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Click on the image above where the visit to Buckingham Palace by the four Op/Post Crown representatives is posted.
"Once a Sapper......." click on the picture of the cake to see more
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.
