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Meet the newest member receiving his OCA tie and pin badge from John Lloyd. OCA members live all over the world but the location of this little ceremony is quite exotic, John Lloyd explains. "Just returned from a great two weeks aboard the Queen Victoria with Wendy and our son Niki who arranged the trip to Hawaii. We stayed overnight on the Queen Mary liner at Longbeach, where I met up with Ian Matyear. We spent a couple of hours chatting over a few beers. I presented him with his OCA pin and tie and he said he would wear it with pride in the office next day. Ian will be in the UK later this year and hopes to meet up with as many vets as possible". Sounds like Ian lives and works in one of the World's top tourist destinations? We look forward to meeting up with you Ian. Welcome to OCA.

John Lloyd presents Ian Matyear with his OCA tie and lapel badge aboard The Queen Mary at Longbeach California.

Neil and Belinda Campbell encourage a Thai schoolboy as he attempts to blow the bagpipes

Neil Campbell aided by wife Belinda encourages a schoolboy bandsman to play the bagpipes. Neil proved to be as I had predicted, the man everyone wanted their picture taken with after the Remembrance Ceremony on the 11/11/11 .The children in particular had an enjoyable interlude icluding accompanying Neil with a rendition of 'When The Saints go Marching in'. For an account of our highly successful Thailand Reunion 2011 click on the picture left. This is a fairly in depth account and will be added to as and when time permits.

Two old 59 Fd Sqn Engineers met up after forty plus years. Roy Falconer visited Bryan Sheilds-Probett and welcomed him to OCA. Nice to see you back with your old mates Bryan!

Roy Falconer and Bryan Shields-Probett meet up after some forty five years.

Ties and Lapel Badges

If you're stuck for ideas when the family ask what you want for Christmas, here's a couple of suggestions. A newly arrived batch of Operation Crown ties are available for purchase at the special price of £12 inc. p&p. If you haven't already joined the Association (OCA), then the purchase of our custom designed lapel badge at £10 inc p&p. gives you lifelong membership. The recent trip to Thailand drew much attention and admiration for this lapel badge. To purchase your ties or badges contact Mike Stanbridge at chair.oca@btinternet.com

An image of the Operation Crown Association Tie and lapel badge

A Happy Bunch

Click the picture below to read about the Lichfield Reunion 2011

Message from Buck and Rosemary

“Rosemary and I would to thank all who attended the reunion in Lichfield, we were very touched by the sentiments you expressed in the card you sent. We are only sorry that we could not be with you all but as you are all aware I’m waiting to have an operation on my back however, we hope it won’t be too long before we can get together again to renew our friendships and I can take a more active role in the Association. We also would like to take this opportunity to wish all those making the Thailand trip safe journey and have a great time going down memory lane. Best wishes to all in Operation Crown Association.
Buck and Rosemary”

Nev Lou John

Click on the picture below to read about our latest mini reunion

Click on the Adobe Acrobat thumbnail to read the minutes of an Extraordinary Committee Meeting called by the OCA Chairman on May 22nd 2011.


Sunday May 22nd 2011 at Strensham services on the M5. It's smiles all round as John Gayton REME and Neville Wareham RE and REME shake hands for the first time in forty five years. John and Nev both served on Crown although not at the same time. They became pals after Nev transferred from the Engineers to the REME. We're looking forward to seeing you both in September at Lichfield.

The OCA accounts for 2009/2010 are available for inspection by clicking on the Adobe Acrobat thumbnail left. The accounts have been independently audited and handed over to the Chairman who has found them to be in order.

The AGM 2011 was held at the National Arboretum on March 6th. Over thirty people attended including some very welcome newcomers. Click on the Adobe Acrobat thumbnail right, to read the minutes.

The wreath in the picture below has the REME badge in the centre as does the headgear of the three men supporting it. John Brown, Noel Jackson and John Lloyd stand proudly together at the Tungsi Mueng Park, Ubon Ratchathani after the Remembrance Ceremony 11/11/2010. You can read an excellent account of their day by John Lloyd, for the REME Craftsman magazine, by clicking on the picture. (Adobe Acrobat needed)

The proposed reunion advertised as Op Crown Post Crown off the M6 motorway at junction 2, for w/e 16/17/18th September, has no connection or affiliation with The Operation Crown Association or this website. Our reunion will be held in Lichfield w/e 9/10/11th September 2011. The itinery for this reunion is to be discussed at the Association meeting at The National Arboretum on Sunday 6th March 1200 hrs

Thailand Trailblazing November 2010

Click on the picture of the garlands below to read the story and view the pictures, of the visit to Thailand by the Op/Post Crown party.

Salisbury Reunion September 2010

Stewart 'Geordie' Hulley meets up with his old mates after 45 years. He was attending the reunion in Salisbury over the weekend 10/11 and 12th of September 2010. He was so happy his wig nearly fell off. Click on his picture to read all about it.

Click on the image above where the 2010 visit to Salisbury by Loni Davidson, daughter of WO2 Harry 'Yakker' Yates, is posted.

Click on the image above where the visit to Buckingham Palace by the four Op/Post Crown representatives is posted.

Click here for the Thailand 2010 Reunion Itinery

The meeting at the national Memorial Arboretum 18/04/2010 went ahead as the following acccount by 'Buck' Brown records.

In glorious sunny weather 26 turned up and I gave them the dates and itinerary of the next Reunion in Salisbury which will be held over the weekend of the 10,11 and 12th September using the same hotel the Red Lion, as requested. So anyone interested in attending this weekend please email or ring me on (01722) 744152 and I will get details to you as soon as I have costed everything. With regard to the Thailand trip the only item on the itinerary that has to be confirmed is the train journey from Bangkok to Ubon. Once this has been done then the programme will be sent out to the 16 who have already booked as well as a further 7 who gave me their names during the weekend. This brings the total to 23 then there are a further 6 who will be meeting up with us in Bangkok bringing the party size up to 29 in all. I also, announced that we will officially represent the FEPOW FAMILY by laying a wreath on their behalf at the Remembrance Day service in Ubon. As an additional item to the programme I am in the process of arranging an official visit to Wing 21, 2nd Air Division Air Combat Command of the Thai Airforce in Ubon but this is still to be confirmed. To round the day off we felt that it would fitting for us to pay our respects to those who remember Tony Denner of 59 Squadron who died on Op. Crown. So we purchased some flowers and laid them next to his name at the memorial. It just remains for me to say many thanks for attending the get together and your continued support of the organised events. Buck

The latest development to our movement is the obtaining of an Adobe Acrobat file. This file is a copy of the Royal Engineers Journal September 1969. The journal records five accounts by the Project and Squadron Commanding Officers involved in the Post Crown story. By using the Up/Down arrows on the status bar at the top of the Acrobat Reader you can go to page 33 where PART I by Major C. F. ROSE, MBE, RE Project Officer POST CROWN Force, September 1966 - September 1967 starts the full account of the Post Crown project. This is a composite effort resulting in lengthy read. However, for anyone involved in Post Crown it will prove to be well worth the time taken. You can view the journal HERE

Op Crown Salisbury Reunion 2009

When I posted up the agenda for the Operation Crown reunion 2009 I confidently predicted a successful outcome to the weekends events. The prediction was made in the knowlege of the capabilities of Carlton Brown and the support he would receive from Rosemary. The subsequent feedback includes the following comments:- "Fantastic, big, big thanks to our Admin team. The effigy of Mr Yates put that special touch to our reunion". "Just to say what cracking W/E it turned out to be, being in nice company. You all worked hard to make it the success it was". "It was a great reunion I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, Looking forward to some more of your photo's, I have never laughed as much since we were all in Thailand!" "Just to say many thanks for setting up the weekend, Jane and I had a great time, we both agree it was a well organised event". The webmaster too adds his thanks and admiration for a fantastic job well done. Friday afternoon arrived with Buck starting the proceedings off at the Red Lion with a get-together briefing which included a few surprises. The negatives were, due to illness, the absence of Mick Allen, Gordon King, John Elliott and wife Carol. The 'Routemaster' would not be ferrying us around due to difficulties with the parent company. End of negatives. The positives were, the attendance of three special guests, Sarah Williams, Derek and Gill Yates. Derek is the son of Sgt. Major 'Yakker' Yates, a hard taskmaster, known to many '59ers' and non-'59ers' too. Sarah is the widow of Cedric, the man who's images more than any other recorded for posterity, both Operation and Post Crown. Another positive, was best wishes for the reunion and all who attended by The Not Forgotten Association. This organisation is older than the The British Legion and it will receive more coverage later. In the meantime the image below left will take you to their website if you click on it. All pictures of the reunion are copyright to this site. Permission must be obtained before downloading these images.

The picture above right shows Buck attending to Jim Hopgood at the Friday evening at the Red Lion. Below are four pictures showing an image from the four events which took place over the weekend. The Friday night meal at The Rainbow On The Lake, The Lord Mayors Reception, the visit to 22 Engineer Regiment, the Saturday Dinner at The British Legion. They are links to slideshows of those occasions. The fifth and bottom image takes you to a slideshow of a few shots taken at the British Legion at the Sunday Buffet and some pictures taken on different occasions which have connections to the reunion.