Captain Reginald Thomas WHATLEY, REME, attached North Irish Horse

Brilliant Post - Many thanks.

Do you know who he was serving with beforejoining the NIH?

Regards
Andy

 

Paul / Smudger -
The Tiger at Bovington was knocked out by a Tank from 4th Troop 48th RTR which was senior regiment in the 21st Tank bde - and somehow taken over by the NIH of 25th Tank bde - shipped to Bone then - Glasgow - London - Guards Parade - then Bovington for final restoration - thus confirming my well known nit picker status-

further to that is the fact that the medal rack showing the M.C. as the initial honour - BUT incorrectly showing the Palestine Green /Blue MEDAL before the campaign stars....so Honours - Stars - Medals is the true order- but no doubt I shall be corrected as - depending on time of issue there was a campaign in Palestine - come to think of it - there is always a campaign there.....
Cheers

 

Paul/ Smudger -
as a PS - it is quite possible that Capt Whatley was involved with the recovery of the Bovvy Tiger as a Capt of REME he would be attached to either HQ of NIH or 25th Bde HQ - so called on as the 21st Bde Capt. MIGHT have been busy elsewhere - and as I said - "somehow the NIH were involved in shipping the Tiger to Bone " - Gerry's web might expand on that aspect, but the credit must still go to 48th RTR for the kill....

and the NIH were part of the RAC -as were the others in both Tank Bdes - all REME's personnel were solely attached as LAD's to each squadron with a sergeant and two fitters for immediate repairs- Officers were usually at HQ's and base depots
Cheers

 

Tom,

Thank you for clearing that up.
Always nice to obtain information from someone who was there.

Regards
Tom

 

Here's his citation:

He looks REME through and through, so his movements might perhaps relate to a posting from the Bde Wksp to the NIH LAD (Light Aid Detachment)?

Regarding his earlier service, should RAC be RAOC? Workshops were transferred from RAOC and other corps to form REME so he could have gone with them?

 

Idler - you are most probably right about the confusion of the REME evolving from the RAOC - we had the same problems when the RECCE were incorporated into the RAC.

The initial recommendation for the award came - naturally - from the CREME at 1st Div of 5th Corps which would indicate he was transferred to HQ of the NIH - LAD's had only a sergeant - two fitters and a signals bod in each squadron so a Lt. would be in charge of the REME personnel in each of the LAD's giving him around 15 men to supervise- and as Temp Capt would then go onwards and upwards
Cheers

 

Hi can anyone assist, I've been trying to post information to REME et al web sites regarding dad's award but can't find a way in

 

Gerry from your posting Oct 1994?
Churchills Mark I - the last version.

With the mounting of the 3 inch howitzer in turrets the gun could be more effectively employed. Following test firing (both HE and smoke) on the large dried out lake Gara'et Fzära , south of Ain Mokra in Algeria, commanders were asked to report to the CO. While the general opinion that mounting a howitzer in the turret was an improvement, the problem for commanders that had manifested itself during firing exercises in the UK still existed - the difficulty of properly positioning tanks when battened down. A few weeks later, the Regiment's LAD OC Captain Garner was transferred to the REME Workshops located near to Bône, his place being taken by recently promoted Captain R.T.Whatley.

A month or two later, Captain Whatley had occasion to visit his former boss with a requisition for spare parts. While they chatted, Captain Garner mentioned that he had recently returned from the main REME Workshop located near Le Khroub, a hilltop town north of Constantine, Algeria. While there, noticing the many damaged German PkW IIIs in the park, he took a closer look and came to the conclusion that their cupolas could be salvaged and fitted to the CS Churchills thereby solving the visibility problem.

B Squadron's CS Churchills had the cupolas installed, including Bangor the first Churchill I crewed:


Although a poor photograph of A Squadron's Ashbourne, the cupola is more clearly seen: