34 Fd Sqn RE

34 Fd Sqn under the command of Major John Isaacs were stationed at Tidworth as part of the Strategic Reserve. Their original deployment to the FARELF, was to provide relief for the overstretched RE units operating in Borneo during the 1962/66 Indonesia-Malayan confrontation. Serious peace negotiations started in May of 1966 and a peace agreement was signed in August 66. At this late stage, it was decided that 34 would still deploy to FARELF and provide relief to the RE units operating on Crown.

The main body of 34 Fd Sqn left the UK on 19th October 1966 and arrived in Thailand on 24th of October. The advance party would have left approximately two weeks before to make the same journey. This meant 34's personnel had four days to acclimatise in Singapore, before travelling to Thailand. The normal period for acclimatisation in the tropics was fourteen days. They flew into Ubon RTAF air base aboard a British Eagle Airways Britannia.

Ubon was and still is, an RTAF base which had been turned over to the USAF. The 8th Tactical Fighter Wing F4 Phantoms were flying combat missions over Vietnam. 34 Sappers must have wondered what they were getting into, as heavily armed aircraft were taking off and landing almost non stop. They boarded Bedford RL trucks for the 80 mile two hour journey to Crown. The corrugated dusty laterite roads and rickety wooden brides, would have been a shock introduction to the north east of Thailand.

When the convoy of trucks finally arrived at Ban Kok Talat as it was named then, they would have turned off the Sapper tarmaced section of Highway 212 into Crown Avenue. They had arrived at what would become their home for the next eight months. They would have been covered in red laterite dust and their bodies sore from the shaking they had received in the back of the trucks. It was a Monday, they had the rest of the week to get settled in and prepare for the work that lay ahead.

34 Fd Sqn relieved 59 Fd Sqn, who had relieved 11 Ind Fd Sqn back in May of 66. They now faced two months of graft, finishing the concreting of the airfield apron which would complete the concreting phase. They would be working in high temperatures with two shifts operating. An early shift which finished before the midday heat and a late shift that worked into the night. The image to the left shows lamps on poles that were switched on when the daylight was reduced or absent.

It was during this time early in November, that Julian Pettifer a BBC war correspondent and his cameraman arrived on Crown. They had been covering the Vietnam war and were on their way back to Bangkok. They had entered Thailand across the River Mekong from Savannakhet. The story is that, as they drove down the 212 they came upon the Crown road sign. They thought they'd discovered the UK's secret involvement in the Vietnam war. The resulting documetary was broadcast in the summer of 1967.

The picture above records a defining moment in the timeline of Operation Crown. Taken on Dec 15th 1966 by Cpl Cedric Williams from the airfield control tower. It records the moment that 1Troop 34 Fd Sqn laid the last batch of concrete where the northern taxiway joins the parking apron, to finish the job. The long shadows show it's early morning as the sun is to the east. The amount of servicemen watching the event show the importance of the occasion. 34 Sqn then carried out ancillary work, manufacturing and erecting the boundary fence for instance and erecting two large concrete plinths proclaiming the airfield's completion. Another job was to cover the large area between the apron and Crown Avenue, with bitumen and then chippings. Everything was being done to prepare for the second airfield opening (see below)

The British Ambassador to Thailand inspects the Guard of Honour at the opening of the newly finished concrete strip on January 6th 1967. General Kriangsak (Deputy Chief of Staff of the Thai National Security Command) follows and
the Governor of Ubon was also in attendance. The Guard Commander follows the General and bringing up the rear camera in hand, is Cpl Cedric Williams. This was a low key affair in comparison to the official opening on June 17th 1965.