Crown Flags

Peter Currie a sapper of 54 Sqn on Post Crown, stands alongside the flag he 'liberated'. Jim Parker also of 54 Sqn was a Regimental Policeman, spending most of his working hours in the Guardroom at the entrance to the camp. Here's his account of the final day on Crown. "On or about 24 April 1968, I don’t think I was 'on duty' but as I drifted towards the Guardroom I remember vividly a Staff Sergeant walking from the Sergeant's Mess area and lowering one of flags, the one in Corps colours with a yellow Thai crown.

He then walked back in the direction of his mess with it under his arm. The Union Flag still flew on the second flag pole. I lowered that and took it away and stuffed it into my luggage". Jim Parker stands in front of that very same flag in this recent picture. He is also wearing a Royal Engineer's cap badge and Operation Crown tie depicting a Thai Crown. On the left a brass Thai Army cap badge he acquired, on the right below the Poppy is the OCA lapel badge depicting the Union Flag and Thai national flag over a Thai crown on a blue background.

Jim Parker seems proud of his Crown memorabilia and rightly so. But what of the Post Crown Force flag? Peter Currie's says, "It's not in bad nick considering it's over forty five years old. This flag might be the original as I found it stuck away in a storeroom. It certainly precedes the one Jim Parker refers to because, like me, it was already in Bangkok the day the camp closed down". So as the campaign for recognition continues, these items from our days in Crown may well help us to achieve our objective. Thanks Pete and Jim.