Rolling off the printer of a Ubon based company, is the Thai language version of the two banners that will be displayed for Operation Crown at the 2015 Ubon Remembrance Ceremony. The other will be in English. Somrak Jackson very kindly gave up her time to translate the Thai version for me. The banners attempt to show how Ubon looked at the time of Crown and our involvement with the the people there. Hopefully the banners will enlighten the younger generation of how life was back then.

I must admit to butterflies when visiting the printers to view them printing the banners. I'd never done any designing on this scale before and was feeling out of my depth. The language barrier was a problem although Jim Curtis came along to help. After some to-ing and fro-ing the boss man delegated a young student on a work experience, to transfer Somraks translations into the Photoshop images. Jim left for home and I paced around waiting for the banners to be completed like an expectant father. This picture shows my delight for a job well done.

My work in Ubon finished I travelled north to Loeng Nok Tha to action the next phase of our plans for the 50th Celebration. Noel, Somrak and family gave me a lift to the Pudin hotel which would be my home for the next six nights. Jim Curtis stayed in Ubon to travel up later when we would hopefully meet with local officials in Kok Talat. This meant I had time on my hands and LNT is hardly a place that's buzzing'. The wi-fi signal is stronger in the hotel foyer, so as I sat there the resident skink wandered in to have his picture taken and relieve my boredom.

Thailand does not allow boredom for long, especially if you have good friends there, luckily for me that is the case. I had a few days to burn until we could meet with the local officials, so I traveled to Mukdahan with Noel and Somrak. Our good friends Aek and Rose, with typical Thai hospitality invited me on a trip to visit a special temple called Wat Wang Kham. It's located in a remote area of Phu Thai and near to Kalasin. For anyone intending to travel with us, in our free time in Isaan, we intend to provide the opportunity of capturing images like this.

On returning to LNT I was joined by Jim Curtis at the Pudin Hotel to await an appointment with the local government chief (the Nayok). Fortunately Somrak Jackson, agreed to take time out of her well deserved holiday to act as interpreter for us. The talks went surprisingly well considering we didn't know what to expect. Lady Luck chose to smile on us, as the day before, the papers had been signed to make Crown Airfield operational. The Nayok on understanding what we wished to organise, enthusiatically came up with ideas to make our celebration happen.

We think the Nayok saw our 50th as an opportunity to publicise the airfield becoming operational. Whatever fired his enthusiasm means that our celebration is going to have:- Marquees for shelter, a stage and sound system a traditional drum and dancing band, and the LNT school band. For us, Neil Campbell will play the bagpipes and two specially designed banners will be on display. There are expected to be at least three hundred locals, with at our request,lots of children. The Nayok will provide food for them. After the ceremony we will travel to a new modern restaurant for lunch.

As we head north, on the outskirts of LNT we arrive at a new air conditioned restaurant where we will eat lunch. The pictures above and left are interior shots of the restaurant . The coloured partition in this shot is air-conditioned so we'll be comfortable. The menu has a British option as well as Thai food. Joining us at the celebration and for lunch, will be specially invited guests who've helped us in the organising of our trip. We want to show them how much we appreciate their efforts. There are more pix of the restaurant in the slideshow below.

After our lunch we will be free to travel along the Post Crown road it's entire length to Nong Phoc. This is the town where the Brit's from LNT, joined up with the Thai's from Roi Et creating a much needed highway through a remote region under communist insurgency. We were told at the time that this road would open up the region and boost the local economy. Well it's certainly done that as a drive along it will testify. Indeed a new magnificent place of worship, Wat Pha Nam Yoi has been created in the hills to the north of the road now called Highway 2136. Since travelling back to Thailand in November 2010, I have been struck by how remarkable coincidences seem to occur with regularity. It's often referred to as Magical Thailand and I can confirm I've been taken by it on more than one occasion. Well Thailand appears to have worked this magic for us and here's how. Coincidence Factor 1. It was twelve years when Noel and Somrak bumped into Aek and Nim whilst out and about in LNT, Nim was a school friend of Somraks at LNT school. They lost track of each other since that time until just prior to their visit in April this year 2015 (continued below)

when Somrak located Nim on Facebook. Factor 2. Jack Crompton first contacted us early in December 2014, a few months before our 50th Anniversary Reunion in Chatham. Jack attended the Reunion and bought along some slides and told me of his stint as a surveyor on the final stages of the Post Crown road, including attending the road opening ceremony. He also spoke of a large bungalow that his detachment lived in near to Nong Phoc. He gave me the slides for use sometime in the future. I took them home and put them up to work on at a later date.

Factor 3. I met Aek and Nim for the first time in the Pudin, they were with Noel and Somrak. During the evening the talk turned to the subject of the Post Crown road and when Aek realised that I was involved in the construction of the road he revealed an amazing coincidence. His uncle had rented the bungalow (right) to the British Army and he had stayed there at weekends as a young boy. He remembered sleeping in one of the Army beds. Well that Thai Magic had struck again. What are the odds that Noel the son of a REME Sgt, would marry (continued below)

someone who's school friend would marry the nephew of the man who rented out that bungalow. We were amazed at the coincidence. A week later and back in Britain Somrak received pictures from Aek who'd travelled to Nong Phoc to take them. The beds are still there in the bungalow. I phoned Jack Crompton to ask what he remembered about the beds and he recalled a conversation with his detachment Commander. When they were clearing out the equipment to depart, he was told to leave the beds as the landlord wanted them in lieu of rent. Wow!

Noel has travelled to Nong Phoc on a number of occasions, to try and track down the plinth, hopefully still containing the plaque that was left to mark the joining of the two roads. This was mentioned by Somrak to Nim via Facebook and a few days later a number of pictures showing the plaque in a frame outside the Nong Phoc Police station. the picture right is a composite showing Nim with the plaque and Aek is Photoshopped in to join her. So thank you Nim and Aek, we look forward to you taking us to the Police station when we make our trip in November.

On Friday November 6th to 16th 2015, former Operation and Post Crown veterans and their partners will meet in Thailand to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the opening of Crown Airfield by Prime Minister Thanom Kittakachorn. The trip itinerary includes three days in Bangkok for sight-seeing and the option to attend the Remembrance Ceremony in the British Embassy on Sunday 8th. On Monday 9th the party will depart Bangkok to fly to Ubon Rachathani, to participate in the Little Mother Ubon Remembrance Ceremony on Wednesday 11th November. We will reside at the Laithong Hotel which conveniently, is only a few yards from the TC Bar where we will have a three course dinner on the evening preceding the Remembrance Ceremony. The organisors of the ceremony have asked us to make a special effort to boost our presence as this is the tenth Anniversary of the ceremony. We have had special banners made, one in English and another in Thai showing our contribution to the area of Ubon when we were there. These banners will be on display at the ceremony. A deputation from Kok Talat have been invited to travel down to Ubon to attend the Remembrance Ceremony as our guests. On Thursday 12th we depart Ubon by self drive minibuses to travel to Mukdahan. We have chosen the self drive option to give us maximum flexibility to go where we wish to see the sights in Isaan. We will call in on the Buddha monument just north of Amnat Charoen for a chance to stretch our legs and again on Crown Airfield at Kok Talat for those who are travelling back for the first time to see it as it is today. On arrival in Mukdahan we will stay at the River City hotel which has magnificent views over Mukdahan and the river Mekong. Another positive is the swimming pool which is one of the best in Mukdahan. Mukdahan is a fast developing conurbation with airconditioned shopping malls on it's outskirts. Tesco Lotus, Big C and Robinsons have a number of brands that sell European food like MacDonalds, KFC and Pizza, so for those that don't like oriental food there are plenty of options. Friday 13th will be a free day to explore Mukdahan and the surrounding area as we please. Again the self drive minibuses give us the option of a trip out for those who want to do so. Saturday 14th will be an early start to travel down to Kok Talat to attend the 50th Anniversary Celebration on Crown Airfield as described above. It will be a unique occasion on a very special never to be forgotten day. Sunday 15th is a free day for participants to do as they please. Sit by the pool, explore Mukdahan if you haven't already done so, or utilise the minibuses for a trip out. Monday 16th and we have an elevenish start to travel back down to Ubon to catch a 20:00 hrs flight back to Bangkok arriving at 20:55 hrs. This will give us some free time in Ubon before we drive to the airport to hand back the minibuses before catching our flight. Anyone interested in participating in this trip, please contact Neville on nevillewareham@aol.com or John on john6033@gmail.com