Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> My first introduction to the Household Troops came in 1923 when my Regiment – the Middlesex – was serving as part of the Army of Occupation in Germany. One morning the C.O. informed us that we were shortly to be posted to Aldershot where we should join the Guards Brigade. This was not a popular posting and the Adjutant added to the general gloom by saying pessimistically ‘I expect this means that we shall be landed with all the fatigues and dirty jobs.’ Within 12 hours of our arrival the Brigadier and Brigade Major both Guardsmen of course came to welcome us and said ‘If ever you think that you are being asked to undertake an unfair proportion of fatigues please let us know at once.’ They were as good as their word and the next three years were among the happiest the Regiment ever spent in peacetime. If I re- member correctly the Guards Battalions only spent a year or so in Aldershot before returning to London for ceremonial duties; we therefore got to know them all. I retain two lasting impressions of the Grenadiers. Firstly it was impossible to hold a conversation with any of their Other Ranks whose immediate reaction to any remark was to spring to attention and bellow in a loud voice ‘Sir!’ It was surprising however the range of feeling which they could convey by this one word. After one ‘Sir!’ you knew exactly where you stood. Secondly fo some reason which I never understood the Grena- diers who are always right of the line as far as infantry are con- cerned would never on Ceremonial Parades stand next to the Coldstream Guards so on parade our small Cockneys had to be in- serted between the two. This must have interfered with the overall symmetry of the ranks but our standard of drill improved enor- mously. (LL)