In March 1964, I was sent as a Sgt, with a detachment of medics, drivers etc, under the command of the Medical Officer, from Terendak Malaya to Ban Kok Talat in Thailand. These are my recollections of this time. I regret that my memory seems to have let me down when trying to remember peoples names. When we arrived there, my first impression was that we had stopped at a paddy field. The landscape before me was of just rough scrub and a few tents. What a dump!
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This was at the start of Operation Crown. The Royal Engineers are going to build an airfield I was informed. Our Medical Reception Station/Hospital, was a medium sized tent with perhaps 6 to 8 beds and a divide to provide a treatment area. At times it was very hot in there but rolling back the sides of the tent made it bearable. One thing I can remember is the Cook House as any squaddie would. This was to play a large part in my memories of my time at Op Crown as I will explain later. Soon other tents appeared along with heavy construction equipment. This tented village giving way later to more permanent structures. We treated minor injuries and illness for the troops and a few locals. Treatment of the local poulation increased day by day. My memories of the village of Ban Kok Talat, are of the relaxed way of life of the people of this wonderful country. I can even remember sitting on the steps of one of the bamboo houses making straw mats. Even now if I get stressed I think of this time and soon calm down.
A night life soon developed, with bars appearing seemingly overnight, along with the very pretty women. This led to even more work for the medics. No further explanation is required I think!! Pix above and below courtesy Harry Ramsay
The mosquitoes in the area were a problem to everone but I had the answer to this. I had previously been on exercise in Canada and being a thoughtful soldier always trying to hone my skills I nicked the following procedure. Aproach someone in the REME who has a little authority (It always helps if you have done them a favour i.e. been extra gentle when giving them a jab, you get the idea) to hang up a Jerry can with a mixture of Paraffin and a DDT solution on the inside of a Landrover. This is drip fed through metal tubing direct into the exhaust of the vehicle, a massive cloud of smoke is produced with DDT to kill the mosquitoes. The Landrover is driven around the camp and kills every bug around. This proved to be not very popular as it had to be sprayed at dusk just as everyone was sitting down to their evening meal. We cannot have been at Op Crown very long, when the first of two major incidents happened. One of the cooks whom I've since been told was John Crouch, had an accident involving a petrol fuelled cooking stove. He was severely burned. I was given the task of looking after John throughout the night in the back of an ambulance as this was the cleanest place to nurse him. During the night in the space of about 10 hours, the Royal Engineers with their bulldozers, scrapers,and other heavy earth moving equipment, built a landing strip. It was neccessary to enable a light aircraft to land to evacuate John as time was of a premium. This feat of sheer hard work and determination to this day fills me with admiration for the RE's. I've provided photo's of the evacuation. The second of the serious incidents happened when one of the troops was killed when working on the electric supply (I don't remember his name) Efforts by myself and another medic at resuscitation sadly failed, maybe someone else can recall the tradegy? By this time we were treating large numbers of locals. One night a small number of the local mafia raided the Sgts Mess living quarters stealing various items. This led to a ban on all medical assistance unless the thieves were identified and handed over. The ban did not last long!! My time at Operation Crown will always stay with me mainly due to the Royal Engineers efforts. My tour at Op Crown ended in August 1964.