GaurdOfhonourTaunton

Opening of the RAF Association Club in Taunton , reviewing Office was Marshall of the Royal Air Force Sir John Slessor.
(Thanks to Mike Thomas,Graham Speechley and Phil Mills for information. Mike is in picture just to the left of reviewing officer)

Phil Mills recalls:
I’d been in the squadron drill squad since our fourth term – when the 88th went into the newly formed D Squadron, leaving the 90^th Entry the only entry in C Squadron. Every term, a squadron drill competition was held on the indoor parade square in 3T block. The judge was always the same, a rock ape officer called F/L Stewart-Jones. He didn’t like C Squadron and hated the 90th Entry, so we always came second. But in our eighth term Stewart-Jones wasn’t there and C Squadron won the drill competition.

Being in the winning drill squad meant that we were called upon to do guard of honour duty as well. One sports afternoon in late April 1961, we were taken by bus to Taunton to be a surprise guard of honour for Marshall of the R.A.F. Sir John Slessor. During the war he had been in charge of seeking out enemy submarines in the Atlantic that were sinking ships bringing in vital supplies.

At Taunton, we were formed up for guard of honour, and, for a good ten minutes, we stood to attention. When the car drew up, the order came to ‘slope arms’. A smartly dressed chauffer jumped out of the car. He helped an old man in a smart suit to get out and handed him two sticks for support. The old man was Sir John Slessor. He seemed a bit taken aback and when the order was given to ‘present arms, he was quite bemused.

Sir John was invited to inspect us, and he was escorted at a painfully slow pace as he did so. Our hatbands caught his eye. They were light grey – not black, like normal RAF hatbands. Our Flight Commander, F/L Jerry Holt, told that we were radio apprentices from R.A.F. Locking, his eyes lit up. Up to then he had thought we were from the local branch of the A.T.C

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