MEDMENHAM

Saturday 20 June, I was present at the Annual General Meeting of The Medmenham Club held at the Joint Services Intelligence HQ at Chicksands. As well as visiting the excellent museum there, I made some very interesting contacts.

One man present had flown Swordfish (the famous 'Stringbag' biplane) in the Battle of the Atlantic. With 836 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, he flew off decked-over oil and grain tankers. The oilers had no hangars, only room for three aircraft kept on the flight deck, exposed to the elements as well as missed approaches! No wonder an Atlantic crossing rarely ended with a full complement of aircraft. The job, incidentally, was to fly around the convoy spotting U Boats, occasionally attacking but more often forcing them to stay submerged, where they could not overtake the convoy for a night attack.

Another interesting contact was a remarkably young looking gentleman who fought from Normandy to the end with the 2nd (Armoured) Grenadier Guards. Most interesting of all, Frank was in the Recce Troop, in Honeys and latterly in 1945 in Chaffees. As so ofen, the Grenadiers' Recce Troop gets not a word in their regimental history. So, a useful source. More on this later!