her way home from a far east commission and was relieved by Liverpool I believe in october 1951. As you say the marine detachment provided security for the ship with a sandbagged area against navy House. Seamen formed armed boarding parties, a crew consisted of a bren gunner in the bows of a LCI loaned from the army, there were also four lanchestermen and a killick seaman armed with a service revolver. Had our lads in the gulf been armed in this fashion they would not have suffered the fate that they did. The armed boarding parties were also responsible for securing merchant ships to the bouys and as I was the youngest in the crew I was the appointed bouy-jumper. Liverpool did three months and was then relieved by Gambia. The bar at Navy House named The Stag was set up by the crew of Chevron with the aid of the canteen manager. Chevron also lost a frogman at Port Fayad in june 1953 about the time of the coronation, M/E Gaish and he was buried in a nearby cemetry. You wil find him listed on Britains Small Wars. No one knows exactly how he died, I did post this on the Chevron thread some time ago.

[Choppy Sea]

Dave, here is a bit of info that I have on deaths at Suez canal.

Gaish. ER, E/M SMX864324, Chevron, Killed 24/5/1953, Fayid cemetry.
Hill, FA, L/S, PJX292525, Glasgow, Died 7/9/1953, Fayid cemetry.
Johnston, TJ, S/M, Saintes, Died 3/12/1953.
Kerr, A/B, C/JX657486, Dilawa, Died 28/3/1954, Monsear cemetry.
Miller, NS, Surgeon Commander, Osiris, Killed Cairo riots, 29/1/52, New british protestant cemetry, Cairo.

No info given as to how E/M Gaish was killed.

[spruso]

Hi Dave,

Very interesting reading.

In 1953, when I was 9 years old, my nextdoor neighbours sailed from Oz to England via Suez for the Coronation. They would send me a post card from each port of call.

When they were in Egypt they told me that they were sight seeing at the Pyramids when the tour party was attacked by "naughty people". They were driven off and no harm was done.

After reading your post I think now that they may have been anti-British rebels and that the tour parties in those days received an armed escort. I always thought they must have been bandits or the like. I think my neighbours were very lucky!

Thanks for posting
Cheers
Bruce

[ceylon220]

If you guys are interested in the inccidents that occured in the Suez area there is a book giving the period that a RAF airman who as a NS man was sent out to Suez and gives details of the terrorist attacks that was made on civilians and the forces out there and gives a list of servicemen killed out there and the cemetery`s that they rest in, not all gloom and doom but a very good read.

Title: WHITE KNEES,BROWN KNEES. by Douglas J Findley

[ceylon220]

The RN ships out in the Suez area comprised of:
HMS GLASGOW. CHEQUERS. CHEVIOT. MAGPIE. UNDINE. GAMBIA. LIVERPOOL.
CHEVRON. RETRIEVER. BARBASTEL.URSA. I am sure that the cruiser CEYLON and the carrier TRUIMPH also operated in the area and surely the presence of some of the RFAs must have been there to supply these ships.The medal for serving in the Suez was given the go ahead only last year to be issued to all service personnel for this period.

[Choppy Sea]

The RN ships out in the Suez area comprised of:
HMS GLASGOW. CHEQUERS. CHEVIOT. MAGPIE. UNDINE. GAMBIA. LIVERPOOL.
CHEVRON. RETRIEVER. BARBASTEL.URSA. I am sure that the cruiser CEYLON and the carrier TRUIMPH also operated in the area and surely the presence of some of the RFAs must have been there to supply these ships.The medal for serving in the Suez was given the go ahead only last year to be issued to all service personnel for this period.

Dave, Mauritius was the first, relieved by Liverpool who did a three months stint there, she was relieved by Gambia just prior to christmas 1951 and after her three months stint she went on to Korea, relieved by Glasgow. Please dont think me impertinent but is RETRIEVER in your post a misspelling of RETRIEVE, she took part in the invasion of Suez but not Canal Zone. Barbastel only got as far as Malta from the UK and other crews returning there after the invasion brought her home. In 1951-52 ships were provisioned from Navy House but by 1953 HMS Forth had taken station and we got our provisions from there, in fact it was a deep sea diver from Forth who found Chevrons frogman casualty. The first Egypt medal was issued for the invasion, I received mine around 1960 and it also had a clasp on it, NEAR EAST which signified service aginst terrorism in Cyprus. I received another clasp in late 2007 for CANAL ZONE but medals which had to be engraved probably did take longer to be sent out.

[ceylon220]

Sorry CC, RETRIEVE is correct, as for the medal I am going by what some of my old mates told me, they served in the Suez in the Army and only received their medal last year,my ship the LOCH KILLISPORT came through the canal from the Persian Gulf in 1956 and we were greeted with 2 Eygptian gun boats coming in from port and starboard heading straight for us but the skipper kept his cool and ignored them,later on the canal was blocked leaving ships stranded for months on end-----I`m wondering if that was the period that my old mates got their medal for-----I remember reading somewhere that an officer from one of the ships had gone ashore and disappeared and was found later by a search party in a wardrobe in one of the houses at Port Suez.
It was`nt until I read this book that I realised how serious things were in the Canal Zone.
Arriving back in Portsmouth armed guards were posted aboard 2 destroyers which we had sold to the Egyptions and were prevented from leaving port,this again was in 1956.

[Choppy Sea]

Sorry CC, RETRIEVE is correct, as for the medal I am going by what some of my old mates told me, they served in the Suez in the Army and only received their medal last year,my ship the LOCH KILLISPORT came through the canal from the Persian Gulf in 1956 and we were greeted with 2 Eygptian gun boats coming in from port and starboard heading straight for us but the skipper kept his cool and ignored them,later on the canal was blocked leaving ships stranded for months on end-----I`m wondering if that was the period that my old mates got their medal for-----I remember reading somewhere that an officer from one of the ships had gone ashore and disappeared and was found later by a search party in a wardrobe in one of the houses at Port Suez.
It was`nt until I read this book that I realised how serious things were in the Canal Zone.
Arriving back in Portsmouth armed guards were posted aboard 2 destroyers which we had sold to the Egyptions and were prevented from leaving port,this again was in 1956.
Hi Dave, as you will know the Canal Zone Crisis officially ended in 1954 and Hostilities started in autumn 1956, I believe in early october. The canal zone medal or clasp whichever anyone were due for, was officially issued 53 years after the event and we have a situation where a GSM was issued "ass about face as it were". Yes I recall the incident you mention about the officer and before that an army Captain was locked in a chest in an attic and left to a slow death. I have also mentioned before on the forum that the terrorists party piece was to dig up the bodies of British personel and hang them in trees. In another incident a group of army wives were hand grenaded. A bloodthirthy lot, that is until they met you face to face, then they were complete cowards. If you came through the canal around october time 1956 you may have caught the lead-up to the invasion but would have had to have served a minimum of three months to comply for any award. There is a list of ships that served during the invasion but whether there is an Admiralty list of ships that served in the Canal Zone I couldnt say. The canal was blocked with sunken dredgers and other ships prior to the Marine Commando going in, our job on Retrieve was to lift those ships but we didnt get very far.
If it was partly blocked when you came through then you definately just missed the fireworks.

[Choppy Sea]

Sorry CC, RETRIEVE is correct, as for the medal I am going by what some of my old mates told me, they served in the Suez in the Army and only received their medal last year,my ship the LOCH KILLISPORT came through the canal from the Persian Gulf in 1956 and we were greeted with 2 Eygptian gun boats coming in from port and starboard heading straight for us but the skipper kept his cool and ignored them,later on the canal was blocked leaving ships stranded for months on end-----I`m wondering if that was the period that my old mates got their medal for-----I remember reading somewhere that an officer from one of the ships had gone ashore and disappeared and was found later by a search party in a wardrobe in one of the houses at Port Suez.
It was`nt until I read this book that I realised how serious things were in the Canal Zone.
Arriving back in Portsmouth armed guards were posted aboard 2 destroyers which we had sold to the Egyptions and were prevented from leaving port,this again was in 1956.
Dave you say you wrote a book about the Canal Zone but dont say how we can get hold of it.

[astraltrader]

I think you will find that when Dave mentioned he had "just finished a book" he was referring to having read it rather than written it!

[ceylon220]

Dave you say you wrote a book about the Canal Zone but dont say how we can get hold of it.


No CC, I Read the book "WHITE KNEES, BROWN KNEES", a very interesting book especially if you were in the areas at the time or shortly after such as you clearing the wrecks from the canal, as you say CC a blood thirsty lot but cowards when face to face. According to the book, these terrorist not only tortured and killed people they mutilated the bodies as well, maccarbe bunch of thugs, its a wonder when the soldiers caught any of them that they did`nt serve some of their treatment out to them, actually 3 army lads were involved in killing a taxi driver at that time and 2 were hanged for it by the army.

[Choppy Sea]

No CC, I Read the book "WHITE KNEES, BROWN KNEES", a very interesting book especially if you were in the areas at the time or shortly after such as you clearing the wrecks from the canal, as you say CC a blood thirsty lot but cowards when face to face. According to the book, these terrorist not only tortured and killed people they mutilated the bodies as well, maccarbe bunch of thugs, its a wonder when the soldiers caught any of them that they did`nt serve some of their treatment out to them, actually 3 army lads were involved in killing a taxi driver at that time and 2 were hanged for it by the army.

Sorry for being a "dickhead" Dave, I will see if I can get the book because it sounds interesting. And thanks to Terry for pointing me to the dunces corner. A one page daily circular was sent round by the army for years and it was called Canal News I did have some but have been informed that my daughter confiscated them so that they would be safe. I wonder if anyone else remembers that so called "paper". We also had an Egyptian newspaper seller who used to come on board every morning selling british newspapers from the day before until he was found by the Marines on the stockade wire with his throat cut. In one edition of Canal News the Egyptians claimed that Liverpool had fired on Port Said with her main armament. If it had been true I can only imagine what a mess there might have been at point blank range.

[ceylon220]

CC, Try your local library, thats where I got this one otherwise its going to cost you an arm and a leg at the book shops.

Regards
Dave(ceylon220)

[Choppy Sea]

CC, Try your local library, thats where I got this one otherwise its going to cost you an arm and a leg at the book shops.

Regards
Dave(ceylon220)

Dave, got it brand new from Amazon £6.42 including postage. I am partly into it and find it very interesting. I like the way that the writer maintains a light hearted approach to something obviously quite the opposite.

Ray